Aussie rules giant Zach Tuohy: ‘How could you, in all good conscience, try and stop young players doing what I did?’

by Admin
November 16, 2024

Growing up, he dreamed of playing for Laois or Liverpool but had to leave for Australia to realise his dream of being a professional athlete. After retiring this year, Tuohy talks about the demonising of AFL headhunters, the problem with the GAA’s amateur status, and why he’s desperate to come back and play for Portlaoise

Zach Tuohy

Zach Tuohy has a stat which sounds like it can’t be true. He tells me that for every professional playing in the Australian Football League (AFL) in the Melbourne area, there are two journalists.

For a professional in the AFL, it might feel like there is never-ending scrutiny. “The coverage is kind of what pays your bills but it can get a bit overbearing at times,” Tuohy tells me on a Zoom call from his home in Geelong, a port city an hour outside Melbourne. The Portlaoise native lives there with his Australian wife Bec and their two sons, Flynn and Rafferty, who are 10 and five.