RTÉ Sport Journalist
In March 2020, Anton Tohill was sitting in his Melbourne home with Collingwood team-mate Jay Rantall watching Brisbane take on Hawthorn when the news broke: the AFL season had been suspended.
A day later, he boarded a flight back to Ireland.
That s just one of several unexpected obstacles encountered during his career so far. The Derry native is now in his third season with the Pies. As he sits in a South Yarra café and reflects, he can t help but smile at the absurdity of it all.
During his debut campaign, he suffered a concussion, a quad injury and tore his hip rotator. He then went home for Christmas break and tore 10cm of skin off his shin after a fall on a treadmill. Pre-season training was restricted given the risk of injection.