GWS star Connor Idun should have been a Geelong Cat, with only a quirk of AFL rules involving his Ghanaian father preventing him from lining up for the club.
Instead, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Idun joined his estranged father in the Giants’ quarters after their first-round win over Collingwood on Saturday.
Idun and her father Zac, who works as a police detective at England’s famous Scotland Yard, had not seen each other for 10 years before this touching reunion.
The 23-year-old defender was one of the best on the field when the Orange Tsunami avenged their semi-final defeat to the Pies in 2023, and Geelong openly admits he was the one who got away.
But the AFL’s rising star and storied history almost missed his big break because of a phrase in the official recruiting rules.
Connor Idun is pictured with his brother Tane, who went from Geelong supporter to GWS fan to cheer on his older brother.
Zac Idun (left) had not seen his son Connor in more than 10 years and they had an emotional reunion on Saturday (pictured) when he traveled from the UK to watch the Giants beat Collingwood.
The story began in Essex, England, about 20 years ago, when Idun’s mother, Fiona, and her biological father, Zac, separated.
Fiona was Australian and Zac was an Englishman of Ghanaian parents, so Fiona decided to return to Australia with her son.
On Saturday, Zac traveled to Australia to see his son for the first time in over a decade and cried with joy watching him participate with the GWS Giants in their big win to open the 2024 season.
The Scotland Yard detective and Idun’s brother Chris, a football coach in Mexico, made a long and emotional journey.
“I was born in England, mom and dad had me there,” Idun previously told Into the Fire Vodcast.
‘They separated, which unfortunately happens to many families.
‘I came back here with my mother when I was three, I was quite young.
‘I don’t remember England much.
“I moved with mum to Sydney, where I am now, then we moved to Melbourne and then Geelong, where I obviously played most of my football in the TAC Cup.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of culture in me and a different heritage for a lot of people.”
Idun forged a new life in Australia with her mother Fiona, her new partner Matt and her younger brother Tane.
While playing for the Geelong Falcons as a teenager, the signs were clear that the precocious young talent had what it took to reach AFL level.
A younger Connor is shown with his mother Fiona and younger brother Tane, who have been his biggest supporters while growing up.
Idun has retained the same cheeky smile and attitude since he was a child and is a popular figure at the Giants.
At representative level, he gave his best playing alongside the likes of Sam Walsh and beating future AFL players Jack Lukosius and Ben King.
In the TAC Cup he held Cameron Rayner, who would be the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, to just 12 kills.
“He’s had some of the biggest setbacks in the TAC Cup in recent years. He rarely gets beaten,” Geelong Falcons coach Dan O’Keefe said at the time.
“He loves challenges, in fact he seeks them out.”
So when the 2018 draft rolled around, it seemed certain that Geelong would take the young defender, and they almost did.
To accommodate Idun, the Cats turned to the AFL’s Next Generation Academy program, hoping to use his biological father’s inheritance to their advantage.
However, Zac was not born in Ghana like his older brothers. At that time, Zac’s mother had emigrated to the United Kingdom to build a better life for her children, and he was born there.
It meant the Cats had to lose their man because they were trying to sign him under the AFL’s Next Generation Academy Programme, and players are only eligible if they or one of their parents is born in an Asian or African nation.
Because Idun didn’t qualify, the Cats had to try to draft him, only to see GWS beat them to it.
Former Geelong VFL captain and AFL talent identification manager Troy Selwood knew he was a talent they had let slip through their fingers.
“We respected the AFL’s call and I think he’s a very good pick for GWS in that period of the draft,” Selwood said at the time.
“He’s a fantastic young man and hopefully he has a bright future in the AFL.”
It didn’t take long for Idun to endear himself to GWS fans, enjoying a great season in 2023 and hitting the ground running in 2024.
Idun made a habit of winning one-on-one contests during his days at Geelong Falcons and Victoria Country.
Idun is shown taking the agility test during the 2018 AFL Draft Combine at Marvel Stadium.
Another quirk in the rules set the stage for GWS to attack.
In 2018, the laws were recently changed to allow teams to trade draft picks with other clubs for future selections during the draft.
A deal was struck at the last minute with St Kilda parting ways with their 61st pick, allowing GWS to sign Idun in the second round.
If that rule hadn’t existed, Geelong would likely have sacked him during the third or fourth round.
Idun previously spoke about the stress of that recruitment and how he told his friends and family to stay away, except for his mother, brother and stepfather.
“I was hoping to get drafted, but nothing was ever certain,” he said.
‘Coming into that day I was shitting my pants, to be honest.
“I didn’t have any certainty, I didn’t let any family or friends come, I said only my mother, my stepfather and my little brother could watch.
‘So we were looking all day. There were only a couple of clubs where I thought I had a chance.
Then I slipped a little and thought I was almost done. I was almost ready to walk out of my living room, sit in my room, and sulk.
‘But luckily the Giants traded up to get another pick in the ’60s and when I heard my name it was a huge relief. I shed a few tears, I admit.
‘The family screamed a little and the rest is history. “I was very happy to come to the Giants.”
Idun refused to let his family or friends come during the 2018 national draft because he was too nervous.
The young defender is starting to get used to winning (pictured with the Sydney Derby Cup after beating the Sydney Swans in 2019)
The sky is the limit for Idun, with AFL great Garry Lyon comparing him to five-time All Australian Tom Stewart.
His family were also ecstatic and quickly switched their allegiance from Geelong to the Giants.
GWS President Tony Sherpherd quickly presented Idun’s younger brother Tane with a Giants jersey when they arrived to get him on the Giants bandwagon.
“He loves Aussie Rules and idolizes his brother, so coming here to watch him train in the paddock and in the gym was very special for him,” Matt said at the time.
“We’re impressed by the sophistication of the facility and having such a central location for the kids seems really good.”
His mother, Fiona, also converted immediately.
“It’s a fantastic setup and knowing it’s in very good hands makes us feel completely at ease and I think you’ll love every minute of it,” he said at the time.
“We’re all changing colors,” he said. “We will have to leave behind what was and now we are all orange and charcoal.”
That sliding doors moment, in which whims of the rules changed the young defender’s entire future, has GWS in the box.
Idun is realizing the potential AFL great Garry Lyon identified in 2023 when he compared the rising star to five-time All Australian defender Tom Stewart.
“There’s a list of all the No. 1 draft picks and I can go through them and talk about them,” Lyon said.
‘I just opened to a random page and at the top was pick 61, GWS Giants, from Geelong under 18s Connor Idun.
‘I was one year old. Did you see her finals? I think two years from now we’ll look at it and say, “This is kind of Tom Stewart territory.”
‘I mean, that’s high praise, (Stewart is) a five-time All-Australian.
“But Connor Idun’s skills and physical attributes (are very impressive).”