LAST UPDATE | 16 May 2020
STEFAN OKUNBOR TURNED around and spotted Zach Tuohy close by.
He made the enquiry.
“Who kicked me?”
The response was swift.
“Sorry mate, no one kicked you.”
That was the signal for alarm.
It was two weeks since Okunbar had landed back in Australia after spending time at home in Kerry over Christmas.
Early days in pre-season with the Geelong Cats, the start of the graft necessary to lay foundations for the 2020 campaign ahead.
Okunbor had been feeling positive, a full season of Australian Rules experience lodged in the bank since making the switch in October 2018 as an international rookie.
During that session on a Wednesday in late January, he gathered the ball at the club training base and made a move that felt routine.
But the consequences would be severe.
“I turned around away from the pack, tried to accelerate right and on the third step I felt a snap. You look around and you realise no one is near you.
“I would have done this a thousand times in pre-season. I turned around and asked Zach Tuohy who was quite shocked. I kind of knew then it was something serious.
“It’s very overwhelming, it feels like someone has shot you in the back of the heel.”
His career had been blessed with the good fortune up until then of being free from the medical setbacks that can cut short the sporting potential of youth.
The gravity of this injury didn’t sink in straight away. He came off the training pitch and the team medics hit him with the prognosis. A ruptured Achilles tendon. Surgery scheduled for the following Saturday.
“To be honest with you it was actually alien to me the whole injury. I thought I’d be out for maybe two months at a push. So I was brought in that day, thirty minutes after it happened and they were saying six months to a year. You realise it’s much more serious than what you expected it to be. My head was just spinning inside in the dressing-room.”
There is no good time to be hit with a lengthy spell on the sidelines watching on. But it didn’t help that it occurred when a new AFL season beckoned and there was only enthusiasm for what lay ahead.
How's this for a fifth game of competitive football? At any level. 👀
— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) July 17, 2019
Irish Cat Stefan Okunbor is a quick learner.
Podcast 🎧: https://t.co/UD4eWNGpjh#StandProud #WeAreGeelong pic.twitter.com/T8VSyk7U18
Or that the lonely rehabilitation road stretched out on the weekend that Na Gaeil from Tralee were enjoying their greatest football adventure, lighting up Croke Park with an attacking showing as they amassed 3-20 and lifting an All-Ireland crown in style.
Cutting that playing link with the club had been tough. After the 2019 Aussie Rules season ended, Okunbar had remained in Geelong to try to get a groin injury sorted. He came home in late December to family and friends, getting to sample the wild excitement engulfing their area after a Munster final win and the feverish anticipation before the All-Ireland series.
“I was able to play in this seven-a-side game at Christmas, I asked Geelong for permission to let me play. It was three or four games, a bit of a charity event. That just really put my mind at ease, I was very fortunate that I was able to go home and play. We’ve always been seen as a nice club I guess and I’m very proud to be part of the Na Gaeil community.
“When I was going in for surgery, they won the junior championship so that was quite tough being stuck in a hospital bed watching them win that. But look seeing your local football club win is amazing. I think some boys are still celebrating.
“The five or six weeks after where I was in a cast, immobilised, they were probably the hardest. It’s a learning curve, the dark days hopefully seem to be behind me.”
Okunbar had wrapped his head around the impact of the injury and then came another seismic event.
Like every other sport, the Aussie Rules schedule was ripped up in late March. They have mapped out a pathway to return to action in June but the shutdown sparked by coronavirus did necessitate personal change.
“I was quite sceptical when they told us we didn’t have access to the club about how I’d manage but they were quite helpful. They facilitated us and we got some gym equipment back into our shed here, I’m living with Gryan Miers, another Geelong player.
“So we just packed up a watt bike, weights, everything you needed really. It was a bit of a shock to the system initially being stuck at home. The law here is that you can only meet up with two people at once so we’ve just had boys swing by.
“We’ve a really good setup in our shed, utilise the stuff we’ve grabbed from the club. You can kill two birds with the stone, have a chat and get a session done.
“In isolation I would have gone home otherwise but because of the injury I stayed here because I have access to the strength and conditioning coaches and physios. There’s a coach here that swings by to our place here just to do sessions with me. So it’s very hands on. It’s really good.”
Through it all his drive to make this move a success has not been diluted. The summer before he left Ireland, he was the best U20 footballer in Munster with his standout displays at full-back for a Kingdom team managed by Jack O’Connor.
In 2016 he worked under Peter Keane and shared in All-Ireland minor celebrations with team-mates that Kerry now pin their senior hopes on. Na Gaeil club men Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor were central figures last September in Croke Park. Okunbar could have sought to experience all that until an alternative choice was placed before him.
“It’s great seeing the likes of David Clifford and Seanie O’Shea excelling. Graham O’Sullivan and a few of the other boys as well, David Shaw being called into the senior panel. It’s great and you’ve the lads from Na Gaeil also there.
“It was quite a difficult decision to make because I always wanted to play for Kerry seniors, football was going well back home. It was just an opportunity, I weighed up my options and I just thought I didn’t want to have any regrets moving forward. It was the right decision for me which I still stand by.”
📽| Speed. Power. Endurance. 🏃
— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) October 30, 2018
New Cat Stefan Okunbor.#WeAreGeelong pic.twitter.com/t0plgIJupm
The setup where he now resides has helped with the transition to a different way of life. There are familiar figures in Geelong. Mark O’Connor has also graduated from the school of recent Kerry minor champions. Portlaoise native Zach Tuohy offers a wealth of experience.
“They’ve been great mentors for me. If ever I was feeling homesick, just call them, have a chat, have a coffee, they’ve been really good for me. Geelong is a very family culture community, I’m very lucky to have a very nice network here. All that has made the transition much, much easier.
“I reckon positioning was the biggest thing for me to learn with the game itself. Kicking is hard of course but positioning was big. They do advocate running off the shoulder but not as much as Gaelic football back home. My first year at times in some games I found myself running around in circles like a headless chicken. But it all came once I got a few games under my belt.
“I never anticipated I’d be out for this long but other than the injury, it’s been really good.
“There’s no target date in mind. So far the rehab is going really well. It’s just keeping myself right for whatever the future holds I guess, hopefully this Covid-19 blows over and hopefully try to get a few games under my belt.”
Focusing on moving forward rather than looking back.
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Seems to be fairly grounded. Best of luck to him!
Wow. That closing piece of advice is powerful for a 16 year old. I like him already.
Not going to be popular but gaa is the main reason Ireland isn’t producing more professional sports people. Nothing against gaa but young kids are playing a sport they can’t make a living from when they may make a career from another sport with the same input.
@Harry Trafford: that is of no fault of the GAA to be fair. It’s up to the FAI to attract these young players to their product…every country faces the same issue, sports competing with other sports to attract young participants. Ireland is no different.
@Harry Trafford: not everything is about money. For some playing gaa and having a good job etc is enough for them. They play the sport and can obtain legendary local status. For others it’s about chasing huge wads of cash in a more commercial industry overseas with huge failure rates. Retire & play golf & grow a beer belly. Different folks, different strokes. As long as you’re happy. That’s the main thing.
@Ottomaaan: I agree the FAI need to pull the finger out. Ireland have some of the best sports people in the world right across the board. Just the article mentions a career in GAA but it’s an amature sport, all be it played with a professional attitude.
@Ronan McDermott: a career in sport isn’t all about money, not everyone makes massive wads of cash only the very small majority. I’m not referring to just becoming a footballer. You can make a decent wage in most sports at a professional level.
@Harry Trafford: I hear you. Not disagreeing with you as such. Lots of sports have salary caps etc. By being involved with gaa you could have a very good job arranged with a sponsor etc. So technically you’d still be making money with a company that’ll work around your schedule.
@Ronan McDermott: very small minded, being a top footballer against the billions that play or the the top hurler against the 100s that play
@tubbsyf: I’m not small minded at all. Different folks, different strokes is all I said.
“Stay committed to doing it. Don’t go over there and think you’ve made it. You’re only playing 18s football. You haven’t made it anywhere yet, so keep your head down and keep working away.” Sounds like Roy Keane got to him.
I think this is a story the GAA need to be cery cognisant of. The way the competitions are set up now you only have a few counties who are ever likely to win anything with back doors, super 8′s etc making it almost impossible for one of the “smaller” teams like wicklow to hold onto or encourage their best players to stick with the support. The constant push for revenue generated by the biggest counties making finals is seeing the players from the top counties putting in even more effort in the knowledge they might win something while concurrently you have teams from weaker counties who are saying upwards of 40 players are refusing to come into their County set ups.
@Dino Baggio: This is vividly highlighted in Munster where they seed the draw to have Cork and Kerry in the football final every year even though Cork are at best the third best team in Munster and the likes of Limerick footballers are struggling to get players to commit. The drain of players to pro sports is going to get worse unless the Gaa address this issue.
Only just came across this article. Conor was with Mill Celtic from the age of 11 before joining Newbridge Town at 13. He was in the KDUL Academy from 11 and played inter league at u 12 and u 13. Not sure where the only playing soccer since 14 is coming from
Bully Beef?