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It's going to be a long depressing season Aerlink especially having to endure the WCE media.

Little mention of Staker's girlfiriend in the press - Candice Falzon. Clearly not the smartest tool in the shed especially after Barry rattled the box. The good folks in Ireland might want to google Candice for some humour - especially the part about Sonny Bill Williams.

It might sound like nonsense but that is what happens. Apart from the fact that all games are subject to detailed video review (players are often charged by video evidence a day or two after the game has finished) an AFL player will be more concerned about his opposite number sneaking off and kicking a goal then finishing a fight. Holding the game up while a fight is broken up only enables others to join the fray (in AFL experience). There is no send off rule in AFL (well not at the higher levels) which may solve the problem but can create others (like a player being sent off incorrectly). The AFL prefer to deal with these things after the event when all the evidence can be scrutinized.

I don't think a rugby league referee is going to help overcome the Irish concerns about the physicality of the IR game. Rugby league is a very combative game from a physical point of view and most league players consider AFL a very soft game. League referees are used of 110kg blokes running headlong into each other at pace. Pearce's tackle on Gerraghty wouldn't register as a problem (as is the case in the AFL). The series should be canned because the tackle issue will never be overcome. GAA players don't tackle and asking AFL players not to tackle would not be effective when it is instinctive to tackle.

If enough Irish lads move to the AFL then maybe some sort of country of origin game can be organised but that would be a long way off.

Orangeman - big Barry would be a handy get for any team. He is a boxer of some note and regularly gets offers from boxing promoters who think he would have some prospects in the heavyweight divisions. At 105kg (231 pounds) and 1.94 cms (I think 6"4' in the old money) he probably has the physical tools but who knows if he is good enough to make an impression. I think boxing would get the nod ahead of GAA if Barry contemplates a career change. Nice thought all the same.

When AFL clubs draft a player the club (or the AFL on behalf of the club) must pay the club from which the player was drafted a fee - it might be $10k AUD. When the kid plays his first senior game the player's original club gets paid another instalment and again after 20 and 50 games (something like that). I was under the impression the total fee payable might be in the range of $25-$50k AUD if the kid plays 100 games. The player's junior club generally get nothing as kids feed into the "elite senior clubs" in each state of Australia which may be 8-10 clubs per state. The state clubs host their own competitions which is a standard below AFL but in the case of South Australia and Western Australian not all that far below. The AFL could (but won't) institute a similiar policy for player's rookie listed out of Ireland - the GAA clubs might be tempted to offer their best and brightest for some coin. From the AFL viewpoint why pay when you don't have too - the AFL might be doing the kid a massive favour and if they reach the pinnacle of the AFL have the potential to earn up to $800,000 AUD which is paid to some (not many) AFL players. The roles were reversed I am sure the outcomes would be identical.

The GAA had one bargaining chip with the AFL - the International Rules. The AFL is competing with football (soccer in these here parts), rugby union and rugby league for the best athletes in Australia. The advantage these codes have over AFL is that they have international programs of varying degrees. The AFL liked to trot out the International Rules to youngsters as a means of representing their country (which is a big deal for most Aussies). Of course for reasons on which the Aussie and Irish will never agree the program has ended. Any restraint the AFL might have had over it's clubs have now been removed and they are being encouraged to scout Ireland and other places for rookies by bringing in the International rookie rules which permit two international players to be rookie listed and exempted from the salary cap.

The only other way the GAA could prevent their players from joining the AFL is by way of threatening to ban the player in question from playing in a GAA sanctioned competition. I suspect this wouldn't breach any restraint of trade laws as playing in the GAA is amateur and methinks could not be deemed a trade. Unless the GAA do this AFL clubs will continue to poach the best young athletes - given the success of Kennelly and Clarke (and to a lesser extent O'Halpin and Begley) AFL clubs would be criminal not to have a look around Ireland and see what talent was available.