The 4 youngsters marked for AFL?

Started by GalwayBayBoy, November 17, 2007, 04:26:52 AM

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GalwayBayBoy

Story in the Connacht Tribune this week that Cortoon Shamrocks' Michael Martin is the All-Ireland winning Galway minor that Carlton has first option on next year. He says himself that he might go over next year for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Personally I don't think he'd be what they are looking for. He's a very tidy talented forward but quite slight. I don't really think he'd be suited to AFL especially compared to what they look for? Which is usually athletes. Martin is a pure footballer.

Only other name mentioned in the article is Laois' Zac Tuohy.

INDIANA

they also require guys who can stick the ball between the posts. i don't think there has been an irish guy in that role yet- it would be the hardest position for him to learn in. But they put potential players through a battery of physical tests so they muct think he has some level of physical attribute for it.
I see the Aussies are raving about Brendan Murphy- looks like a star in the making.

orangeman

Mickey Harte was right - cut the links - or else make them pay the clubs.

Tyrone Dreamer

Would it not be easier if we stopped playing gaelic football underage all together and instead teach all the youngsters how to play aussie rules? It would save the aussies a lot of hassle in having to teach the players new skills when theyre 18 or 19. It would make the transfer to aussie rules much simpler for everyone involved.

orangeman


DUBSFORSAM1

Quote from: orangeman on November 17, 2007, 10:36:39 AM
Mickey Harte was right - cut the links - or else make them pay the clubs.

As amateur players you can't make the AFL pay the clubs at all...

In fact the problem is that when the Compromise Series was talking place there were rules about player recruitement which don't exist now...As Paul Roos said - "If the Compromise Rules doesn't happen again then ALL THE AUSTRALIAN CLUBS WOULD BE COMING TO IRELAND LOOKING FOR TALENT....

INDIANA

wouldn't have made ablind bit of difference- if you're silly enough to believe the words of a professional organisation that has always recruited in Ireland then you're really selling yourself short in my view.

Fermanaghandsam

I am of a completly different opinion. The GAA will lose some of there best players, YES, but what a great oppurtity for the young fellas. They get a chance to become a professional sportsman and make a living out of playing sport. We are only talking 3 or 4 players a year max, it is not going to destroy the GAA. If a member of my club was offered a trail I would be delighted for him and wishing hm all the best, yes it would be a loss to the club on the playin side, but i think everyone would be so proud of him and he club for producing such a star.

Hardy

Quote from: Fermanaghandsam on November 17, 2007, 04:06:15 PM
We are only talking 3 or 4 players a year max

How do you come to that conclusion? Another way to look at it is as a geometric progression. It used to be one player every few years. Then maybe one a year. Last year it was two or three. This year it seems to be about eight, so far. See the picture? And it's not just any eight players. It's the eight players the Aussies (who have full time scouts here now) consider the best eight in the country.

People rightly say it's a great opportunity for the young lads. Of course it is and I'd have jumped at the opportunity myself. But to proceed from there to argue that therefore the GAA should do nothing about it doesn't make any sense. The GAA has to look after its own interests and mission. Its purpose is not to facilitate, free gratis, professional sports careers for Irish youngsters.

Others compare the Aussie drain to the rate of player loss to soccer, rugby, drink, etc. I can't see the parallel. The lads who go to play for Drogheda or Reading or Shannon or Munster, were probably (with a few exceptions - Shane Horgan, etc.) not going to make top level GAA players anyway. The lads who decide they prefer a good social life were definitely not going to make it. The Aussies, on the other hand are cherry picking the best - our future stars - and have set up structures here to do it on a professional, organised basis.

If they continue to hoover the best talent out of the country and the numbers continue to grow geometrically like this, then by 2012 or 2015 the GAA will be the equivalent of the League of Ireland in soccer - a nursery for the AFL, developing young players for the professional league down under. But in soccer, at least the Irish clubs get paid.

I think this is a full-blown crisis for the game. And I have no idea what to do about it.

ykickamoocow

Quote from: INDIANA on November 17, 2007, 10:18:48 AM
I see the Aussies are raving about Brendan Murphy- looks like a star in the making.

Actually it was Tadhg Kennelly who compared Brendon Murphy to the best midfielder in the AFL. I have very high hopes for Murphy as he looks like a really talented player and could be a real asset for the Sydney Swans. If Murphy can turn out to be as half as good as Kennelly i will be a very happy man as Kennelly really is a excellent player who provides much needed run from the halfback line. Watching the Swans play when Kennelly is injured is painful at best. He is top 5 talent wise in the Swans team and i would say top 3 in terms of importance. I am not looking forward to 2010 when he goes back to Ireland.

darbyo

QuoteI think this is a full-blown crisis for the game. And I have no idea what to do about it.

That's the fundamental point though, we can't do anything about it. At best the GAA can look for compensation for the players club and county. I think one of the posters here alluded to this already making the comparison with Liverpool paying clubs like Cherry Orchard money for players. I'm not sure I'd be as fearful for the future as you Hardy, some of the players going over are bound not to make it and they are not necessarily taking the best Gaelic Footballers but the lads most suited to their game. Now I know the games are similar but the Gooch for example wouldn't have made it over there yet he's a star here. Likewise none of the Galway or Derry lads have been asked over (that I know of anyway) and no Kerry lads seem to be going either and those lads are by and large the most natural footballers we have. How neither of Sean Walsh's lads has been asked for trials is a mystery to me.

inisceithleann

The recruitment drive by the AFL is concerning, but at the moment it's not a serious issue IMO. In most urban clubs in Ireland, many players after Minor concentrate solely on Soccer or Rugby and the numbers the GAA lose through this are far greater than the few that will try their luck at Aussie Rules. The GAA needs to sort out holding on to players in Ireland before they criticise the Australians for doing what is no more than English Soccer clubs have been doing for years.
Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth

darbyo

QuoteIn most urban clubs in Ireland, many players after Minor concentrate solely on Soccer or Rugby and the numbers the GAA lose through this are far greater than the few that will try their luck at Aussie Rules. The GAA needs to sort out holding on to players in Ireland before they criticise the Australians for doing what is no more than English Soccer clubs have been doing for years.

I'm not sure that's entirely true, many club players and quite a few inter county players play soccer or rugby through the winter. It's not like we are losing those players, there's obviously a few but it goes the other way too with many lads choosing to concentrate primarily on GAA as they get older.
                     The difference is that the Aussie rules clubs are taking our players for free after the GAA has invested a lot of time, money and effort developing the very skills that make them such obvious candidates for Aussie rules. They can adapt so quickly to AR because they already have many of the basic skills of the game courtesy of the GAA. That is not true of soccer or rugby at a professional level, while at a local amateur level it is simply a matter of choice which code a fella plays.

inisceithleann

Quote from: darbyo on November 18, 2007, 01:58:37 PM
QuoteIn most urban clubs in Ireland, many players after Minor concentrate solely on Soccer or Rugby and the numbers the GAA lose through this are far greater than the few that will try their luck at Aussie Rules. The GAA needs to sort out holding on to players in Ireland before they criticise the Australians for doing what is no more than English Soccer clubs have been doing for years.

I'm not sure that's entirely true, many club players and quite a few inter county players play soccer or rugby through the winter. It's not like we are losing those players, there's obviously a few but it goes the other way too with many lads choosing to concentrate primarily on GAA as they get older.
                     The difference is that the Aussie rules clubs are taking our players for free after the GAA has invested a lot of time, money and effort developing the very skills that make them such obvious candidates for Aussie rules. They can adapt so quickly to AR because they already have many of the basic skills of the game courtesy of the GAA. That is not true of soccer or rugby at a professional level, while at a local amateur level it is simply a matter of choice which code a fella plays.


Thats fair enough darbyo, I suppose I'm talking from my own club at home's experience as we used to lose loads of fellas at 18/19. There definitely needs to compensation introduced and in fairness I think most AFL clubs will co-operate as the recruitment drive is only going to increase in future years.
Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth

DUBSFORSAM1

How can clubs claim compensation in any shape or form??? Amateur players who are playing for their love of the game remember and you want to penalise them by saying AFL clubs have to pay for them???