2 days ago
'Living with Mark, he's been a huge help': Kerry's Cillian Burke settling in Down Under
Cillian Burke surprised some people at Geelong with his first goal for the club in a VFL match against Gold Coast Suns on Sunday. Just before half-time, in what was his debut in Geelong colours, the Kerry native struck a left-footed shot from a tight angle through the posts to the delight of his teammates. Burke had been battling a knee injury since joining the club.
"I'm naturally right-legged so a lot of people have been saying it to me, they didn't know I had that in my left leg," Burke said in an interview with Geelong's in-house media team.
"In rehab we kind of do a lot of stuff down that pocket so we've been most days kind of having fun kicking them.
"I was delighted to get out there. It's been a while since I've played anything really, it's been about 10 months. I was nervous really, anxious to get out there of course and a bit of nervous energy.
"The lads helped me a lot and everyone in the club really just made it easy to go out there. They put no pressure on you and just tell you to express yourself which is good."
Burke made his debut on a rain-soaked day which made handling the ball tricky. Though, in some ways, he felt the wet conditions made it easier for him.
"It makes the ball a lot more slippy, it was like a bar of soap, dropped it a few times," he said.
"It's made it a bit easier as well because it kind of takes the pressure off me. The game is a bit more contest and scrappy which made it easier for me, you just kind of have to throw yourself in there and get stuck in which is good."
Burke was one of the few bright sparks for the Kerry seniors last year, making his move to Australia particularly painful for the Kingdom. At Geelong, he joined fellow Kerryman Mark O'Connor and Mayo's Oisín Mullin. Both are now firmly established senior players while Kate Kenny, Aishling Moloney, Rachel Kearns and Anna-Rose Kennedy are part of the club's AFLW squad.
"Living with Mark, he's been a huge help," said Burke. "They make you feel at home here and make you feel comfortable. Having that person to talk to who's went through the same experiences and both of them doing so well, they certainly know what they're doing and doing the right things.
"Listening to them has been great help on in the pitch and off the pitch as well, even things that aren't related to footy, they just help a lot which is good."
