The Irish contingent in the Australian Football League is somewhat diminished ahead of this year’s competition getting underway on Thursday.
Last season, there were 17 Irish players attached to AFL clubs though by the year’s end Conor McKenna (Tyrone) and Conor Glass (Derry) had quit the sport and played for their respective counties in the Championship, while former Mayo footballer Pearce Hanley retired after a fine career with the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns.
In January, it emerged that Armagh’s Ross McQuillan was not returning to Essendon and with Kerry prospect Deividas Uosis the only one going in the opposite direction as he joined the Lions, the number of Irish on the books of AFL clubs has dropped to 14.
Mark Keane and Colin O’Riordan also played in last year’s Championship for Cork and Tipperary respectively though they remain very much focused on their Australian dream, along with 12 others, for now.
Callum Brown
Age: 20
AFL Club: GWS Giants
GAA Club: Limavady, Derry
Brown became the first player to join the Giants’ mens team directly from Ireland when he signed in October 2018 having been courted by the club since the summer of 2017. He has shown promise in the North East Australian Football League but will hope to push for the first team this year.
Darragh Joyce
Age: 23
AFL Club: St Kilda
GAA Club: Rower-Inistioge, Kilkenny
Having joined St Kilda in 2016 made his AFL debut back in 2018, Joyce has accumulated just five senior appearances overall and didn’t feature at all for the first team last year having been hampered by thumb and hamstring injuries. A big season coming up for the Kilkenny man.
Mark Keane
Age: 20
AFL Club: Collingwood
GAA Club: Mitchelstown, Cork
Keane, 21 on Wednesday, made his first and, as yet, only AFL appearance when featuring against Fremantle in round 9 last August. Following his memorable cameo for Cork in last year’s Championship, his pre-season has been compromised by surgery on a finger tendon injury in January.
James Madden
Age: 21
AFL Club: Brisbane Lions
GAA Club: Ballyboden St Enda’s, Dublin
Signed for the Lions in 2018 having broken the AFL Draft Combine 20-metre sprint record (2.69s) at the European Combine the year before, the Dubliner has yet to make his senior debut, a box that he’ll hope to tick this season having learned his trade in the North East Australian Football League.
Cian McBride
Age: 19
AFL Club: Essendon Bombers
GAA Club: St Ultan’s, Meath
In just his second season down under, the rangey McBride is still in his infancy as an Australian Rules footballer and spent last year familiarising himself with the game in the Bombers' scratch matches in Queensland. Making a senior breakthrough in 2021 could be a stretch.
Conor Nash
Age: 22
AFL Club: Hawthorn
GAA Club: Simonstown Gaels, Meath
Having made his AFL debut in 2018, Nash made “a modest two appearances in 2020” according to the Hawks’ website, which adds that “the Irishman struggled to have much of an impact playing predominantly forward”. Clearly, he needs to significantly improve on his 21 AFL appearances in 2021.
Barry O’Connor
Age: 22
AFL Club: Sydney Swans
GAA Club: St Martin’s, Wexford
O’Connor, son of Wexford hurling legend George, looks to be on track for an AFL debut after being promoted to the Swans’ senior last summer, within a year of joining the club, albeit partly due to an injury crisis. The presence of Tadhg Kennelly and Colin O’Riordan at the club is no harm.
Mark O’Connor
Age: 24
AFL Club: Geelong Cats
GAA Club: Dingle, Kerry
Any hopes in Kerry that O’Connor’s AFL career would falter, thereby allowing him to return home and lend his weight to the cause of ending Dublin’s tyranny, have receded dramatically in the last two seasons, which have seen him make 44 of his 51 AFL appearances, including last year’s Grand Final.
Stefan Okunbor
Age: 22
AFL Club: Geelong Cats
GAA Club: Na Gaeil, Kerry
Okunbor signed for the Cats two years ago and has plied his trade for the reserves in the VFL. His anticipated progression to the first team suffered a setback with a ruptured Achilles last year. Having put that behind him, he’ll aim to join O’Connor and Zach Tuohy in the first team in 2021.
Colin O’Riordan
Age: 25
AFL Club: Sydney Swans
GAA Club: JK Brackens, Tipperary
O’Riordan’s career stalled somewhat in 2020 when he made only eight appearances after a promising showing in 2019. He has just a year left on his contract. “The chips are down for me and this year is going to be a big year and that's the reality,” he admitted last month.
Anton Tohill
Age: 21
AFL Club: Collingwood
GAA Club: Swatragh, Derry
Tohill signed a contract extension the week before his 21st birthday in December. His father, Derry legend Anthony, was 20 when gave up on his AFL dream with Melbourne in 1991 after breaking his leg. Anton, classed as a medium forward, has impressed with the reserves in the VFL.
Luke Towey
Age: 21
AFL Club: Gold Coast Suns
GAA Club: St Molaise Gaels, Sligo
Another speed merchant, the Sligo youngster was signed after clocking the 20m sprint in 2.89s in 2019 and is still in the learning phase of the game with the Suns. Will likely miss Pearce Hanley’s guiding hand in 2021 after the Mayo man’s retirement last year.
Zach Tuohy
Age: 31
AFL Club: Geelong Cats
GAA Club: Portlaoise, Laois
By some distance the most experienced Irishman in the AFL right now with 205 games and is set to pass Stuart Magee (216) and move behind only Jim Stynes (264) in the all-time list. Of much greater importance to Tuohy will be going one better than last year’s Grand Final defeat to Richmond.
Deividas Uosis
Age: 20
AFL Club: Brisbane Lions
GAA Club: Dingle, Kerry
A Lithuanian-born Kerryman who speaks fluent Irish, Uosis is the most recent AFL recruit from these shores. His move to the Lions was flagged just before Covid-19 struck last year and the pandemic delayed his move until January. An All-Ireland minor winning goalkeeper, his positioning in Australian rules will be interesting.
2021 AFL Round 1 Fixtures
Thursday, March 18
Richmond v Carlton
Friday, March 19
Collingwood v Western Bulldogs
Saturday, March 20
Melbourne v Fremantle
Adelaide Crows v Geelong Cats
Essendon v Hawthorn
Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans
Sunday, March 21
North Melbourne v Port Adelaide
GWS Giants v St Kilda
West Coast Eagles v Gold Coast Suns
