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Post by buck02 on Dec 7, 2018 14:57:45 GMT
Apologies. I shoudnt have bitten. The post by givehimaball is probably the best post in relation to the whole Aussie Rules discussion. We can complain all we like, but when you see it in black and white, it looks like something we just have to accept - the best of our young players will always be targeted by this sport from now on. The GAA should put in some stipulation in their discussions with the AFL however that the players club receive some form of compensation.
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Post by playitfair on Dec 7, 2018 15:46:24 GMT
To me, there has to be deep consideration for inter-county to go semi-pro. Are we going to let our best talents to leave the game without offering them more. This and senior inter county players only playing with the county has to be considered.
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keane
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Post by keane on Dec 7, 2018 15:47:29 GMT
I would always be worried that clubs getting money for guys who go to Australia could wind up via slippery slope to clubs developing guys 'sell' to the AFL.
We see with 'Croke Park' now seeing its mission as growing GAA revenue - to its detriment in the eyes of many. It's not beyond the realms of belief to imagine some crowd of jumped up club committee members with correspondence course MBAs talking about income optimisation at the annual club AGM? Worse again you could even imagine a 'club' being set up specifically for this reason - 'come to us if you want to be trained up for AFL while playing GAA'.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Dec 7, 2018 15:51:42 GMT
I would always be worried that clubs getting money for guys who go to Australia could wind up via slippery slope to clubs developing guys 'sell' to the AFL. We see with 'Croke Park' now seeing its mission as growing GAA revenue - to its detriment in the eyes of many. It's not beyond the realms of belief to imagine some crowd of jumped up club committee members with correspondence course MBAs talking about income optimisation at the annual club AGM? Worse again you could even imagine a 'club' being set up specifically for this reason - 'come to us if you want to be trained up for AFL while playing GAA'. But this is a means to an end.
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keane
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Post by keane on Dec 7, 2018 16:08:22 GMT
But this is a means to an end. What end?
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Dec 7, 2018 16:17:19 GMT
But this is a means to an end. What end? To develop the GAA. Improve facilities, participation, coaching, etc.
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Post by jackiel on Dec 7, 2018 16:35:51 GMT
Ah come on lads, some very inappropriate stuff being posted here, not in anyway related to the thread. Stooping to Hogan Stand level.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Dec 7, 2018 16:40:21 GMT
Thought we were having a bit of craic but obviously not.
I deleted the post.
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Post by buck02 on Dec 7, 2018 17:28:28 GMT
Ah come on lads, some very inappropriate stuff being posted here, not in anyway related to the thread. Stooping to Hogan Stand level. Yeah. I also deleted my post. Kerrybhoy will have to delete his too however! I blame it on being a Friday close to Christmas
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Post by buck02 on Dec 7, 2018 17:32:48 GMT
I would always be worried that clubs getting money for guys who go to Australia could wind up via slippery slope to clubs developing guys 'sell' to the AFL. We see with 'Croke Park' now seeing its mission as growing GAA revenue - to its detriment in the eyes of many. It's not beyond the realms of belief to imagine some crowd of jumped up club committee members with correspondence course MBAs talking about income optimisation at the annual club AGM? Worse again you could even imagine a 'club' being set up specifically for this reason - 'come to us if you want to be trained up for AFL while playing GAA'. I think this is scaremongering. No club will ever want to lose its best prospects to AFL BUT if it did happen, then why not look for compensation?
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Dec 7, 2018 22:33:02 GMT
Apologies. I shoudnt have bitten. The post by givehimaball is probably the best post in relation to the whole Aussie Rules discussion. We can complain all we like, but when you see it in black and white, it looks like something we just have to accept - the best of our young players will always be targeted by this sport from now on. The GAA should put in some stipulation in their discussions with the AFL however that the players club receive some form of compensation. Shouldn't have bitten on what? My posts were reasonable, just contrary to the majority view. And that's fine but don't dress up some of what you posted as 'biting' (on a wind-up I presume) as there was no wind-up from me. Btw I agree with you about AIG and all that, 100%. But in the context of county board funding, banter aside, there's no county who hasn't had its fingers in the all-consuming American/multinational honeypot in some form or another. The whole of our nation has done, generdiddley speakin, wha! I know dis bud coz I payed me bleedin waa'er taxies n all, yeh.
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Post by sullyschoice on Dec 8, 2018 0:10:22 GMT
I agree. Also the derogatory colloquialism are uncalled for. If we can't communicate with a bit of dignity then we shouldn't bother. Its called humour. Have we lost our ability to have a laugh without taking too much offence. Please dont turn this forum into the same *e we have to listen to on almost every other social media outlet.
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Post by southward on Dec 8, 2018 0:13:02 GMT
To me, there has to be deep consideration for inter-county to go semi-pro. Are we going to let our best talents to leave the game without offering them more. This and senior inter county players only playing with the county has to be considered. Not the answer, I'm afraid. Once you start paying lads (officially), the Aussies will be the least of our worries. The richest counties can then, and will, buy up the best players. And not a thing the GAA can do about it - employment/freedom of movement laws trump GAA registration rules all day. Pay-for-play would signal the end of county and parish identity and a disaster for our games.
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Post by themanfromthewest on Dec 8, 2018 10:16:56 GMT
To me, there has to be deep consideration for inter-county to go semi-pro. Are we going to let our best talents to leave the game without offering them more. This and senior inter county players only playing with the county has to be considered. Not the answer, I'm afraid. Once you start paying lads (officially), the Aussies will be the least of our worries. The richest counties can then, and will, buy up the best players. And not a thing the GAA can do about it - employment/freedom of movement laws trump GAA registration rules all day. Pay-for-play would signal the end of county and parish identity and a disaster for our games. Without a doubt. If it ever does go semi pro it would need to be managed centrally, probably through the existing player grants system or through the ISC. There is no way you could just allow a free for all for the reasons you have stated. I don’t see how it can happen any time soon with our current structures anyway. Far too many teams across both codes to even consider it. We are a tiny market with limited saleability overseas.
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Post by playitfair on Dec 8, 2018 19:21:49 GMT
I agree that a central system would be appropriate. 5 years ago, I would have said no way to paying players. Now I think it is inevitable and necessary.
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Post by dc84 on Dec 10, 2018 14:50:09 GMT
I think one of the main reasons there aren't more Dublin lads going over is just the natural advantage of living in Dublin ie its a lot easier get a job that compares favourably financially up here with the sums mentioned above. I don't understand that point, "jobs in or around Dublin compare favourably with making it in Aussie Rules"? Hardly. And even if that were so, then why wouldn't lads from Kerry or anywhere not choose to stay in Ireland (or go to Britain or Europe for jobs) rather than halfway around the world?
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Post by kerrygold on Dec 12, 2018 18:51:28 GMT
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Jan 18, 2019 9:49:59 GMT
Far away hills .......... This is one of the best insights into the transition to Aussie Rules.
'I struggled a lot, I just wanted to be happy again'
As much as Michael Daly's contribution at the end of Galway's Connacht League semi-final draw with Mayo in Tuam last Sunday was a source of rich encouragement for supporters looking at areas of potential improvement on a progressive 2018, Cillian McDaid's first-half efforts didn't go unnoticed either.
But it was his physique that really caught the eye on his first day out after a challenging year trying to bed in as an AFL player with Carlton was officially aborted last autumn.
Adding around 5kg to his frame was one of the few positive outcomes he could report after a "challenge" that left him unhappy at times, lonely, and sufficiently envious of the advances his former team-mates were making back home to want to be among them again.
Coupled
McDaid's Galway return, coupled with Daly's recovery from injury, and Liam Silke's restoration after a summer spent in the US, are obvious components with which Kevin Walsh can strengthen his team.
For McDaid, it means just being happy again because his year Down Under, battling a stress fracture in his left foot for much of it, stripped so much of that sentiment from him.
"I turned 21 in the middle of August and probably wasn't in the happiest or best of spirits for those few weeks," he recalled.
Having picked up the injury around March after playing a couple of games with Carlton's VFL team Northern Blues, he missed 14 weeks and only returned to play four more games with the Blues up to the season's conclusion.
By then his experience had drained him.
"The injury was the big issue, just not being able to train. It's hard when you go out there. I went out there to play football, I didn't go out there to rehab, I went out to try and make it.
"Out there when training is on, everybody is training so no one is out watching a session.
"So if you are injured, you are doing some form of work. I would have spent time in a very small, heated, altitude room on a bike.
"Some of those sessions are by yourself, maybe yourself and a rehab coach. I enjoyed the training but that was tough."
The monotony weighed on him.
"It was the same thing day in, day out. You think when you go out there to play a new sport it will be something new every day.
"For those three months though it was just the same routine - come in, get checked up in the morning, go to the team meeting and then everyone else puts on their boots to go outside and you put on your cycling gear and get up on a bike."
Homesickness is, he says, a "loose word" but his battles with the life he left behind came early before that slight crack surfaced on his fifth metatarsal.
NUIG's Sigerson Cup run registered, then the early Monday-morning chats with his dad Garvan reporting from the front line of Galway's adventurous league campaign.
"By the end of the league I couldn't believe it. Every (Monday) morning was a call to say that they had won again! It was funny by the end of it, he was probably getting excited ringing me as well. It would brighten up the day a bit."
The club did a lot for him, whisking him and other injured players down the coast for a change of scenery on occasion but, in hindsight, he never really recovered from a poor start.
"I struggled a lot, I didn't settle in straight away as well as other lads do. I found it hard, I was living with Ciaran Byrne (Louth player who has also ended his AFL career with Carlton) for the first couple of months, before I moved in with a host family.
Airport
"It was a woman Karen who looked after me but she worked long hours at the airport so I used to spend a lot of time in the house by myself.
"By the end of it I was really, really fed up, felt probably isolated, lonely and I was fed up of not feeling happy at 20 years of age.
"Everyone thinks you are living the dream, over in a lovely country, great weather, great city, getting paid to play football. I just found it was very different from that in my experience.
"I had my health so happiness was the other thing I wanted back. That's probably why I came home in the end."
A quick eight-day trip home in early June, coinciding with Galway's Connacht semi-final win over Sligo, only fortified that feeling. Invited in to train with the team, his sense of loss was embellished.
When Galway lost to Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final last August, he had found it hard to prepare to play for Northern Blues earlier that day.
"It was just challenging to play knowing that they were worlds apart, physically and in every other sporting sense - in front of a couple of hundred people compared to whatever crowd they (Galway) drew.
"It probably took me to go to Australia to train and play games over there that I knew what my dream is, which is to play for Galway and to play GAA at home," he said.
Back home the injury has cleared up for which there's a nod to Galway's medical staff and the management it has been afforded.
"It took two or three attempts to get it (sorted) over in Australia, so far, first go, everything is going smoothly," he said.
"There's a perception that the GAA is a bit behind other codes but I'd be fairly well-placed to comment, coming from a professional set-up, that it's not as far behind as everyone thinks.
"The games are different lengths but in terms of fitness, speed, skill, GAA players aren't far behind."
Irish Independent
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Post by kerrygold on Jan 18, 2019 10:53:39 GMT
There is nothing new in this article that hasn't been reported several times before about this junket to OZ.
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Post by Whosinmidfield on Mar 23, 2019 23:22:39 GMT
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Post by themanfromthewest on Mar 24, 2019 0:24:47 GMT
Saw the match reports and seemingly he did well it is great to see him finding his feet the club. It has taken him a while to adjust to the game but we all know his abilities and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t nail down a first team spot this year. Some of the matches are on Eir Sport but there is a subscription based app as well that has full games and extended highlights etc.
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diego
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Post by diego on Mar 24, 2019 22:44:55 GMT
Saw the match reports and seemingly he did well it is great to see him finding his feet the club. It has taken him a while to adjust to the game but we all know his abilities and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t nail down a first team spot this year. Some of the matches are on Eir Sport but there is a subscription based app as well that has full games and extended highlights etc. It's BT Sport that shows the AFL games. Geelong game was on live Friday morning. Saw a recording of it that evening. Very assured performance by Mark, made one spectacular mark over the top of 2 opponents at one stage. Also made 1 memorable crunching tackle on a Collingwood player. He does a great job contesting marks in the Geelong defence, stopping key forwards claiming clean possession which is invaluable in Aussie rules.
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diego
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Post by diego on Mar 30, 2019 8:58:08 GMT
GOAL ALERT:
Mark has just kicked his first goal in the AFL!
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Post by john4 on Apr 3, 2019 8:35:34 GMT
Mark O'Connor is emerging as a strong defender 🤜The Irishman is ready to go for the 2019 season #WeAreGeelong #StandProud Presented by Ace Body Corporate Management t.co/mPe0HTcIFa
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Post by ballhopper34 on Apr 4, 2019 17:11:30 GMT
Geelong Cats start season with 3 wins in a row. Highlights of Rd 3 win over Adelaide Crows here:
Mark features twice in the highlights...a poor handpass at 1:33 gives possession and a goal to the Crows, while at 2:50 in he floats a nice ball toward the square that results in a Cats goal.
Unfortunately, Mark got a hip injury in the second quarter that hampered his kicking and running. He did not feature in the second half as a result. Hopefully he will be fit for Rd 4 with a 9 day gap until that fixture against Greater Western Sydney.
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Post by john4 on May 23, 2019 22:38:12 GMT
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diego
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Post by diego on Jun 8, 2019 12:34:26 GMT
Another good performance by Mark yesterday as Geelong crushed Richmond in front of a crowd of 65,000 at the MCG in the big Friday night game there. Meanwhile, today i see that Stefan Okunbor made his debut for the Geelong reserves in the VFL... www.krockfootball.com.au/vfl-news/cats-cost-win-chance/
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Post by ballhopper34 on Jun 29, 2019 21:39:08 GMT
Confident Cat hails Irish influence
Tom Collings Jun 27, 2019 3:11PM
Zach Tuohy has played an important role in the emergence of fellow Irishman Mark O’Connor.
Selected in the 2017 rookie draft, Mark O’Connor spoke about the impact his teammate has had on his development on RSN Radio today.
“When I was just signed with Geelong, there was rumours that Zach could be joining and I just had my fingers crossed the whole time," O'Connor said.
"When he did join it was fantastic, obviously because (of) his experience and just the way he is.
"He’s always willing to help out where he can and just the fact he has been successful over here has been very inspiring for someone like me."
O’Connor is in the midst of a breakout season after showing glimpses of his potential in previous seasons.
He is averaging a career-high 14 disposals, five marks and two tackles per game, cementing himself as an important member of Geelong’s defensive group.
O’Connor believes his rapid development can be attributed to having a greater belief in his ability and playing with more confidence.
“Obviously when you come out, I didn’t really have much confidence playing footy obviously, just because I hadn’t played it before," he said.
"I was just trying to do the real basics right.
"But I thought over the pre-season I got an accumulation of confidence over (and in) the past two years.
"The coaches and the other players have helped me out with that massively."
Geelong’s Irish contingent increased to three during the off-season with Stefan Okunbor signing a two-year rookie contract at the club following a standout junior career at Kerry.
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Hicser
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Post by Hicser on Jul 20, 2019 0:00:28 GMT
Is MOC making the same impact in OZ as Clifford is in Ireland?
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Post by themanfromthewest on Jul 20, 2019 0:20:57 GMT
Is MOC making the same impact in OZ as Clifford is in Ireland? I don’t think that would be possible. He has however nailed down a first team place in one of the sports best teams. That is a huge feat in a major professional league. If he was at home I think he would be one of the best midfielders in the country already.
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