It's been eight years since Pearce Hanley made the move to Australia in order to play Aussie Rules football and it's fair to say he is thriving.
Having signed a new five-year contract with the Brisbane Lions recently, the 26-year-old is viewed as one of the AFL's most successful Irish imports.
But with his native Mayo facing Dublin in a mouth-watering All-Ireland semi-final, is there a twinge of temptation to make a Tadgh Kennelly style inter-county return?
"I dream about that every year to be honest so I'm trying to look in [to see] where there's anything in my contract where if I take a year out and go home, if I could do that and still get paid. But I've always thought about it obviously, growing up playing with Mayo and I would love to join the boys and win an All-Ireland because it's been so long now for Mayo," he told Off The Ball tonight as he joined us for an interview.
Speaking about his decision to move to Australia in 2007, he described himself as "immature" at first, before bedding in over time, but added that he was disappointed with a past Australian headline ('I was drunk for the first two years') after an in-depth interview following his 100th game Down Under, when a passing quip was highlighted.
He also spoke about the way in which the drink ban culture in the GAA is not part of life in the AFL, and how Australian Rules is not as big a deal in the Brisbane area where rugby league rules the back pages.
Hanley also shared his experience of adapting to the game itself and also spoke about the importance of Laois and former Brisbane player Colm Begley in helping settling in at the beginning of his time in Oz.
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