AS CARLTON'S latest foray into finding Irish talent, County Laois teenager Zach Tuohy says he would "jump at the chance" of pursuing a career with the Blues if he is offered a contract.

Tuohy returned to Ireland last Saturday after a two-week trial with the club.

"It would be a huge deal to be offered a contract, for me and my family. It’s always been a dream to play professional sport," he said.

"When you play football at home you never really expect to get the opportunity to play professionally because Gaelic [football] is an amateur sport. So I think that most Gaelic footballers, if given the opportunity, would take it."

General manager of football operations Steven Icke said the club was impressed by Tuohy's efforts during the trial.

"He's a very impressive young lad," he said. "He obviously came over here well credentialed being underage player of the year last year in Ireland.

"We’ve known about him for some time… he did really well in all the physical testing. He’s got great speed. It was just a matter of giving him the opportunity to play with the oval ball and learn about our game.

"He adapted really well to both of those things."

However, Carlton will not make a decision on offering the 18-year-old a place on its international rookie list until later in the year.

"We don’t have to make a decision until the middle of December, which is when strictly you have to have documentation lodged," Icke said.

"Obviously we’ve got to get through the draft camp, trade week and then the national draft. Once we do that we can assess whether there's a position for Zach."

Tuohy found out a year ago that he would travel to Melbourne for a trial and has supported the Blues since.

"I’ve been watching Carlton games on TV since I found out," he said. "Because I was watching the likes of Chris Judd, Brendan Fevola, Nick Stevens and those sorts of guys, when I first met them at the club I was quite intimidated. I didn’t know what they’d be like.

"I was really surprised at how supportive they’ve been. They’ve gone out of their way to make me feel at home.

"In my first few days here [Judd] came over to talk to me and gave me some advice on kicking. That means a lot. I was so surprised that he would even bother talk to some random Irish guy at the club."

As for the trial, which included physical and psychological testing, Tuohy was happy with his results despite some big challenges.

"My ball skills were good," he said. "I have a lot of work to do on fitness and strength but that can always be worked on.

"Ever since I arrived, I was thrown in the deep end. I was thrown straight into the main training session and they looked at how I coped."

But the Laois man did have some help settling in, with compatriots Setanta and Aisake O’hAilpin on hand to show him the ropes.

"Aisake and Setanta have been really good to me," Tuohy said. "They’ve looked after me well and shown me around Melbourne. They know what I’m going through because they went through it themselves.

"It has been difficult because I've never been away from home on my own before. I didn’t even think my mother would let me come out here because she misses me, but she’s been really encouraging and supportive.

"Although she’d be upset at me leaving home I know she'll encourage me to take the opportunity."

The risk of homesickness, including Michael Shields' recent departure after less than a year at the club, won't discourage Icke and his staff from sourcing players from the Emerald Isle.

"Michael left because of a few things," Icke confirmed. "First of all, his county had got the All-Ireland semi-final back at home and he was probably a little bit homesick or jealous about what was happening back in Ireland.

"And also I think he realised that he hadn’t adapted as well as he thought he would to our game.

"From our point of view we were disappointed, but we understood his reasons why and it certainly doesn't change anything in regard to our position on looking at talent in Ireland."