Poised to make history in Australia but Zach Tuohy still has a grá for Laois

It is shortly after 8pm in Melbourne. As Zach Tuohy talks sport, occasionally the homely sounds of family life can be heard, with young kids bouncing around in the background.

Flynn (9) and Rafferty (4) have no real grasp of the milestone awaiting Daddy this weekend, a feat he will achieve many miles from where he spent his own childhood.

But when he runs out at GHMBA Stadium on Sunday to face North Melbourne, 33-year-old Tuohy will break the record for the most VFL/AFL appearances by an Irish-born player. It will be his 265th game.

Last Friday against Sydney he equalled the 264-game landmark set by Jim Stynes. It’s not a record he set out to break – when he signed a rookie contract with Carlton in late 2009 the aim was to play one game and see if he could cut it as a professional. And here he is.

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He was 21 when he made his first AFL appearance in June 2011, going on to play 120 times for Carlton. However, joining Geelong ahead of the 2017 season was a move that really changed his Aussie Rules career.

He has played 144 games with the Cats and was part of the side that won the Grand Final last September. Mark O’Connor was also involved, the pair joining Tadhg Kennelly as the only Irish players to win a Premiership.

[ Tuohy and O’Connor celebrate as Geelong rout Sydney in AFL Grand Final ]

There are still days when Tuohy will wear the medal around the house.

“I have it here in a drawer somewhere and I have to admit I pull it out every now and then and put it on for no real reason, just when I’m feeling bad or we get bills sent to the house or something, just go and put it on,” he says with a smile.

Justifiably, he intends to enjoy the build-up to this weekend’s game, but he also reflects that the journey has not been without its challenges.

“I went from school to straight out here,” he recalls. “You had stuff like the car I was driving then would break down every couple of Ks and as a young lad you are embarrassed to ask for help.

“I remember that being an issue, I was driving an old sh*t piece 1995 Honda Civic and it kept overheating. I seriously remember sitting in the car crying because I couldn’t get to the club and I was too embarrassed to ask for help.

“Portlaoise won the Leinster club championship in my first year while all this stupid stuff was going on.

“In my first year I played development league, which isn’t even in existence any longer, but it was basically the reserves’ reserves. I was playing there, couldn’t get to training because the car kept overheating and Portlaoise won Leinster, so you are thinking, ‘I’m not really sure this is for me’.”

But it was. And still is. Tuohy will break new ground this weekend, another history-making achievement in one of Ireland’s most underappreciated success stories in the realm of sport.

“I’m fully aware I’m probably not going to have too many milestones left, if any,” he says.

“And if we don’t win a Premiership then this might be the last kind of big peak of my career, so I am enjoying it.

“It’s just doing it in the face of somebody like Jim Stynes, it feels like I kind of have to address the elephant in the room and say, ‘Just to be clear, I don’t think I’m better than Jim Stynes’. But I’m enjoying it and I’m going to enjoy it.”

It is a regret for Tuohy that he never got to meet Stynes before the Dubliner died in 2012.

[ Jim Stynes: Dubliner who made a big impact playing Aussie Rules ]

“I had only been in Australia a few years at that stage and for one reason or another the opportunity didn’t arise,” says Tuohy.

“I’m sure I could have sorted it out, made it happen, it’s a fairly major regret now. Even then to be perfectly honest, I don’t think I appreciated the legacy he was building at that stage and the one he would eventually leave behind.

“If I knew then what I know now I would certainly have gone out of my way to make sure the lines of communication were open, but I never got to meet Jim.

“Jim is a hero over here, a genuine icon of the sport and his off-field work is legendary with charities and stuff. So, I almost feel guilty, to be honest.

“But I wouldn’t say I have been striving to get Jim’s record. The goal is to go back-to-back, it is not really about any other records.”

Geelong’s only back-to-back success came in 1951-52.

“I was open with the fact if I didn’t win a Premiership I didn’t know in what regard I could fully consider my career a success,” says Tuohy, who believes Mayo’s Oisín Mullin, who joined Geelong this year, has the ability to achieve great things with the club in the years ahead.

“His debut game is the best Irish debut game I’ve seen,” he says.

“If you didn’t know before he came out, you could tell pretty quickly this guy is a special sort of talent, and as long as his body lets him and he’s up for the challenge, then he’s going to play a lot of games. He’s remarkable.”

Tuohy is out of contract at the end of this season but hopes to sign another deal to remain with Geelong next year.

However, the fire still burns to play championship football for Laois.

In fact, Tuohy is certain he will play with Portlaoise again and intends to pull on the Laois jersey too.

“I have never got to play for Laois at the top level,” he says. “I think I played a few league games before I left but I never played a senior championship game for Laois. That’s still on my mind.

“The excitement of becoming an AFL player did outweigh any of that but there is still a fair, emptiness is too strong, but a fair craving there to feel like I have sold myself slightly short back home to have the career I have had here.

“I’d love to do it [play for Laois]. I’m very public about the fact that I want to do it.

“The level of training at home is off the charts so my body is going to have to be willing to co-operate. Hopefully I have a couple of years left here, so as long as my body lets me I ‘d love to play at least one or a handful of championship games for Laois, but we’ll have to see how I pull up post-career.

“I can fairly categorically tell you I will be playing club football with Portlaoise, if my body lets me I’d also like to also play intercounty but will definitely play for Portlaoise.”

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