VFL 2024: South Sudanese refugee Ajang Kuol mun makes debut for Geelong after rapid rise from Anakie
Ajang Kuol mun has gone from giving local footy a crack to debuting against a 210cm AFL ruckman. The South Sudanese refugee reflects on the experience and his journey.
Geelong
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This time last year, Ajang Kuol mun was preparing for his first game of football in close to a decade with Anakie in the Geelong & District Football League.
On Saturday, the local footy bolter came up against AFL ruckman Ned Reeves in his VFL debut for Geelong.
It was a mark of how far he has come not only in his premature football journey, but his entire life.
A South Sudanese refugee, Kuol mun spent the first four years of his life in a Kenyan refugee camp, where his older brother, Eadiet, passed away.
Kuol mun, an athletic 205 centimetre ruckman, held his own in his duel with the 210cm Reeves, finishing with 16 hit-outs, nine disposals and three marks in his side’s loss to Box Hill.
Kuol mun joined Geelong VFL over the off-season after being recommended to VFL coach Mark Corrigan by new Anakie coach Jayke Mawson.
The 22-year-old thanked Geelong’s coaches, including Corrigan, for preparing him for the VFL stage.
“I’ve barely met people taller than me in general and I think he was a few more inches taller than me. It was definitely a challenge but the coaches just spoke to me and told me to stick to my strengths, which were my athleticism, just to go in physical,” Kuol mun said.
“It is a pretty big jump from the third div in Geelong to the number one div under the AFL. So we had to put in a lot of work to get my body ready for the season and I always had help every step of the way.”
The highlight for Kuol mun was having his family and friends watching on, and they cheered on every mark, kick and handball on Saturday with gusto.
“They were all in the crowd shouting and even when I was on the bench or did something… you could just hear them screaming. It was good to just look up and just see them laughing, clapping, especially having my mum there,” he said.
But his mother, Achol, wasn’t too pleased with one part of his debut.
“She was complaining to me afterwards, she said I shouldn’t tackle people so hard,” Kuol mun chuckled.
“She thinks I’ll crush them.”
Kuol mun received interest from several VFL clubs after a stellar season at GDFL level for bottom-side Anakie and it is understood his rare athletic gifts and rapid improvement has also piqued the interest of AFL sides.
But Kuol mun is living in the moment.
“Don’t worry too much about the future. Focus on the now and keep grinding it out, and also have as much fun as possible,” Kuol mun said.
“As soon as it starts becoming a job you lose the initial reason why you were doing it in the first place.”
Kuol mun was very happy to see Colac product Tobyn Murray continue his exciting start to his VFL career.
The Geelong Falcons graduate doubled his two-goal debut last week with a stunning four-goal haul against Box Hill, one of those an incredible goal from right on the boundary.
“Tobyn is my boy,” Kuol mun said.
“He is a hustler for real, he is a very hard worker. Even at the end of training sessions when you see the report at the end where we see how many K’s, you’ll always see that, somehow, he has another k to his name.
“You just see the work he puts in day in, day out. I’m happy he is getting the recognition he deserves, he works very hard.”
Tobyn Murray cooking up a storm from the pocket ðŸ³#WeAreGeelong | @bendigobankpic.twitter.com/mhrf7aoaG7
— Geelong VFL (@GeelongVFL) April 3, 2024
With all VFL clubs having a bye due to the state game between Victoria and South Australia, Kuol mun has put his hand up to play in Anakie’s season-opener against Bannockburn.
Alongside big name recruits in 225-game Western Bulldogs and Geelong star Luke Dahlhaus and former Hawthorn listed player Andrew Boseley, Kuol mun believes the reinvigorated Roos are capable of pulling off an unlikely win.
“I am a lot fitter in terms of comparing to local but it’s not really about me. It doesn’t take one person to win the whole game, it takes the whole team,” Kuol mun said.
“I do back the boys, I think we do have the talent, I think we do have the structures in place. I think the coaches have done really well to pick up the standard of the club
“I have been down a few times and seen the kind of work we have been putting in and an upset is possible to be honest.
“Heath the president has done a really good job to keep the club up throughout these tough years and it’s about time that the club does turn it around and I think this might be the year.”
Originally published as VFL 2024: South Sudanese refugee Ajang Kuol mun makes debut for Geelong after rapid rise from Anakie
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