Basketball has always been in the blood of Crows recruit Finnbar Maley.
His father, Paul, enjoyed a 13-year professional career in Ireland, USA and Australia, and ended his career as part of the Adelaide 36ers.
While his sister, Anneli, is a WNBL MVP, the captain of the Perth Lynx and has represented Australia on multiple occasions.
As a junior, Finnbar wanted to follow in those same footsteps, climbing the ranks as a talented basketballer in Victoria.
But when he got to the age of 17, he came to the realisation that basketball wasn’t for him, and made the decision to pursue a career in Australian Rules.
“I would love to keep playing basketball, but you get to a point as a young athlete where you need to focus on one thing in particular,” Maley said on this week’s episode of The Crows Show.
“When I was 17 I had all my eggs in basketball, but one day I thought it’d be fun to give this football thing a try, so switched up.
“As a young man growing up and trying to find myself, basketball wasn’t the best for me because I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of who I was, and you have to have a lot of self belief in basketball, which I didn’t have.
“I then thought I just wanted to play local footy with my mates - so that’s why I moved.”
Taking a spin with teammate Ben Keays in the Toyota bz4x, Maley went into further detail on his family’s rich sporting pedigree, and how the accomplishments of father and sister had inspired him.
“My Dad came across from America to play basketball in the NBL, before that he was a Yale graduate, did a summer league playing for the Brooklyn Nets and also went over to Ireland to play in the Irish league,” Maley said.
“He originally started in Australia at the North Melbourne Giants and then crossed over to the Adelaide 36ers and loved it, he met my Mum and had three kids.
“My sister Anneli, followed in Dad’s footsteps and plays amazing hoops, she captains a WNBL in the Perth Lynx and has represented Australia a few times.
“Her jumper is absolute butter and a gun defensively as well, I cannot score on her.”
To hear more from Finnbar Maley, plus dissect the team’s Gather Round match against Carlton, tune into The Crows Show on Channel 7 Adelaide this Thursday at 11pm.
