THE TOUGHEST TRADE, AIB’s documentary series which explores how the GAA Club Championships compare to other top level sports around the world, is back.
Airing on TV3 last year, the programme saw former Premier League footballer David Bentley and All Star baseball catcher Brian Schneider trade places with Crossmaglen footballer Aaron Kernan and James Stephens’ hurler Jackie Tyrrell.
This time around, Tipperary hurling captain Brendan Maher has travelled to Australia to try his hand at professional cricket with the Adelaide Strikers.
“I’m under no illusions that this is going to be really hard,” Maher said.
I’m expecting a massive challenge, but I have no expectations of how many balls I’m going to hit.
“I’m just going to go out and try to do as best I can — try and adapt to whatever I have to face.”
The Strikers are one of the top sides in Australian Twenty20 cricket’s the Big Bash and Borris-Ileigh half-back Maher is grateful for the chance to test himself in another discipline.
There are not too many lads who can say they got an opportunity to do something like this, ” he added. “To get the chance to go and have a go at it is probably once in a lifetime.
“Naturally, I would be very competitive and I probably will end up putting a bit of pressure on myself, but I can’t get bogged down in ‘I have to do this, I have to do that’. I just want to do the best I can.”
