Kennelly dances jig of joy

Not content with grabbing the limelight on the field for Sydney this season, Tadhg Kennelly stole the show when dancing an Irish jig on the winners' rostrum at today's AFL Premiership Grand final.

The 24-year-old Kerryman made history in the early hours of this morning by becoming the first Irishman to pick up a Premiership winners' medal as the Swans edged West Coast 58-54 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It was a proud moment for the Listowel native whose on-looking father Tim won five All-Irelands in his playing career with Kerry.

Looking back on his involvement in Sydney's first Premiership-winning season since 1933, Kennelly said afterwards: "When I joined the Swans in '99, I seriously didn't know any rules of the game or what exactly the AFL was.

"If someone had said to me 'you're going to win a Premiership with the Sydney Swans' - I'd have said 'who are the Sydney Swans and what's a Premiership?'

"Honestly, t's a bit surreal - it's just unbelievable."

Noted as one of AFL's finest defenders, Kennelly admitted to reporters that his journey from teenage rookie to fully-fledged Premiership champion had been a far from smooth one.

"The first six months I was out here in Sydney I cried myself to sleep, and look, now it's well worth it," he said.

"For an 18-year-old fella there was a lot of homesickness.

"There was times I was ready to pack it in and go back. But now I feel it's really been worth it."