Irishman Peace Hanley's amazing journey with the Brisbane rolls on with no end in sight Lion Pearce Hanley at Brisbane training this week. WHILE the football world fawns over a budding Sudanese star, an Irishman will run out with Brisbane Lions today on a journey that becomes more remarkable each year. Pearce Hanley first picked up an AFL football in late 2007. Only 5 1/2 years later he is a contender for All-Australian honours. The left-footer from the small dairy town of Ballaghaderreen in the northwest of Ireland ranks No.2 overall for metres gained this season, averaging 586m a game. Hanley is averaging a career-high 25 disposals and four tackles a game and enjoying more midfield time, getting 65 per cent of his possessions in the back half, down from 76 per cent last year. Despite the fact he still gathers so much pill in the Lions' defensive half, he ranks No.1 for score involvements at Brisbane, playing a part in 36 per cent of its scores. Peace Hanley in action against the Eagles. The stats make for impressive reading, but they're not half the story. Hanley, 24, is the son of childcare worker Natalie and builder Andy. He grew up in a family that doubled as a foster home- he and two brothers and two sisters, plus four foster kids. There definitely wasn't a quiet moment. There was always a few of us running around and as soon as one left or got a bit older and went off to uni, Mum would take on another one," Hanley said. He "thinks" he once had a bedroom to himself, but for the most part remembers the four boys in one crazy room. "I'm only now getting used to having a quiet house in Brisbane," he said. As a kid it was always a mad house and me and my brothers were always out the back playing football and fighting. In 2005 Hanley won the Ron Barassi Medal for best player in the International Rules Series for the Irish under-17s against Australia. Two years later he was snapped up by the Lions playing Gaelic football for Mayo. He remembers it all happening quickly, adding that the move to the other side of the world was a "no-brainer." I was at university, but I was no smart cookie. I didn't like the books too much," he said. I was studying PE and biology and was going to be a teacher. Who would have thought? Claye Beams, Jonathan Brown and Pearce Hanley. But while Hanley's move Down Under was the stuff of dreams, his father Andy may make the trip for very different reasons. Ireland's economic crisis has taken a huge toll and Andy is still out of work. We're looking at a few different avenues he might be able to take. It's hard going back home at the moment," Hanley said. He's actually coming out for the Carlton and Collingwood (Rounds 9 and 10) home games. He's only staying for two weeks, but we're looking at getting him out here for a bit of work. I've helped them. Next year hopefully I sign a new contract, but every time I go home I help them out. It's definitely something I'll always do and want to do. The way Hanley is going, securing that new contract will not be a problem. In only his sixth AFL season and his third as a regular, his rate of improvement has been remarkable. Obviously it was a pretty big adjustment. I'd never played with the oval ball before, but I took it as a big challenge and I worked very hard on it," he said. The way I went about it was I pretty much didn't put the footy down for the first six months. It came to dinner, it came to bed, it came everywhere. He admitted acquiring a game sense and tackling mentality had proved the biggest challenges. "At the start I was committed and tried hard, but the tackle didn't come naturally and I don't think it does to a lot of Irish people," Hanley said. That took a lot of time, but I don't mind getting physical and aggressive because when I'm doing that and talking, my game rolls on from there. If the NAB Cup has proved a poisoned chalice for the Lions seven rounds into 2013, Hanley would appear immune.