Retiring AFL star Zach Tuohy has said he still harbours ambitions of representing Laois while confirming his intention to return to the club scene with Portlaoise in 2025.
The 34-year-old announced in August that he would be finishing with Geelong and the sport entirely at the end of the 2024 season, with the player controversially excluded from their matchday squad for the preliminary final loss to Brisbane the following month, meaning his Australian rules career ended off the field of play.
He leaves the AFL as a real stalwart though and one of the biggest successes of the Irish experiment having played 288 games for Carlton and Geelong across his 14 seasons with the highlight undoubtedly being the 2022 Premiership win with the Cats.
Prior to his first taste of Australia with trials in 2008, Tuohy had been ear-marked as a potential footballing star having won a Leinster MFC title in 2007 as an attacking half-back – and there may yet still be a route to him lining out for the O'Moore County having previously donned the jersey in the O'Byrne Cup.
"The ambition was always to go back and play, certainly for my club, and I do love the idea of trying to get a few inter-county games in, I never got to play for Laois in a senior championship game before I left," Tuohy told RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport.
"It seems unlikely now given the time constraints and how long I'd have to go back home to make that happen, but certainly playing for Portlaoise is on the cards next year.
"Can’t guarantee it because I’m not sure exactly what my work situation will be but I'm pretty confident I can make it happen.
"I actually tried to get home a couple of weeks ago but this whole retirement thing has not been as laid back as I was hoping. The six or
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