Paddy's Juggle Provides Perspective

Off the back of representing Queensland Under 19’s, Paddy Dooley was hoping to receive a state contract. But instead of a contract, he spent the next five and a half years juggling a Business/Law degree while continuing to play Premier Cricket in Queensland.

Not until he was almost three quarters of the way through his graduate year did he get a taste in the Big Bash – a single appearance as a replacement player for the Brisbane Heat.

He continued to pursue the law career, commencing work as a lawyer in regulatory banking. Three months later, he received a call from James Hopes with the Hobart Hurricanes letting him know that he was going to be wearing purple in BBL 12.

“It was hectic, I was in shock, I didn’t know how to bring it up with work,” says Paddy.

“I went in the next day, told my boss, and I basically said, look I want to pursue this 100 per cent, if you can give me time off that would be great, otherwise I'll have to hand in my notice. He said he thought I must have been sick, or got some bad news from the doctor, as I was just nowhere the day before.

Paddy’s burgeoning BBL career still has him on an extended leave of absence from the firm.

BBL 12 saw Paddy take the most wickets of any spinner, something he attributed to the mystery of his bowling.

“When you’re a new player in the competition, the guys you’re bowling to don’t have a lot of footage or experience facing you, I think I definitely benefited from that.”

The university lifestyle suited Paddy when it came to juggling studies and continuing to pursue the cricket career, however once he went into full-time working life, it became a lot more challenging.

“It was definitely a shock to the system,” says Paddy.

“Cricket went from being something that was consuming a lot of my life, to more of an outlet from work, so that season I was enjoying my cricket, because I'd get pumped all day, but I’d look forward to training or playing a game.”

Despite the challenge, Paddy found that having something to focus on off-field benefited not only his cricket, but his life in general. Having something to fall back on if the cricket career didn’t take off was a key part of this, but also, having something to occupy yourself away from cricket took a lot of pressure off on-field performance, which led to better results.

Now a full-time cricketer after landing a contract with the Tasmania Tigers for the 2023-24 season, Paddy is using the perspective he has from trying to fit training in around university and work commitments, to now having the time to get his training, recovery and preparation done with time to fit in the other things in life.

Paddy has loved the move down to Tasmania, lauding the program, and loving the crossover between being involved with both the Hurricanes and the Tigers squads.

Paddy isn’t the only Dooley chasing their cricket dream. His younger sister, Josie, is also plying her trade for the South Australia Scorpions in the WNCL and the Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL.

“It’s really cool, it's something that we’ve bonded over and our relationship’s probably grown since I've been involved in the system,” says Paddy.

Importantly for Paddy, to close out the 2023-24 season, he is ready to go if any red-ball opportunities present for the Tigers and is hoping to close out the white-ball Marsh Cup competition successfully. He’ll spend a northern summer in England hoping to get further opportunities