GAA HAVE TO GET USED TO A GREATER AFL EXODUS
O’Connor’s Dingle absence a reminder there is only one winner between amateur and pros
IN the build-up to Sunday’s Kerry county final in Tralee there was no shortage of loose talk around Austin Stack Park that Mark O’Connor would be lining out for his native Dingle against Dr Crokes. Depending on which version of events you were prepared to listen to, Dingle had brokered some form of agreement with Geelong to release the player as they sought to end a 70-year wait for a Kerry title.
O’Connor has been home in recent weeks and lined out in the quarter-final, promoting a rebuke from his club for which an apology was conveyed.
Against that background then, how could there be any row back from that position for a final?
Geelong’s position will only have hardened by what happened to Ciaran Byrne, the former Louth player who had been with Carlton for four years until earlier this month when he decided to end his time in the AFL.
While mulling over his future, Byrne, with the consent of Carlton, featured for his GAA club St Mochta’s in the Louth intermediate final but landed awkwardly while making a catch just 10 minutes after coming on and broke his ankle, on top of suffering extensive ligament damage.
O’Connor’s involvement in the Kerry final was, of course, purely speculative.
The amateur dream collided against the professional reality and came off second best, thus he spent the duration of the game watching from the sidelines as the team’s ‘maor uisce’, kicking every ball with them until it became apparent that the 70 years without a title was about to become 71.
With such an athlete to fall back on, his presence could have been enough to swing it their way.
It comes against the background of a sixth young GAA player (the most in any calendar year) signing, or preparing to sign, terms with an AFL club this year, bringing to 14 (the most at any stage) the number of Irish players in the AFL.
Rising Sligo prospect Redmond Óg Murphy is to link up with North Melbourne, following Dublin’s James Madden, Derry pair Anton Tohill and Callum Brown, Kerry’s Stefan Okunbar and Cork’s Mark Keane.
Carlow’s Jordan Morrissey, who was recently part of a quartet which attended a combine in Australia, is being closely tracked by a couple of clubs and is expected to bring that number to seven by the end of the year.
Ironically, four players have come in the other direction in recent months, Mayo’s Cian Hanley, Galway’s Cillian McDaid, Byrne and Westmeath’s Ray Connellan who either stepped away or were delisted, underlining that movement between the games and the countries ebbs as much as it flows.
Fears over an exodus to the AFL have always been just that, fears.
Over the 36 years since the ‘Irish experiment’ first saw Roscommon’s Paul Earley move to Melbourne, 58 players have signed professional terms, an average of just over one-anda-half per year.
Stripping out the six who have signed in recent weeks and months, 24 of the remaining 52 have stayed beyond the initial two-year terms normally agreed. The same figure have played at least one game.
Those numbers make you wonder whether the ‘Irish experiment’ will continue to be viable for the AFL.
But the respective games enjoy greater compatibility than ever, Gaelic football’s increasing emphasis on possession demands a greater athletic output that aligns itself to the direction the AFL has been heading for quite a few years.
GAA athletes can adapt much quicker now from a physical point of view while the range of scouting networks across college and underage games, and the subsequent information available to clubs interested, leaves few stones unturned.
Noticeably, there are fewer alarm bells being sounded this time than when previous numbers relocated, no pointless calls for the GAA to disengage from the International Rules series, as if that would stem the flow.
One suggestion aired on social media last week that clubs in receipt of players could make a financial donation to the nurturing club is well-meaning but would be a distant aspiration.
These are different sports, irrespective of the historic International Rules links, and with no contracts in existence on this side, all GAA clubs can do is wish them well in pursuit of success with such a challenge.
Barriers
The reality is that the GAA’s barriers can’t extend beyond an opportunity to represent and perform at a high level without any significant monetary gain.
That’s the deal with an amateur game. Balanced against the opportunity to earn A$75,000 (€45,000-plus) in their rookie years and the propensity to travel the world anyway – look at the numbers willing to sacrifice a summer at inter-county and club level to go to the US – few will turn down an invitation to play professional sport.
There is an acceptance that players will go and the vast majority will not stretch their involvement beyond three years.
But the signs are that that too will change and the numbers going will far outstrip those coming back in the same year.
It is something that clubs and counties may have to get a lot more accustomed to.
The games enjoy greater compatibility than ever with Gaelic football’s increasing emphasis on possession