AFL star Zach Tuohy on his silent struggles as a young father and life after footy
He did two trials for the club before taking the plunge, leaving his family behind in Portlaoise and moving to Australia to become a professional footballer, first for Carlton and then for the Cats in Geelong.
By the time Zach retired from the AFL in 2024, he had accumulated an astonishing 288 games, a premiership title, a loving Aussie wife and two beautiful sons.
But Zach's great Irish-Australian adventure wasn't always a dream run.
He struggled as a young, first-time dad, and didn't know who to turn to.
On the way home from training, Zach would feel compelled to pull over on the side of the road and cry, alone in his car before coming home to his young family, pretending everything was ok.
Further information
The Irish Experiment is co-authored by Catherine Murphy and published by Simon and Schuster.
Keep up to date with Zach's post-footy exploits on his Instagram page.
Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Footy world stunned by Jake Stringer act against his old club
Jake Stringer looks to be settling in beautifully at the GWS Giants and it is not sitting well with his last AFL stop. The 31-year-old Stringer has been a polarising figure across his 223-game career with the Bulldogs, Bombers and now Giants. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. An All-Australian back in 2015 and a six-time club leading goalkicker, Stringer has also had off-field issues and left both the Dogs and Essendon on bad terms. Facing the Bombers for the first time since ending his 123-game stint with the Melbourne club, Stringer said pre-match on Fox Footy he was 'hoping for a few boos'. He didn't need to worry about that, with the boos raining down whenever he touched the footy against his injury-ravaged club. Unfortunately for Essendon fans, that happened a lot, with Stringer playing a starring role as the Giants built a big lead at Marvel Stadium. Journalist and Bombers fan Caspar McLeod tweeted pre-game: 'Jake Stringer … please take it easy on us.' The powerfully built 192cm forward had other ideas, however, stamping his authority on the game in the second term. GWS only took a seven-point lead into quarter-time before Stringer burst into action. Midway through the second term, he was booed when he tried to take a mark and again when a forward entry ended up in his vicinity. He then got his moment from a ball-up in the forward 50m, when Kieren Briggs tapped the ball to Stringer, who had an open goal ahead of him. But he opted to handball to young teammate Max Gruzewski, who kicked the goal. 'Wow. Wow. Jake Stinger, that is awesome,' David King said on Fox Footy. 'We've seen him do this at centre bounce clearances over the last few years, but from forward 50 stoppage I'm not sure I've seen him do much of this.' Jack Riewoldt added: 'I love this. I think it shows where Jake Stringer's mindset is, coming up against his old side. 'He gives this away to the young player Gruzewski and this shows where his mindset is at, the team player Jake Stringer is.' King then joked: 'And in true forward fashion, he handballed it so poorly he was a chance to get it back.' Just 10 secs of game time later, Tom Green found Stringer on the lead and he took the uncontested mark as the boos rained down again. 'The booing is the loudest we've heard Bombers fans all night,' Mark Howard said in commentary. 'Stringer gave the last one off, he's been in a rich vein of goalkicking form. 'Six-time leading goalkicker, off four last week, from 50 Stringer … Essendon cannot kick a goal and the Giants cannot miss.' That stretched the Giants' lead to 28 points as they started to pull away. 'They get to him, they know what this means to Jake,' King said after he kicked his first. 'He's probably circled this one in the calendar, a lot of unhappy Bombers fans. 'He's just been so good to watch this guy for a long period of time, he's a 'moments' player.' Gruzewski's goal sparked a run of four gin seven minutes to break the game open before debutant Liam McMahon finally responded with Essendon's first goal. Dating back to last week's dreadful performance against Richmond, the Bombers had gone 92 minutes of game time between goals. Early in the third term, Stringer intercepted a handball and threw the ball on his left foot and found Callum Brown, who missed his set shot. The premiership player with the Dogs then pulled off a spectacular mark after a forward entry from Toby Bedford and snapped the goal for his second of the night. 'Wow, they have recruited a highlights package, there's no doubt about that the Giants,' King said. 'He's just starting to find his feet in this line up. I tell you what, this is when you want him rolling, back half of the year.' He had three goals by three quarter-time and it's fair to say Bombers fans weren't enjoying the show and many watching on were keen to comment on the persistent booing. 'Lol who's booing Jake Stringer? He got pushed out of the club for a bag of potato chips, please,' was one comment on X. Richmond fan Paul White tweeted: 'Bomber fans booing Jake Stringer. So on point for those in red and black.' Jasper Chellappah offered: 'I have never seen Jake Stringer pass a goal off before, let alone running into an open goal.' A fourth wrote: 'Why boo Jake Stringer? He didn't leave. Essendon chose to move him on. ' The Giants' X account then got in on the action. 'The crowd here really like Jake Stringer,' they tweeted. Another fan gushed: 'I am feeling proud of Jake Stringer tonight, that play showed him being a teammate and towards the young player, and the goal for himself he deserves that, it was a great goal too. Just ignore the noise. Well done.' It's only early in Stringer's time with the Giants, but he's made a promising start as he makes his mark away from the Melbourne footy bubble.
7NEWS
6 hours ago
- 7NEWS
GWS captain Toby Greene called out for raising studs in marking contest against Essendon
Greater Western Sydney captain Toby Greene has been called out for raising his studs during a marking contest against Essendon on Thursday night. Greene looked set to take a mark on the wing when Bombers midfielder Sam Durham cut in front of him to his hands to the ball first. The veteran Giant had his foot outstretched, which made contact with Durham's chest region. Durham wasn't hurt by the contact, but probably should have been awarded a free kick. Greene has made a habit of raising his foot throughout his career, which prompted the AFL to make a rule change in 2019 to outlaw the act. Channel 7 commentator Kane Cornes wasn't impressed by the move. 'Here's the Toby Greene move that we've seen before ... don't love the studs up,' he said. Brian Taylor quickly leapt to the defence of Greene, saying he is within his right to fly for a mark. 'You can't do anything anymore. You should be able to fly for the mark without worrying about where your studs are. Goodness me,' he said. 'The defender should expect to have studs in your head at some stage.' Cornes wasn't expecting Greene to be fined for anything, but just said it was 'strange'. 'It's a strange motion, BT. Not one that we would usually see from players,' he said. 'I am not saying it's reportable or fineable or anything. It's just ... put your knee up.' Greene is the most sanctioned player in history with 28, having gone past David Rhys-Jones' long-standing record of 25 sanctions during the finals series last year.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Zac Hosking: I was sick of being overlooked
Canberra forward Zac Hosking has just signed a new deal at the club and it's a reward for the efforts he's had to put in to make it in 1st Grade. The 28 year old joined Quentin Hull and Billy Moore to explain how he nearly didn't take the opportunity to join Brisbane in 2022 as he was fed up of not being given a chance in 1st grade. He also explained his pride in seeing former Newcastle team mate Gehemat Shibasaki make it as a State of Origin player and how he grew up with Queensland coach Billy Slater as his idol. Plus hear the latest on the player retention plans at the Dolphins from CEO Terry Reader and get some tipping tutelage from Christopher's Corner.
