Each season footy players from across Australia flock to Cairns for "something different".This year there are 21 alone at Port Douglas and a fair sprinkling at the other six clubs that have made for a very different-looking AFL Cairns competition.
One of those transients is 24-year-old Sam Harkin at Cairns Saints, and he has taken that notion of something different to a whole new level. The fleet-footed goal sneak last played Aussie rules for the Swans in Ballarat.
But in between that Victorian stint and the Far Northern one he is currently living, Harkin boasts a story not many of his kind can tell. It was Gaelic football that lured him to Europe on a holiday of a different sort.
While the Irish influence is alive and well in the AFL, few Australians are known to have made a successful transition to the round-ball game. But Harkin made a mockery of that, polling more votes than any other teammate at his Dublin club Clontarf to bring the best and fairest award back to Australia. Not a bad effort for someone who had never played the game before.
"Yeah, that was a bit lucky," he shrugged off. "I guess it was just my consistency. I’d only seen the International Rules stuff on TV and even that is very different to Gaelic. At first the game and skills were a bit tough to pick up, but once we got the hang of it, it was pretty good."
The experience, on and off the field, was one to cherish.
"It was a great way to travel. It was like turning up to play at any other club – you had friends straight away and we had some good times," he said.
Harkin does admit it is good to be back running around with the oval ball, though.
"On our days off we’d bring the AFL ball down and have a scratch match with the guys and they loved it. You can’t tackle in Gaelic and the lads certainly enjoyed that aspect to it."
He has started well in Cairns too, playing a major role in his side’s first and second round wins.
"I’ve enjoyed it up here. When I got home (to Victoria) I thought I didn’t really want to sit around like everyone else, and where better to play footy than Cairns," he said. "The club’s been great so far and we have some good hopes for the season."
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/04/11/213985_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post.
Last Modified on 24/04/2012 11:59