Kane Farrell grew up with Dustin Martin but now the young Port gun is making his own mark on the AFL
Kane Farrell grew up with one of the best players in the AFL coming over to his house to kick the footy. But now the Power’s new superboot is making his own mark in Adelaide. It’s been a quiet, but long, journey from Castlemaine to Alberton.
Port Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from Port Adelaide. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IN a backyard in Castlemaine two teenagers and a kid kick the footy around.
The kid is now Port Adelaide player Kane Farrell.
One of the teenagers is his older brother Brodie, the other is Brodie’s mate ... a certain Dustin Martin.
“Yeah, so they were pretty good mates when they were growing up so he (Martin) used to be around the house a lot before he got drafted,” Farrell said.
“It’s a pretty funny story, how he always used to come around and kick the footy with us in the backyard and now he’s turned out (to be a star).”
Nine years younger than brother Brodie, Farrell already was up against it when it came to getting the ball of him.
“He always wanted to play with you and wrestle with you and that,” he said.
“So that was really good, you are mucking around but because he (Brodie) is stronger than you it’s about trying to work out ways to deal with it.”
So how about Martin, who swats off AFL players of all sizes with his don’t argue in his rise to the top of the game.
“He has always been pretty big and strong so definitely not,” Farrell said.
Farrell hasn’t played Richmond as a Port player so would Martin remember him from that Castlemaine backyard?
“He probably would, but I just need to get a game against them first,” he said.
That was one part of Farrell’s footy education in the Goldfields region.
The other, which Power fans would be incredibly grateful for, was just constant kicking on his classy left foot.
“Dad and I used to go for kicks every night for a good hour and a half at the local oval back home,” Farrell said.
“All he wanted me to do was kick the footy well so it was a lot of shots on goal and kicks to him.”
This has paid off in spades.
Former Western Bulldogs star Brad Johnson rated the left footer as the best kick of all the players in the 2017 national draft, where Farrell was selected at No.51.
After Farrell came into ladder-leading Port Adelaide’s team as a replacement for the injured Xavier Duursma in Round 4 Johnson doubled down and said the now 15-gamer has one of the best kicks in the AFL.
Power senior assistant coach and Brisbane legend Michael Voss is also a fan.
“It’s pretty handy. I wouldn’t care to try and put in a category other than say there wouldn’t be too many better ones that are running around right now than what he can deliver, that’s for sure,” he said.
DELIVERING IN A GIANT WAY
THE AFL world saw exactly what Farrell “can deliver” in the Power’s big win over GWS last time out.
With the game still very much in the balance with 9.30 to go in the final quarter, Zak Butters handed the ball to Farrell on the run and still in the centre square the 21-year-old booted the ball straight through the goalposts to set up the Power’s crucial win.
Kane Farrell bombs a big goal in a big moment 💥@GFGWhyalla | #weareportadelaide pic.twitter.com/ngB1AoLQIz
— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) July 14, 2020
“I’ve always tended to have a bigger kick than most,” he said.
“It came a bit naturally and I worked on my kicking action more and more as I got older so it is all coming together now.”
His manager David Trotter of Hemisphere Management Group said Farrell was more than just a superboot.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me when he kicked that goal, I’ve seen him do plenty of that in junior footy,” he said.
“The thing I really like with Kane and his kicking you see some of the guys who are prodigious kicks they try and do it every time and kick it 60m and kick the cover off it because they can.
“But he has a really good balance because if the short one is on he uses it and if the long one is on then he can nail it so he’s a really good decision maker.”
That goal was the cherry on top of what was a career best game for Farrell.
His 19 disposals, 13 uncontested possessions, eight score involvements, six tackles and 112 Champion Data are all best ever efforts.
“It was probably my best game that I’ve played,” Farrell himself said.
“I’ve had another pre-season under the belt, feeling a lot stronger now so you can try and take on the game a bit more knowing you can take the tackle sometimes.”
From being an obvious candidate for Duursma to replace when he recovers from his hamstring issue, Farrell looms as the next Power youngster to really make his mark at AFL level.
“He’s had to bide his time and he’s been afforded a small window of opportunity with Duursma being injured and then you have to make the most of it,” Voss said.
“He had probably a couple of modest games to start off with, but he just really came through on the weekend, and you’ve seen what he’s got, his kick is just elite standard and what he’s built into his game has been the contested nature of his game, that’s getting stronger all the time and he’s workrate to cover the ground, he’s more than build that into an AFL level.”
Duursma will probably slot straight back into his position on the wing Farrell has filled in, meaning there is a question for the Power coaching staff as to where to play him.
He has played as a small forward in the past, kicking three goals in a quarter in a Showdown, but Trotter said he could add real value up the ground for Port.
“I like him more up around the footy more because I think the more he can get the footy in his hands we’ve seen what he can do with it,” he said.
“With the way he uses the footy he can still have an impact on games if he can get the ball even about 12 or 13 times a game.”
FINDING A QUIET SPACE
By his own admission Farrell doesn’t “like big crowds that much”.
It makes Adelaide a perfect location for the Castlemaine kid.
“I’m enjoying Adelaide, for me it is a big country town,” he said.
“Yeah you have the city but outside that you can find your own space which I really like.”
A fellow country lad in senior coach Ken Hinkley also helps Farrell, who last year signed a three-year contract extension.
“It’s a good fit,” Trotter said.
“I’ve found a lot of the boys especially country boys love Adelaide, it’s big enough and it’s not Melbourne or Sydney.
“He is really happy over there.”
A business management course already under his belt, Farrell is investigating a landscaping course with his free time away from footy - although the recent addition of border collie pup Ziggy is taking up a chunk of this.
“It gives me something to do with all this time I have at home now (because of the AFL’s COVID-19 restrictions),” he said.
“There’s not much to do for us, you can’t even spend time at cafes. I had to find something else to do so I decided to just invest in a dog.”
Golf is also used to relax, Farrell has the “stock standard” handicap of 18.
And of course there is always returning back to Castlemaine, although COVID-19 has stopped that.
“When I could get back I would get back there as much as I could to go and see the family,” he said.
“It all clicks back to normality, my mates are really good with it... it is kind of flicking back to normal life.”
Does he get recognised as an AFL player when he goes back there?
“Not too much back home”.
What about in Adelaide?
“No, not yet”.
That will surely change soon.