GEELONG may have pulled off a recruiting heist in October when it landed three former first-round picks – plus the top-10 pick it used on Jhye Clark – but veteran Zach Tuohy believes the club has also pinched Ireland's equivalent of Nick Daicos from the grips of the GAA.
After a long pursuit and a false start, the Cats convinced Gaelic Football's two-time young player of the year Oisin Mullin to join the club as a category B rookie in November, almost 12 months after the County Mayo star turned his back on coming for the 2022 season.
Mullin's decision to finally put pen to paper on an AFL contract arrived only weeks after Tuohy and Mark O'Connor became just the second and third Irishmen to win a premiership when Geelong defeated Sydney in last year's Grand Final.
It means Geelong has three Irishmen on its list in 2023, the same number as Brisbane after it added two players during the pre-season supplemental selection period, amid a moment of Irish regeneration in the AFL following a period during the pandemic when experiment stagnated.
The Lions used all three players – Conor McKenna, Darragh Joyce and James Madden – in last Thursday night's practice match against the Cats, Tuohy and O'Connor featured at Brighton Homes Arena, while Mullin was an emergency after playing some minutes against Hawthorn a week earlier in his first taste of an actual game.
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"I'm not sure people realise how big a deal Oisin is in Ireland. He is just about the best young footballer in Ireland. If not the best, certainly one of the best. He was playing at a high level back home, so he has really good professional standards," Tuohy told AFL.com.au.
"It really would be like pulling Nick Daicos out of the AFL. He was young footballer of the year a couple of times, which is the highest honour you can win at that age. Nick Daicos is probably a really good example, to be honest.
"He is the most highly rated player in his type and position, which is running half-back. Any team in Ireland would have snapped your hand off if they could have gotten him. To make the move was a really big and brave decision as well, which tells you how serious he is to make it work. It is a big deal."
The reigning premiers are well stocked with running defenders heading into the new season, but Tuohy wouldn't be surprised if the 23-year-old breaks into Chris Scott's side this year once he gets some games under his belt at VFL level.
"He is really keen to learn and is putting in long hours trying to learn his craft, watching vision and all that stuff. In terms of his skillset, he is pretty good to go; he is lightning quick, he's got power, he is a really good kick, which is an obvious hurdle for the Irish guys," he said.
"Once he acclimatises to the dynamics of the game and how it's played and how you move, I can just see him having an impact very soon. He is happy which is very important; I think we've got a good one."
Tuohy is now within 15 games of breaking Jim Stynes' Irish games record after playing his 250th game on the last Saturday of September. And while the Irish connection has been stronger during his time in Australia, there has been an upswing in the past six months on the back of Tuohy and O'Connor winning a premiership.
McKenna, a former Essendon half-back, chose to return to the game after two years back home, joining the Lions after being pursued by a handful of other clubs. Ex-Pie Mark Keane also opted to come back for another crack and landed at Adelaide. Joyce secured a second chance at the Gabba. And that was all after Mullin committed to the Cats.
"The prospect of playing professional sport, this is the best chance you have. That has always been the big driver for Irish players coming out. Hopefully the fact that me and 'Shark' [Mark O'Connor] have had a bit of success will mean that more guys look at it as a really feasible way of having a long-term career," he said.
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"I think the fact that some guys have gone back and then wanted to come back out tells you a lot about some of the lifestyle and the opportunity that it is. It isn't for everyone, and most Irish guys won't make it – there's no point pretending that it's any different – but I get the impression personally that the game is getting more coverage than ever back home.
"I think the more guys that do succeed and the players with bigger profiles that do make the move is only going to mean that the interest grows and grows. I think we've got through the pandemic pretty well and I don't think the reputation of AFL has taken much of a hit back home, actually to be honest if anything it's grown."
IRISH AFL PLAYERS IN 2023
Mark Keane (Adelaide)
Darragh Joyce (Brisbane)
James Madden (Brisbane)
Conor McKenna (Brisbane)
Cian McBride (Essendon)
Oisin Mullin (Geelong)
Mark O'Connor (Geelong)
Zach Tuohy (Geelong)
Callum Brown (GWS Giants)
Fionn O'Hara (Hawthorn)
Conor Nash (Hawthorn)