CIARAN ‘CASEY’ BYRNE will become the latest Irish player in the AFL when he makes his debut tomorrow in Melbourne.
And the 20 year-old from Louth will have two big supporters in attendance at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) when he lines out for Carlton Blues against Essendon Bombers in a game that starts at 3.45am Irish time tomorrow morning.
Byrne rang his parents on Tuesday morning to tell them that he’d picked for his first AFL game and they immediately booked flights to Melbourne, flying 16,000km to cheer him on.
“Tuesday morning, we got the phone call in Ireland at quarter to seven in the morning, by half eight the tickets were booked,” revealed Ciaran’s father.
“Wednesday morning, five o’clock Irish time, we left home. The flight was leaving Dublin at nine o’clock and we’re here.
“He was always quite focused on what he wanted to do. To get the break to play professional football in Australia was a dream come true really. It’s a dream come true both for Casey and us all.”
Ciaran Byrne greets his father at the airport in Melbourne.Source: YouTube Screengrab"It's been a whirlwind experience but I've loved every minute of it," says Byrne. "I felt like it (Carlton debut) was going to come at some stage this year but it's earlier than what I expected. I think I'm ready to go.
"I've put in a lot of hard work this pre-season. I've really acted as a sponge and soaked up as much as possible."
You can watch the great video that Carlton FC have produced to mark Byrne's debut here.
-- First published 11.07
The only reason they won the six nations last year is because Scotland and ourselves played the majority of the game with 14 or less men and they were awarded the most dubious of tries against England with the water carriers and medical staff still on the pitch.
@Peter Dunne: Definitely got a good bit more than a slice of luck, but at the same time you make your own too at times and can only play whats infront of you. Players like LRZ, L.Williams, J Tips, AWJ, Wyn Jones, Faletau, Navidi etc were incredible through out for them.
Wales we’re poor really. Fiji we’re unlucky, played well. Rees-Zammit’s try should not have been given, he was clearly not in control of the ball on (attempted) touchdown.
@Teddy O’Brien: In fairness as Berry said, all they look for is separation with the ball and there was none. I partly agree with you tho as the ball rolled up from his palm to wrist, but that’s still contact I guess… Still he probably deserved it for the effort alone. The speed he has is freakishly good.
@Teddy O’Brien: The 2000s called, they want their laws back. There doesn’t need to be control.
@Ultan Corcoran: baloucane faster?
Hopefully the new Super Rugby team can help Fiji progress. The talent is there for them to be a real powerhouse, just need funding to build a genuine international set up!
@TheCraftyCulchie: 5 teams – Us, Scotland, France, Argentina and Fiji have had a man red carded against Wales in the last 9 months
@Jonny Walls: Could it be a tactic? To orchestrate situations where an opposition player has a high risk of fouling. Theoretically, it could be easy enough to do.
@SomeGuy: that would be handy! Hard to do I’d say!
Sau is clearly a bit of an id iot, has a recent history of nasty tackles. Tried to take the head off Connacht’s Niall Murray with a late hit in Touch last season at the Sportsground which unbelievably didn’t even get a yellow card…
https://twitter.com/RonanB/status/1371104555405094913?t=xQVRjAV_64IB7bRwVkdLiw&s=19
Ehhh …….. did wales play a large part of that game against 13? You’d expect them to win. Unlucky fiji but discipline is an issue