Flynn From Kildare to Port Adelaide

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PORT Adelaide's Irish rookie Daniel Flynn says he still feels lost on the football field but more importantly he is finally at home off it.

In March Flynn said goodbye to Power coach Ken Hinkley and flew back to Ireland for what he thought would be for good — just five months into his Australian Rules adventure.

Moving to Australia was the first time the 20-year-old had left home, his grandfather with whom he was very close was ill and he was homesick.

"My father and my brother came out (to Adelaide) two or three weeks before I went home and that helped a little bit, but I was always very close to my grandfather and being so far away was hard," Flynn said.

ALIPATE CARLILE SLAYING THE GIANTS

"I went home and saw him and that probably didn't help and it felt like I wasn't 100 per cent committed (to Australian Rules).

"The best thing for me at the time was to go home and I was fully convinced that I was going home for good."

But about a week after being back in Kildare, less than an hour's drive southwest of Dublin, Flynn realised that for now he belonged back at Alberton.

A GREAT START, BUT BETTER FUTURE

"I thought 'what am I doing? There's nothing for me here at the moment' and gradually it got bigger and bigger.

"I guess I wanted the best of both worlds but eventually you've just got to grow up, it's not always nice but sometimes you just have to."

Flynn returned to Adelaide last month with a fresh perspective and a new hunger to have a crack at Australian Rules — a game he had played only once before being drafted by Port Adelaide as an international rookie last year.

Daniel Flynn has travelled a journey from Kildare to Port Adelaide. Source: News Limited

So far he has impressed in both outings for the Magpies in the SANFL, first against the Crows in Clare and last week against Sturt at Alberton and tomorrow he's been named in the back pocket for the top-of-the-table clash against South Adelaide.

Described by Magpies coach Garry Hocking as like an elastic band, "you pull it back and let it go", Flynn goes from 0 to 20m in 2.83 secs — considered well above average for a draftee — and when he gets the footy he knows how to move.

His skills are as good as his pace, but it's as if his brain is still trying to catch up.

"I can't play the game instinctively just yet, I have to put a little bit of thought into what I'm trying to do," he said.

"I'm still fairly lost but the boys are good, they tell me where to go and what to do.

"They might sugar coat it at times because I know what to do on paper but when you get out there you get sucked in to a contest that you're not meant to be in.

"But it just comes with time, learning where to lead up and where to run and stuff like that."

Flynn, who lives with Power teammates Ollie Wines and Chad Wingard, said the gaping difference between Gaelic footy and Aussie Rules was the physicality of the contest.

"Last weekend they (coaches) told me to get a bit more physical so I'm kind of working on that now," he said.

Irishman Daniel Flynn at Alberton Oval before training. Source: News Limited

"Gaelic is a bit more stand off-ish and not using your body as much, so the tackling is completely new but the kicking, handballing and marking is all fairly normal — it's just with a different ball.

"But I find the oval ball a lot easier to handball.

"If we were to try to hit a target from 30 yards out, I'd pick the oval ball any day because you have more control over it, but I suppose you can predict the round ball more."

Flynn's journey to Australia can be traced to 2012 when his school made the All-Ireland Gaelic final.

He later met former Sydney Swan Tadhg Kennelly — the only man to win an AFL and All-Ireland premiership — who was scouting for Irish AFL recruits.

Flynn impressed in testing which included a 20m sprint, beep test and vertical jump and was flown to London to play his first game of Australian Rules against the AFL-AIS Academy side.

From there he was invited to the AFL's draft camp in October and met with the Western Bulldogs and Essendon before Alan Richardson flew him to Port Adelaide who liked what they saw.

As big a names as Jim Stynes and Kennelly were in the Australian game, Flynn had barely heard of them until just before he was drafted which made his adventure Down Under seem even more obscure.

But his mates said 'go for it' and his parents were happy as long as he was.

"My friends thought I was mad if I didn't do it and my family just wanted what was best for me and wanted me to be happy," he said.

Now having effectively moved to Adelaide twice — with a trip home to Ireland in between — Flynn says coming back to Alberton was the best decision he made.

"I've been back for three weeks now and I'm not homesick at all but I feel like I'm better equipped to deal with it and I'm enjoying myself."

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