Exclusive: Zach Tuohy breaks down journey through AFL career ahead of record-breaking game

Ahead of a legacy-defining 265th game, Zach Tuohy discussed the trials and tribulations that came with a journey across the world to play a sport he had never heard of before.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Zach Tuohy of the Cats celebrates with the Premiership Cup during the 2022 Toyota AFL Grand Final match between the Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 24, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Even after 264 games, 13 years and one premiership, Zach Tuohy still can’t quite fathom his journey in the AFL.

A fresh-faced 17 year old who played Gaelic football for Laois, the concept of playing professional sport overseas was limited to chasing a “pipe dream” of soccer.

But during an under 18s Gaelic football tournament, noise began to spread quickly that Australian scouts were in attendance, and some of Tuohy’s teammates hearing whispers about who was getting looked at.

“There was scouts in Ireland looking at the Irish players and we were told they were looking at our games because we went quite deep in the com in the competition,” he said.

Geelong player Zach Tuohy, left, playing Gaelic football for Portlaoise in Ireland. Picture: Instagram

“And I can remember talking to one of my best mates who was also playing, I was like wouldn’t that be great but of course you never think it’s going to happen to you.

“Then we finished that under 18 campaign and I got a phone call from an Aussie and I obviously wasn’t expecting an Australian accent on the phone, but I got invited to a combine.

“From literally that phone call until I came out, which was about two years, it was just all I was thinking about, everything I did was geared towards coming out to try out.”

Tuohy made two separate trips to Australia ahead of being an offered a contract at Carlton, with the club eager to see his development over the course of two years.

Training alongside other Gaelic footballers hoping to make the conversion, Tuohy said it was the first time he gave himself a chance of making a career out of this foreign sport.

Tuohy said he picked up the AFL skills with relative ease.

“In terms of the skills required to play in sport, they’re virtually identical, AFL’s a bit more physical, obviously a lot more tackling,” he said.

“The skills side of things came fairly naturally to me, especially compared to the other guys trying out, but they had a bit of a better fitness base than me.

“I think I was probably just packing a bit of extra weight compared to the other Irish lads, but when we went outside to do the skills that was when I noticed what I felt I had an edge on everyone.

“I was looking at everyone else kicking thinking they looked really awkward, and I just didn’t feel awkward to me to kick, which was a major bonus.”

Tuohy ultimately signed at Carlton as a 20 year old, where he played 120 senior games in the navy blue.

Like many other Irish converts before him, Tuohy was played in defence, where he has stayed for the majority of his career.

“I think they pretty much played every Irish guy half back and he didn’t really have a choice to be honest,” he said.

“Just as a learning tool it was really beneficial because you didn’t have to dictate as much and you could just focus on playing defensively while you learned the little secrets of the game.

Tuohy spent six years with Carlton, playing 120 games in the navy blue.

“I slowly started to develop a little bit where I could start finding the footy and using it and became a little bit more offensive.”

After six years with Carlton, Tuohy requested a trade to Geelong, with a desire to chase an elusive premiership that only one Irishman had done before him.

The idea of joining Tadhg Kennelly in the exclusive group was too great for Tuohy, lining up a former teammate to find out whether there was any interest from Geelong.

“I never did want to change until pretty late in the piece, Irish guys don’t change teams back home, it’s pretty rare to move away from where you’re from so I don’t think it’s in our nature to jump ship,” he said.

“Like most players who leave clubs, it just got to a point where I just didn’t see a future there, I didn’t feel like I was in their long-term plans.

“Luckily for me Lachie Henderson had made the same move a year before and we were really good mates, I do remember trying to get him to put in a word for me, I was saying ‘can you just ask Wellsy (Stephen Wells, Geelong list manager in 2016) if he’s after a half back?’

“I was thinking that if I had to go somewhere and I could pick my own team I’d be going to Geelong, but at that stage there was no real interest from them that I was aware of.

“It was a sliding doors moment for because if I had ended up anywhere else I am so sure I’d be retired by now, I certainly wouldn’t have played as many games, wouldn’t have played as many finals, wouldn’t have won a premiership, so many things would’ve gone differently so I see it as the best decision I’ve made in my life.”

Tuohy was traded to Geelong in the 2016 off-season, moving to Geelong for Billie Smedts, a future first-round selection and the 63rd pick in the 2016 draft, which was used to take Cam Polson.

The first-round selection, pick 15 in the 2017 draft, was traded onto Brisbane and was used to take Zac Bailey.

When he runs out on Sunday to play game 265, passing Jim Stynes’ record as the most-capped Irish-born player, Tuohy says he will feel “bittersweet” about surpassing his childhood legend.

Tuohy got his wish, winning a premiership at Geelong in 2022. Picture: Michael Willson

“He’s the most universally admired, or one of the most universally admired people I think the game is seen,” he said.

“So it’s just odd and it’s not something I ever aimed for, because 265 seemed like such a big number when you’re playing 50 games or 100 games, or even 200 because it’s not just 60 games, it’s three seasons without any injuries or setbacks or weeks off, you have to get through a lot of footy to get there.”

While Tuohy sees the move to Geelong as a sliding doors moment for his career, he also says Stynes’ career paved the way for his own, carrying a prediction that the ‘Irish Experiment’ would have ended if the Brownlow Medalist never committed to playing AFL.

“I have no doubt that if Jim didn’t move to Australia, or if he wasn’t as good as he was, I never would’ve had the chance to play,” he said.

“There hadn’t been amazing success stories really, at least not enough for it to continue to be a good investment for clubs.

“So I owe my career to Jim.

Tuohy, along with Mark O’Connor, became the second and third Irish players to win an AFL premiership last season. Picture: Cameron Spencer

“One of my greatest regrets I have is that I didn’t get to meet Jim before he passed away. I’d only been here a year or two, I had some other concerns at that time just in terms of playing and dealing with that early homesickness.

“So I had other sort of stuff on my plate, so it is one of my big regrets is that I didn’t find an event or something I could have got in touch with him at the time.

“I do have kind of some ideas for postgame, maybe reaching out to the family and sending something to them.”

Now one of the elder statesmen of the game, Tuohy carries the extra responsibility of being a voice to the younger generation hoping to pave their way in the game.

Not only that, but his unique take on moving from the other side of the world gives him perspective that is hard to find in the rest of the competition, and while he understands he is in a position to help young Irish players with the transition, he said he almost felt awkward offering advice.

Tuohy says he feels awkward giving advice sometimes. Picture: Bradley Kanaris

“There’s no question I’m an older player now but I just don’t feel like it, and maybe it’s because I still think I can improve as a player,” he said.

“So my instinctive answer to being that senior player is a bit weird, I almost feel 27 or 28 and I have to remind myself I’m older than that.

“When I’m talking to Mark (O’Connor) or Oisin (Mullin), it doesn’t feel like the same relationship that I have with younger Irish guys from other clubs, probably because it’s more just we’re teammates and buddies, I see them everyday.

“But I have noticed when I speak to guys from other clubs, how engaged they are and keen they are to ask really kind of specific questions that maybe the guys here haven’t felt the need to ask.

“Maybe they get those answers organically when we talk, but when I do go away from the club, it’s nice to see how valuable they seem to think my insights are.

“I just see myself as just Zach, I don’t think there’s anything special about me, but it’s nice when they ask questions because it does strike me as how I would’ve asked Jim if he was still playing when I was around or you know, anyone who’s more experienced than me.”

Originally published as Exclusive: Zach Tuohy breaks down journey through AFL career ahead of record-breaking game