Players going down under

[Muck Savage]

Just read on the indo today that Brendan Murphy from the carlow Minor team is suppose to be the next big thing in Aussie rules. How many lads in recent years have headed down there? There seems to be a good few, the ones I can think of
Kennelly - Kerry
O'Halpine - Cork
Clark - Down
Begley - Laois
Quigley - Laois
Others ????

There were a few more but I ca't think of them off hand. At this rate we'd almost have a team in Austraila to take the Aussies on in tne Comp rules series if it ever takes off again
Has there ever been any interest in any Offaly player? Mac was the only one that stood out over the past decade that was able for it year in year out in the Series.
It's good to see a few of them making a name for themselves out there.

[DD]

Mac was the only one that stood out over the past decade that was able for it year in year out in the Series.

Finbarr Cullen was a great exponent of the compromise game, far better IMO than McManus.

[Dingle]

Just read on the indo today that Brendan Murphy from the carlow Minor team is suppose to be the next big thing in Aussie rules. How many lads in recent years have headed down there? There seems to be a good few, the ones I can think of
Kennelly - Kerry
O'Halpine - Cork
Clark - Down
Begley - Laois
Quigley - Laois
Others ????

There were a few more but I ca't think of them off hand. At this rate we'd almost have a team in Austraila to take the Aussies on in tne Comp rules series if it ever takes off again
Has there ever been any interest in any Offaly player? Mac was the only one that stood out over the past decade that was able for it year in year out in the Series.
It's good to see a few of them making a name for themselves out there.

What the Aussie's really want is a fullblown International Aussie Rules series between Ireland and Aus. Give it 5 more years and the International Compromise Rules yoke will be dead. Some Clare young fella has been signed up for next yr along Kieran Sheehan of Cork. Also heard rumours of Michael Martyn of Galway. I'm sure Donie kingston of Laois is a cert to be approached.
A friend of mine knows some of the Aussie scouts through a friend of a friend sort of thing, rang me up asking if there was any talent I'd recommened. LOL! I mentioned Kerry's Tommy and BJ Walsh to him. I'LL see if anyhting comes of it.

[azoffaly]

Why would you tip them off to GAA lads? I'd be telling them to feck off.

Michael Shields from Cork is another lad supposedly heading off.

[Lone Shark]

I'm sorry but I really can't see this as the big crisis that everyone is making it out to be. We have an amateur game, and as such it will always come second to work in people's lives. The GAA was able to survive when half the minors in the country got on a boat to England or a plane to America after leaving school, they'll certainly be able to survive losing ten lads a year to Aussie Rules if this continues.

The funny thing is that the whole idea of Gaelic Games is that those that are available and willing to play for their county do, and in return for their sacrifices they get the privilege of carrying all our hopes onto the fields of play. I'm not sure if it's a GPA thing or not, but recently people have called into question core principles of the GAA, simply to follow this false goal of making sure that every county takes the field with the best players possible.

The point about Gaelic Games is not to optimise the standard of play - it's to provide games for members who want to play, at whatever level they want to play. I've said this before, but the GAA and Irish society in general would be a hell of a lot better off worrying about the hundreds of lads that we lose to drink every year, or the thousands that get pissed off because they have no team that they have a realistic hope of getting picked for, or no hope of getting a reasonably solid fixture list that they can plan their lives around.