One of the many objectives of Schwab's trip is to forge a clearer pathway for US college football and basketball players to make the switch to Australian football.
The AFL sees this as fertile recruiting ground, and so too do some list managers. Perhaps the touring party will alert the whole crew.
The timing of the trip is perfect, coinciding with Collingwood rookie Shae McNamara's NAB Cup debut against the Sydney Swans.
McNamara certainly wasn’t out of his depth in his first-ever hit-out at senior level and the crowd certainly loved it, chanting 'USA, USA' whenever he want near the ball.
And, yes. There was a certain novelty factor about watching an American go head-to-head with a Canadian (Swans big man Mike Pyke) at the centre bounces in a game native to Australia.
But the reality is, the novelty will eventually wear off and McNamara - and Pyke for that matter - will be judged on their football ability rather than how far they've come since making the transition. Pyke has already proved his mettle with 26 games under his belt, 18 of them in a breakthrough season 2010.
Pyke’s success does not mean McNamara - and others who may follow from the US - will make it at AFL level. The American experiment might do no more than replicate the low success rate of Gaelic footballers who have made the switch. Learning a new game in a new culture a long, long way from home is clearly a tough ask.
The Jim Stynes story is legendary and Tadhg Kennelly's career also has the makings of a best-seller, but for every Irish success story there have been a dozen failures.
Some Irishmen, like ex-Collingwood midfielder Marty Clarke, successfully make the transition from the round ball but are overcome by homesickness and the reality of being 16,000 kilometres away from friends and family.
Others adapt to the more skilful and physical-style of play but not to the point that they're able to compete with players who have grown up with the game.
The whole exercise is risky, time-consuming and expensive.
So, here's an idea. Instead of trying to turn athletes into footballers, how about we turn footballers into even better footballers?
Melbourne forward Liam Jurrah is a perfect example.
'LJ', as he's affectionately known, hails from the remote community of Yuendumu in Central Australia.
In 2008, former Collingwood player Rupert Betheras, amazed by Jurrah's talent, organised for the high-leaping forward to have a run with the Magpies' VFL affiliate, but the plight of a dying mate saw Jurrah return home after only four games.
He resumed his post at full-forward for Yuendumu, but no AFL scouts came to see him play and it wasn't until he agreed to play three games for Nightcliff in the Northern Territory Football League that he was spotted and drafted by the Demons.
Recruiting Jurrah was like recruiting a player from overseas in many ways.
English is not his first language and he had only seen the ocean once, but he possessed the skill required to play football at the highest level; two years into his AFL career he’s on the verge of becoming a superstar. Melbourne fans already have him at that level.
Jurrah is the first central desert footballer to play AFL, but with some 90,000 indigenous people participating in Australian Football nationally, including a large percentage in remote communities, he could be the first of many from this new, local, AFL-loving ‘frontier’.
Recruiting players from close-knit outback communities is not without its challenges.
Indigenous men of Jurrah's age are often initiated in their tribes and have significant responsibility, but the 'Walpiri Wizard' is proof that with the right support and education, players like him can flourish in the AFL system.
A recruiting junket to Central Australia might not be as appealing as taking a tour to the USA, but remote indigenous communities are an untapped resource.
That's not to say we should never look to North America, Ireland, Fiji or Papua New Guinea for AFL players.
Let's just make sure we look in our own backyard first.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL.
