Basketball On The Internet.

MARK Worthington should know by the end of the week whether his bold gamble to switch sporting codes from basketball to Aussie Rules football has paid off.

The 29-year-old, 202cm dual-Olympian is following a dream he had to abandon when he was "15 or 16'' when forced to choose between the two sports.

At the time, the chance to see the world and compete at Olympics held the greater allure.

"My mum worked long hours and my dad worked two jobs to keep us afloat, so I probably chose the selfish option with basketball when I had to make the decision between sports,'' Wortho told me on Saturday when news of his bold gamble first broke.

"Basketball was the more expensive sport.''

Worthington repaid the faith though, coming a long way from Australind, a satellite town and outer northern suburb of Bunbury in West Australia.

He played college ball in the US under one-time 36ers coach Mike Dunlap - there he is again! (see "Dunlap a cool choice for Bobcats") - at Metro State in Denver, then joined the Sydney Kings where on debut he won NBL Rookie of the Year honors.

In 2008, he was part of the Australian team at the Beijing Olympics, coming home to captain South Dragons to the 2008-09 NBL championship.

Then it was on to Melbourne Tigers, a quick stint in Germany with Brose Baskets, before a couple of years at Gold Coast Blaze.

Somewhere in all that, he also squeezed in a couple of pro stints in Puerto Rico.

There were world championships too with the Boomers in 2006 and 2010 before the London Olympics.

As an avid fan of Worthington's no-nonsense, play-to-win, take-no-prisoners style of game, I long have seen him as this era's Andrew Vlahov.

When I first wrote that assessment a few years back, I had no idea Vlahov had been one of his idols growing up, but it sure made sense.

He had and has a love/hate relationship with Adelaide 36ers fans, having so very rarely lost at the Clipsal Powerhouse, Distinctive Homes Dome, Brett Maher Court or Adelaide Arena - take your pick.

And so very often, he has been the catalyst for wins by visiting teams.

Nonetheless, when he turned out for South Australia against Victoria for a "state-of-origin'' game a few years ago, local fans finally had what they bedgrudgingly had long wanted - the chance to cheer a champion.

Short of winning a medal at a Games or Worlds, or of winning a league MVP award, there's precious little else Wortho has not already achieved in basketball. (And he's never been an individual awards-type guy anyway.)

Even so, when news first broke he was contemplating a football career at West Coast, many people wondered if that was legit, or just another "Joe Ingles to play for Hawthorn'' AFL-driven public relations exercise.

It wasn't.

Just as Michael Jordan had a baseball question he needed to answer, Wortho has a footy issue he would like to resolve.

"AFL is an itch I've wanted to scratch for a long while,'' he said, the CEO at West Coast Eagles a friend from Bunbury.

That opened a door and with AFL regularly recruiting players from other sports, he had the exemption for which their rules allow.

While most sports lovers are happy for him to get this chance, I was stunned to receive some texts and emails decrying him for considering the move.

The general gist was "if Wortho was intending to quit basketball, why didn't he do it pre-Olympics and step out to let someone who wanted to play our sport get that Games experience?''

Um, wtf?

It's not as if Wortho was a politician who knew he would be quitting politics post-election who then stood for his seat, won it, and resigned.

Part of the reason he is thinking about AFL was because he did just achieve that goal and become a dual-Olympian.

If he was in the best 12 to represent our country in London, then what difference does it make if he retires from international basketball because of age (a la Matt Nielsen) or a different reason?

Sorry. Cannot follow the thinking on that criticism of him at all.

On Tuesday in Perth, he had a kick around, did some ruck work and a "lot of footy stuff''.

The Eagles were impressed.

Having honed his body to perfection for the Olympics and having stayed relatively injury-free throughout his NBL career, for a footy player who has NOT been battered around already for a decade, his 29 is actually a young 29.

Eagles coach John Worsfold said Worthington had enjoyed a great run with his body but it was hard to know how he would go in an AFL or even a WAFL game.

A ruckman, centre half-forward in his junior days - "I like shooting a few points and I didn't mind kicking a few goals'' - Wortho should have his answer relatively soon.

If it's a "no'', he has a contract to play for Serbian club Radnicki Kragujevac.

If it's a "yes'', basketball's loss is footy's gain.

He should go with our blessing for all the joy and emotion he brought us.