Deniliquin Rams footballers Marcus Moorse and Luke Todd have just returned from a jet-setting experience of a lifetime playing football and taking in the sights of Europe.
The tour was through Wanderers Australia, who provide educational sports tours to create unforgettable international travel experiences.
The goal is to challenge yourself in local conditions, meet locals and explore different cultures.
The boys played football against counties and clubs across Ireland, learning the rules of the hybrid international rules game before introducing the Sherrin to play against the locals.
But it was not all about football.
The boys also got to do some sightseeing.
As part of the experience they got to tour the home of Gaelic games, Croke park, and visit places like Galway, Limerick and attractions like the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Mohr.
They also visited London and Paris.
“The trip was an awesome opportunity to travel to Ireland with Wanderers Australia AFL tour,” Luke said.
“We played five games of Gaelic football with both the AFL and round ball.”
“Over the three weeks we were hosted five nights by families of the teams we played which was great fun.
“The weather was their winter so it was a tad cold, including snow in London.
“I made lots of friends and have great memories of Ireland, London and Paris,” he concluded.
Marcus said it was interesting to learn the differences between the two types of football, and the two cultures.
“The tour was an amazing experience where I learnt a different type of football game, which was similar to AFL but used a round ball,” he said.
“The weather in Ireland was freezing. It was the coldest football matches I have ever played.
“The most interesting game I played in Ireland was at Galway, it was in a dome so the whole field was enclosed to make it less cold and windy.
“None of our games were in the same town, they were all over Ireland. That also made it interesting, because we got to see different parts.
“After each match we went home with one of the Irish players and stayed the night with their families.
“For breakfast the Irish family always cooked up a massive meal, which was good.”
The footballers also explored other sports during their tour, which included professional hurling.
This is a traditional sport in Ireland and is still very popular.
It shares a number of features with Gaelic football but the objective is for players to use an ash wood stick called a hurley to hit a small ball called a sliotar between the opponent's goalposts - either over the crossbar for one point or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for three points.