HERO RUES ’CARRY ON’
ZACH Tuohy lived a dream scenario but was left wishing he was “cooler” in his jubilation. The Irishman booted a goal after the siren on Saturday night to deliver Geelong a crucial twopoint victory over Geelong. The defender was mobbed after his kick just sneaked in and delivered a few “dabs” but he said he would have rathered been more measured. “I carried on like a bit of a pork chop initially,” Tuohy said with a smile. “I should’ve been cooler.” The 28-year-old said he had assistant coach Matthew Scarlett to thank for even being moved into the forwardline to receive a perfectly weighted Mitch Duncan kick as the Cats trailed by four points with seconds remaining. He had no idea how long was left and checked with the umpire before a word of advice from Scott Selwood. “From there, no thinking — there was only one job to do,” he said. “I went back and asked the umpire if I could take as long as I wanted because there was no 30second time restriction. “As soon as I asked, he said there wasn’t, but then I thought I shouldn’t waste too much time here and go back and kick it. “There wasn’t too much thinking — it was just ‘kick’.”
His parents, Marie and Noel, could not watch from Ireland — they were too nervous, with mum walking in the backyard in the dying minutes of the game.
Not even he knew where the kick was headed when it left the boot.
“(It looked) not too bad. It did start on the right goalpost and I wasn’t sure how much it was going to come inside and I was just thinking, ‘Don’t clip the inside (of the post)’,” he said.
“That would have been worse than just missing but fortunately I do tend to move the ball a little right to left when I kick.
“It’s kind of a dream after the siren to win the game — it was a pretty special moment and I’m obviously pretty happy that it went through, but even if it didn’t I still would’ve been proud of the fact that I put myself in the position to get the win.”
Coach Chris Scott lauded the advice of Scarlett to swing Tuohy into attack at the start of the final term as the Cats faced a fightback, though Tuohy conceded his effort may not be added to his career highlight reel.
“It was news to me when it happened,” he said of the move.
“It wasn’t pre-planned. I’ve never played forward (in my career), not even for a minute.
“It was a good learning experience. No doubt my (video) edits won’t be too flash, some of my leading patterns wouldn’t have been great I’m sure.”