Zach Tuohy, Portlaoise’s proudest son.
And that’s not just for his sporting achievements. The Geelong Cats player showed what a gentleman he is on Friday when, after a fan ran into him, losing his phone and keys in the process, Tuohy picked them up and returned them.
He bore no grudges with the over-zealous fan, put the disappointment of an impending loss to one side and, as any sound man would, he helped a guy out. It was only an impending loss at that stage because, true to one of the AFL’s great traditions, even with the game not yet finished, the fans invaded the pitch to congratulate their record-breaker Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.
There were six minutes to go in the fourth quarter when Franklin marked from 30m out before kicking what would prove to be his 1000th point in the AFL. He became just the fourth man to reach the mark.
After the game, Tuohy, in his 12th season as an AFl player, explained to the Geelong Cats channel the details of the collision.
“I was trudging off, and some bloke ran straight into me. He apologised straight away, he didn’t mean it but there was a bit of a head class as well. Anyway, we cleaned each other up, he apologised and as he stood up and ran off, I could see his phone and keys on the ground! It’s about as bad as it gets losing your phone and keys so I picked it up and chased after him and grabbed him by the collar to give him back his stuff.
“I think he thought I was there to, he kind of looked at me like I was going after him but yeah, like I said, he apologised and didn’t mean it and I figured you’d hate to lose your phone and keys so gave them back to him.
Zach Tuohy, what a gentpic.twitter.com/h1zWka9CQ1
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) March 26, 2022
There’s a better view of the incident here.
In all the chaos Zach Tuohy still manages to be a great bloke.#AFLSwansCats pic.twitter.com/LoWihLqMrH
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) March 25, 2022
He’s one we can be proud of.
