Callum Brown has left for Australia and his first chat Down Under was about breaking ankles

This lad will be some loss to Limavady.

He’ll be some loss to Derry too.

Callum Brown is heading Down Under. The 18-year-old has turned plenty of heads in Derry in the last couple of years but unfortunately for the Oak Leaf county, his exploits have earned him admirers from abroad too.

The Sydney Giants have been watching, they’ve been watching closely and they’ve gotten their man now. Brown, of African descent, has joined the giants and he becomes the 14th Irish man on the AFL list for 2019.

In fairness, Callum Brown looked tailor-made for an AFL move from the minute he got the chance to show what he was made of in a Derry jersey.

Somehow, he didn’t start on the Derry minor team for their All-Ireland final against Kerry in 2017 but he came on, caught a few skyscrapers and ruffled Kerry feathers.

That got the whole of Derry talking about this lad. He was fast-tracked into the county’s senior team only to be told hours before a McKenna Cup game that he was too young to play.

He wasn’t too young for under-20s. He went on and ripped it up for his county on their Ulster winning run, before breaking Mayo ankles in the All-Ireland semi-final too on his way to the goal of the competition.

Scór draíochtúil ó Callum Browne do @Doiregaa in aghaidh @MayoGAA sa cluiche leath ceannais @EirGrid faoi 20 inné@GAA_BEO ar @TG4TV @oakleafers pic.twitter.com/DBkxWSSxS4

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) July 15, 2018

In the GAA we call that breaking an opponent’s ankles. Brown had to explain the term ankle-breaker to his new management on arrival.

“I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about when he talked about breaking a guy’s ankle, but that’s their terminology when they wrong-foot someone,” McCartney told AFL.com.au with a laugh.

Exhibit A is above.

Athletic, strong and quick, Brown is a 91kg, 181 cm specimen who’s well able to throw that weight around too.

Australia’s loss is Ireland’s gain.

Brown joins the following Irish players in Australia.

James Madden (Dublin)
Mark Keane (Cork)
Anton Tohill (Derry)
Conor McKenna (Tyrone)
Mark O’Connor (Kerry)
Stefan Okunbor (Kerry)
Zach Tuohy (Laois)
Pearce Hanley (Mayo)
Conor Glass (Derry)
Conor Nash (Meath)
Darragh Joyce (Kilkenny)
Colin O’Riordan (Tipperary)

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10