Irish Echo Sport

A year ago, Laois star Conor Meredith was pretty sure that his AFL dream was going to materialise.

The Brisbane Lions were showing considerable interest in signing the Gaelic footballer and a subsequent trial at the club seemed almost certain to yield a contract.

But then, in just a short space of time, things changed.

Leigh Matthews departed and Michael Voss took the reins. Not only did the club delist Meredith’s compatriot Colm Begley, but they were no longer interested in acquiring the services of the then 19-year-old.

With Pearce Hanley left as the sole Irish representative at the Lions, Meredith was forced to look at other options.

Despite the setback, Meredith’s dream of pursuing an AFL career did eventuate.

Signed by North Melbourne after a successful showing in Ricky Nixon’s draft camp and a trial at the club, he hasn’t looked back.

And despite Melbourne proving itself to be a less sunny climate than the location he initially looked destined to make his home, he still gets asked by friends at home how he’s enjoying the weather.

“People at home are always asking if I’m going to the beach today or if I’ve been sunbathing,” he laughs.

The perception of Melbourne as an Australian city constantly basking in sunlight isn’t the only myth that Meredith finds himself fielding questions about from home.

The North Melbourne rookie says the speedy debuts of Collingwood’s Martin Clarke and more recently Essendon’s Michael Quinn has given a false impression of what’s 
required to make the top grade.

“Because those guys made it so quickly, people at home think that you can come over here and play straight away but it’s definitely not the case. People at home kind of think that you’re on holiday rather than being at work and it being your job.

“They ask me if it’s good craic at the weekends and am I out much, but to be honest I can’t remember the last time I had a big night out.

“I’ve played nine Sunday games in a row so there isn’t much time for going out.

“I think it’s been two-and-a-half months since I was out. It’s definitely a false impression that people have at home. Often people will ask me, ‘So will we see you on the telly?’. They don’t understand the amount of hard work that’s required before then.”

Meredith’s claims are certainly backed up by statistics. Out of nine Irish players currently on AFL books, only one player is playing senior football every week – Martin Clarke.

Essendon’s Michael Quinn made a startling debut in round two but has played just one game since, further emphasising how tough it is to keep a senior berth.

Setanta Ó hAilpín is also struggling to get his place having been promoted last weekend from the reserves to play just his third senior game for the year.

Even Colm Begley, who played 29 games with his former club the Brisbane Lions, has yet to make his senior debut with his new club St Kilda. The four other Irish recruits – Pearce Hanley, Brendan Murphy, Kevin Dyas and Brian Donnelly have yet to play a senior game in 2009.

“My parents [Kate and Noel] were over a few weeks ago and they really saw just how tough it is with early mornings and extra training sessions,” Meredith said.

“We do long days and often I’ll be staying behind putting in extra time with the development coaches when the other boys are going home so it’s pretty tough.

“All the time you’re just trying to get to the same level as the Australian players.”

So far, the 20-year-old’s hard work and lack of social life is certainly paying off.

Having started his Aussie rules career in reserves 
‘reserves’, two weeks ago he was promoted to the first 
reserves. And by chance he faced his fellow countyman and compatriot Colm Begley when his side Werribbe met Sandringham in the VFL.

“I caught up with him after the game. I was playing half back and he was down back too so we didn’t bump into each other at all. It would have been good if we did but it didn’t happen,” Meredith laughs.

“He said that he thought I’d done really well considering it was my first game. He said he wouldn’t have known at all. He just said to keep working hard and enjoying it, which is the main thing. There’s a huge jump, even from the twos twos, so I can’t even imagine what the jump would be like to AFL level.”

Meredith said one of the most challenging aspects of his new sport is adapting to the full-bodied tackle.

“One of the main things I’ve been focusing on is my tackling. The tackling is pretty full on here. There’s a bit of a difference between being shouldered at home and getting knocked off course with your running to being taken down to the ground.”

But whenever the work load is tough or questions about his progress from home get frustrating, he has one inspiration he draws on.

“I always think of Tadhg Kennelly. It took him nearly two years and he turned into an amazing player.”

Watch this space.

 by Catherine Murphy