Geelong star Zach Tuohy writes about his AFL journey
Zach Tuohy is one of the AFL’s best Irish imports. But it would be fair to say it took him a little while to pick up our game. From his early days at Carlton to joining the Cats, this is his AFL story.
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I wasn’t expecting to hear an Australian accent on the phone.
At first I thought it was a Northern Ireland accent of perhaps a sports journo who wanted to talk to me.
You see, my Gaelic football team Laois had just been beaten by a team from up there so I thought it would be.
Little did I know it would be the phone call that changed my life.
It was Gerard Sholly, who explained he was representing Carlton in the Australian Football League.
He had called the family household after saying he’d been through the phonebook looking for a Tuohy.
He got me on the first go.
He told me he’d watched a few games of mine and wanted to bring me out to Australia for a trial with Carlton.
I couldn’t believe it. It was so exciting.
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I’d be lying if I said the call was completely out of the blue and that I’d never heard of the game.
Tadhg Kennelly was pretty big at the time and the best known of the Irish guys in the AFL.
And there was former Lion and Saint Colm Begley, who is actually from my county in Laois as well and grew up about 10 minutes down the road from me.
I knew of him and he was doing really well at the time, so I had a fair idea about the game.
When you get to the age of 18, word starts going around that AFL scouts might be watching the games because the Irish guys were really starting to improve at that stage.
I wanted to play AFL by the time the phone call came, so I couldn’t have been happier.
EARLY DAYS AT CARLTON
The first few months in Melbourne were strange in many ways.
I remember early in my first year playing a VFL game at Port Melbourne and I was just diabolic.
I was told I would be dropped the following week to a game in a development league that I don’t even think is around any more.
It seemed a million miles away from playing AFL.
It wasn’t so much the skills that I found the most challenging, but more the structures and dynamics of the game.
At the time I just couldn’t believe how many different set ups there were for different types of stoppages.
I remember at my first Carlton intra-club worrying about things like, ‘How do I know when to run off for an interchange?’
It seems like a silly problem, but all these little things were realty stressful and I’d get embarrassed when I made a structural mistake much more so than a skill error.
Regardless of what level it was, I still loved it and I was able to play in a VFL grand final that year.
The start was definitely the hardest in all aspects.
Not just because of the usual homesickness, but a few weeks after I left, my team back home Portlaoise won the Leinster Cup.
Missing out on playing in that was a bitter pill to swallow, but all I could do was focus on my new sport.
Fortunately fellow Irishman Setanta O’hAilpin was also at Carlton and that made a big difference.
Just having someone there who understood the challenges helped a lot.
THE TEAGUE TRAIN
There were a few embarrassing moments in those early days.
I missed an open goal from straight in front once and in a VFL grand final I tried to bounce the ball as I was being tackled.
I didn’t realise I couldn’t do that.
All these things I can find the humour in now, but I didn’t find it funny at the time.
I don’t actually recall ever worrying that I wasn’t going to make it though.
Part of the reason was I had some really terrific coaches and one of them that sticks out was David Teague.
He was my very first coach when I arrived at the Blues and he was outstanding for me.
At the time he was working in development and was also the club’s VFL coach.
We worked closely as obviously I required more development than anyone.
I remember he was the one I did a hell of a lot of kicking with during my early days.
He is just one of the nicest dudes you’ll ever meet and honestly you just couldn’t say a bad word about him.
I’m not sure exactly what he’s like as a senior coach, but from what I can gather talking to some of the boys there, they just love going to work with him.
And before I made my Carlton debut Alan Richardson was at the club and he was really good to me as well.
From the playing ranks, I really looked up to Kade Simpson and Heath Scotland.
With the help of some really good people, I felt confident I would get my chance in the top flight and I did.
When I got to Carlton we were really coming up and played a few finals, but there were also a lot of hard yards during my time there.
I don’t remember ever falling out of love with the game.
It’s only when I look back upon reflection, I do sometimes wonder what I was actually thinking or feeling when we had a particularly bad loss.
There are some good memories, but it was hard at the same time.
MOVE TO GEELONG
Towards the end of 2016, I felt like my time at Carlton was almost up.
With the path they were going down, I don’t know if many people there saw me as part of the future at the club.
That was based on just gut feel and also the contract they put in front of me.
At that point I had a son, and I now have two children, and I had to make a decision in their best interests.
Fortunately, Geelong was interested.
The trade period was strange and I’d never been through that before.
It never seemed real right up until D-Day.
The first day of trade period came and I thought, “Oh my God, it’s really going to happen”.
A big part of the reason for heading to Geelong was firstly I’d heard a few things about how they were run and how well the players were treated.
Mentally, the move was refreshing and it immediately felt like an environment I wanted to be a part of.
FIRST DAY AT SLEEPY HOLLOW
My first day at the Cats was a real eye opener.
Melbourne traffic can be pretty hectic, so when I was at Carlton I’d have to leave the house really early to be there on time.
At Geelong I was due at the club at 8am on day one and I was there literally 50 minutes early.
The entire stadium was locked up and there weren’t even cleaners around.
I was knocking on doors and jumping fences and I remember thinking, “Hmm, I guess traffic in Geelong isn’t so bad”.
It took me about six months before I arrived at the club on time. I was continuously early.
It is a cruisy town and I’ve loved being here with my fiancee, Rebecca, and my two sons Flynn and Rafferty.
PURR-FECT ON THE COURSE
There’s a big golf contingent at the Cats and we love to get out and have a hit when we can. I’m absolutely atrocious, but I do love it.
Some people say they play to relax and take it easy, but I spend 12 holes of every round swearing at myself.
There are two huge standouts at our club in Tom Hawkins and Lachie Henderson, and then absolute daylight.
They are borderline off scratch.
I’ve played a few rounds with “Hendo” lately and he’s not getting much over even par, ever, and he shoots under it quite a few times.
THE FLAG DREAM
The focus of my AFL dream has always been about winning a premiership.
It’s why I came to Australia and it’s become much more of a focus during the back half of my career.
The last few years though I’ve been slightly obsessive about winning a flag, particularly because I’m closer to the end of my career than the start.
I’d take the cup back home to Ireland for a visit if I could get my hands on it.
I hope I have a three or four years of football left, but that’s not guaranteed.
And with every finals exit, you can’t help but think, “Have I just blown it?”
That kills me much more than it used to and it has been the cause of many sleepless nights.
Here’s hoping we can get one at the Cats sooner rather than later.
Originally published as Geelong star Zach Tuohy writes about his AFL journey
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