Social media sensation 'Prime Train' headed for the Farrer League

Social media star Tom 'Prime Train' Baulch will play a one-off game for Barellan against Temora on Saturday May 4.

Baulch has set himself the goal of playing in every state and territory of the country this year and will run out for the Two Blues as part of his tour that has expanded globally to include games in New York, London and more.

The 24-year-old has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, 295,000 on Tiktok, where he has almost 14 million likes.

Baulch played in the Ovens and Murray League at Wangaratta last year and kicked off his tour with an eight-goal haul for Phillip Island on Easter Saturday.

He admits to knowing very little about Barellan but can't wait to don a Two Blues jumper.

"I know nothing about Barellan to be honest," Baulch told The Daily Advertiser.

"I don't really have much of an idea of the area. I played up in Wangaratta last year and again, that was something that was pretty new for me and I enjoyed experiencing these new towns and cities.

"Barellan is just a completely off the books place but this is what I want to promote, this is what I want to do, this is the opportunity that I have to be able to reach these little bit more remote places and play some footy and hopefully get a kick.

"I've never been to Phillip Island and I played at Phillip Island on the weekend. I'm going up to Newcastle on the weekend and I've never really been to Newcastle.

"It's a cool experience, experiencing these towns and places for the first time. It's really fun for the content as well, because I've got no idea what to expect. I'm excited."

Baulch will not only brings his football talents to Barellan but he also posts a video package of the trip, which will reach a huge audience on social media.

The dangerous small forward hopes to bring more people through the gate at Barellan Sportsground, as well as promote an important message.

"I think the biggest thing I hope to bring is a little bit of interest to footy in the area," he said.

"Hopefully for the area it will be new recruits, it could be more ticket sales, it could be more people looking for something to do on a Saturday and they come along and watch the footy, grab a beer. I think people forget how fun it is to go watch local sport.

"It's fun to shout a bit of abuse over the fence or take piss out of people or just support your local club, watch your mates, watch your son's mates or whatever it might be.

"That's the big focus for me and getting as many people into social sport as well is another big focus for me because I think that's something that we do pretty well in Australia, we all seem to play social sport past school.

"I think bringing more people together, the community together and hopefully getting as many people as possible down to the game."

Barellan coach Peter Green admits it took him a while to get his head around the concept but is excited to bring the 'Prime Train' to the Farrer League.

"What I'm wanting to develop is a place where players from the area, young players and also senior players want to come to and want to develop and improve their footy," Green said.

"For me, I'm nearly 50, so the social media, I haven't grown up with it like the younger generation have today. And the reality is now, if you've got a number one draft pick in the AFL, for example, and he doesn't have a presence on social media and you've got a number 30 pick who does, the number 30 pick is going to be picking up the Nike sponsorship, as an example, if I can use that analogy.

"I didn't want to go down the route of an ex-AFL player, I think it's been done to death a bit and it really depends on the character of the player that you get that's going to be able to bring that show to the club, in terms of not only his playing ability and his personality as well and Tom brings both in spades I think because of his social media presence.

"I had to get my head around it a bit, I had to learn myself because from the old ethos, does it upset team dynamics? But once I was able to get over myself, I could see the benefits of it through talking to a number of people and through talking to Tom himself.

"He's a young man, who is out there having a crack. He's entrepreneurial, he's preaching a good message in terms of fitness and wellbeing and he's using football as the vehicle to do that and I think if we're encouraging our young generation to form resilience and live a healthy lifestyle, when they're being bombarded by junk food and some of the other rubbish that they're going on with, I'm going to fully support that."

Baulch also admitted he was excited by the content opportunities at Barellan.

"Pete (Green) gave me a call (on Wednesday) and said we will go to some sponsors and the sponsors that I'm used to are maybe a hotel or a bar or a food sponsor or something like that and at Barellan the sponsor is farm machinery so I'm excited," he said with a laugh.

"It makes it fun for the content because everyone likes watching something different and last year at Wangaratta it got a bit boring for people by week 13 or 14, it was the same stuff every week.

"This is something different, going week to week from Phillip Island to Newcastle to Kalgoorlie and then Tasmania and then Barellan. So it will be just like is this bloke well? What is he doing?!"

April 6: (AFL Hunter Central Coast) - The Entrance Bateau Bay Blues

April 13: Ballarat TBC

April 20: Country NSW TBC

April 27: (Old Scholars Football Association) - Tasmania University

May 4: (Farrer League) - Barellan

May 11: (Goldfields Football League) - Mines Rovers Football Club (Kalgoorlie)

May 18: New York Magpies

June 1: London

June 8: Adelaide

June 15: Narre Warren South

June 22: (Great Northern Football League) - Chapman Valley Football Club (Geraldton)

June 29: (Southern Football League) - Highett Football Club

July 13: Scotland

July 20: Ireland