As snow begins to blanket his hometown of Athlone, new Irish recruit Ray Connellan has begun adjusting to life as an AFL footballer.
Attending both the Irish Combine in Dublin and AFL Academy in Flordia, the 22-year-old former Gaelic football prodigy caught the eye of Recruiting & List Manager Tony Elshaug as the Saints looked at alternative venues for talent.
With some of Australia’s brightest football talents on display, Connellan impressed the St Kilda recruiters, leading to a three-week trial at Linen House Centre and signing on as an international rookie.
Heading into his first pre-season and life as an AFL footballer, Connellan has taken on extra training to fast track the transition to the famous Sherrin.
“Darragh and myself, we always do some extra work just before and after training, mostly low level hands stuff just to try and get used to the ground balls,” Connellan said.
“Back home our ball has a predictable bounce, but over here it can go anywhere so we just kind of get used to little things like that and then some body work around the stoppage, how to position yourself.
“Things we don’t have in our game back home so we’re doing more extras in that senses whereas the other boys who have been playing football all their lives don’t have to do so much.”
Essentially arriving to the sport as a blank canvas from a skills perspective, both Connellan and fellow Irish recruit Darragh Joyce don’t have the bad habits some AFL footballer leaen at a young age.
Having promptly picked up the mechanics behind kicking, it’s talk of structures and work around stoppages that is taking longer for Connellan to adjust.
“There is an awful lot of structures around stoppages and things that we don’t have back home, so getting the head around that is a little bit tricky,”
“But there’s so much staff here, so much support that you pick up bits. As long as you have a piece of information going home with you every night and you study that, you pick it up as you go.”
As the youngest of six, Connellan grew up in a gifted sporting family. Both his brothers were involved in professional sports, while his sister is a talented Gaelic footballer.
Blessed with natural talent, the 188cm Irishman was a rising Gaelic star with pace to burn – registering a 2.78 second 20-metre sprint, 0.03 seconds of the AFL Combine record.
However, Connellan’s Gaelic career ended in disappointment, suffering a broken leg in the Leinster football semi-final.
Nearing full recovery, Connellan has begun training with the first to four-year players - which included a ninth-placed finish in the pre-season’s first 3km time-trial.
“No problems really with the leg at all, I’m taking part in everything and just noticed the legs have been a little bit sore after training because I’ve been so long off my feet.”
“The fitness I’m still playing catch up, but the guys here are looking after us well.
“If we are pulling up on any little niggles they take us out and bring us onto the bikes or the anti-gravity treadmill, just to ease up on the legs because the load is a lot higher than what I’ve been used to.”
