How former Collingwood defender Mark Keane joined Adelaide after quitting the AFL, returning to Ireland due to homesickness
Mark Keane left the Pies then headed home to Ireland, but upon his return to Australia the Crows took a chance, not knowing he’d be required so soon.
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A serious case of FOMO dragged Mark Keane away from the AFL.
The fear of missing out also lured the Irishman back to Australia.
Six months before curtailing Charlie Dixon on his Crows debut in a 47-point Showdown smashing, Keane was in his homeland with no intention of leaving.
He had quit Collingwood, aged 21, with a year to run on his contract at the end of 2021.
The key defender played four games that campaign – five in total for the Magpies.
Then he returned to Ireland post-season, came back to Collingwood for the start of training and caught Covid so had to isolate.
Travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated Keane’s homesickness.
When he went back to Ireland that Christmas, he did not return.
Being so far away at his age had got to him.
“My mates were going out partying at home and I was here training, basically being a 30-year-old in their minds,” Keane tells this masthead.
“And they were being 18, 19, going out partying and I was thinking ‘gee, why aren’t I doing that?’”
Back in Ireland, Keane quickly reimmersed himself in local life.
After playing Gaelic football during the AFL’s off-season in 2020, he turned to hurling last year, becoming one of few people to have played both at senior level for his county, Cork.
During the week, Keane worked in schools coaching the two sports.
And he reacquainted with the fun-loving mates he had left behind.
“I enjoyed it,” Keane says with a smile.
“But I soon realised it’s not the end all and be all back there.”
No particular moment prompted Keane to eye a return Down Under, just a feeling inside him.
“I had no intentions of coming back out,” he says.
“I had my retirement fund taken out, my superannuation taken out.”
The biggest change in 18 months was the itch Keane had to scratch was gone.
“A lot of my friends have moved on, not in college anymore, not getting that fear of missing out of being in college,” he says.
“They’ve all moved on to their own jobs and are getting on with their lives.
“I was still young when I went back to Ireland, I was 21.
“I wanted to give footy another shot and see how it goes.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t like the sport, I just missed home a bit when I was at Collingwood.”
Things had changed in his adopted country too.
“A lot of Irish people were moving back to Australia,” he says.
“When I first came out there was nobody I knew in Australia, but now I know nearly every second Irish person that’s out here.”
Chatting with an ex-Collingwood countryman, close mate Marty Clarke, got the ball rolling for his second AFL stint.
“I was talking with him about everything – life, Gaelic football,” Keane says.
“I was saying ‘I’d like to go back out to Australia’ and he was saying ‘why don’t you?’”
Keane thought he might have left his run too late.
It was January, club lists were presumably finalised.
But Clarke alerted him to Fischer McAsey’s retirement leaving a vacancy on Adelaide’s list.
It was not long before Keane’s manager put him in contact with Crows list boss Justin Reid.
He had a Zoom call with Reid and Adelaide national recruiting boss Hamish Ogilvie, then was in Australia within two weeks.
The Crows took a punt on the former Magpie, agreeing to a one-year deal before he left Ireland.
Keane had hardly kicked a footy for 18 months.
“I had an Aussie rules ball over there but I hadn’t taken it out in so long, probably about two weeks before I got here,” he says.
Often, it was by himself.
“If friends were kicking with me, they were kicking it over my head – they didn’t know how to kick it.”
Adelaide also made sure it quizzed Keane on his homesickness.
He was able to convince the club he was all in.
Considering he had missed most of the Crows’ pre-season, his personal expectations for the year were low.
Being a sponge with his new coaches and teammates helped accelerate his progress.
“I settled in really well,” he says.
“It took me a while to adjust to the game again but I started to play consistent footy in the backline in the SANFL.”
Come round 20 against the Power in July, Adelaide’s defence was without Tom Doedee and Nick Murray because of anterior cruciate ligament injuries, while Keane had been knocking the proverbial door down.
Senior coach Matthew Nicks rang after training that week to ask if he was ready.
“I said to him ‘I was ready three weeks’ ago’ … just having a laugh,” he recalls.
“He then said ‘you’re playing this week’ and I was obviously really excited.”
Keane quickly rang family.
“The club were really good about it and helped bring my partner and Dad over on one or two days’ notice,” he says.
“Within 24 hours they had a flight booked and within 38 hours they were in the air.
“My Mum couldn’t make it over, but it was unbelievable to have my partner (Caoimhe) and Dad here.
“They’d never seen me play AFL (live) before.”
Collingwood faced Port the previous week so Keane leaned on a few ex-teammates for advice on how to handle Dixon.
The ex-Magpie performed strongly and Adelaide announced a two-year contract extension for him later that night.
He stayed in the side for the remainder of the campaign.
Keane is also sticking around for his first Australian Christmas.
He and the Crows agreed that his best chance at locking in a backline spot was by not going home during the festive season and instead have a good block of training.
Murray’s injury and Doedee’s move to Brisbane have opened a position in defence.
Draftee Dan Curtin, four-gamer James Borlase and Gold Coast recruit Chris Burgess are other contenders.
“I have to put my hand up and put my head down,” he says.
When Keane returned from Ireland during the off-season, he had company.
Caoimhe has moved in to the place he shares with second-year Crows midfielder Hugh Bond.
“She loves being here, loves Adelaide,” he says.
“And we’ve got a lot of friends in Melbourne so we can pop down there whenever.”
They plan to move back to Ireland … eventually.
“I’m just taking it one year at a time,” he says.
“But I’m really enjoying it.”
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Originally published as How former Collingwood defender Mark Keane joined Adelaide after quitting the AFL, returning to Ireland due to homesickness
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