FORMER Roscommon footballer and Melbourne AFL player PaulEarley believes the decision to remove agent Ricky Nixon’s licence will have little or no impact on the Australian Rules recruitment drive in Ireland.

As the AFL season gets underway this weekend, former Young Footballer of the Year Tommy Walsh edges closer and closer to his St Kilda League debut. Joe Callaghan met him in Melbourne.

ONE of the brightest young talents in the GAA has accepted a two-year contract with an Aussie Rules club.

THE teenage sex scandal that has engulfed Ricky Nixon in recent weeks appeared to finally take its toll yesterday when the embattled agent relented and stood down from his role at the helm of his firm and entered rehab for treatment for a “substance abuse problem”.

CONTROVERSIAL Australian Rules agent Ricky Nixon, currently in Ireland, may not be in a position to recruit any players while he is investigated for an alleged affair with a 17-year-old girl.

CONTROVERSIAL AFL agent Ricky Nixon has fled to Ireland to escape a scandal that has gripped Australia and threatens his career.

AUSTRALIAN RULES agent Ricky Nixon’s career is in jeopardy after yesterday he admitted to inappropriate dealing with a teenage girl at the centre of an AFL sex scandal.

TOMMY WALSH’S debut in the AFL next week is a story that will be framed by the sports pages, distilled by short-sleeved press men and is, undeniably, about Aussie Rules.

WHAT’s the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don’t know and I don’t care.

HE was Down’s star player when they overpowered Mayo in the All-Ireland minor final five years ago, and had a host of AFL clubs scrambling for his services; but his name isn’t Marty Clarke — meet Paul McComiskey.

NEW Laois boss Justin McNulty is likely to have the services of Conor Meredith next season after the former minor star was released by AFL side North Melbourne yesterday.

HOT on the heels of the heroics of Sean Óg and Aisake for the Cork hurlers last weekend, the Australian arm of the O hAilpín sporting dynasty continues to make headlines in the AFL.

YOUNG Footballer of the Year Michael Murphy has given Donegal fans the news they wanted to hear – he’s got no interest in quitting Gaelic games to pursue an Aussie Rules career.

IT COULDN’T have been more fitting as an Aussie Rules season that shapes up to have a greater Irish influence than ever before, kicked off last night with one of our exports providing the opening night fireworks.

THE three-week sabbatical had startlingly different effects on these two sides, with Kildare looking much like their old selves and Donegal but a pale shadow of the team that steamrolled Laois last time out.

DUBLIN manager Pat Gilroy has denied the allegation that he threatened to axe four young footballers from the county squad for this weekend’s NFL game against Mayo if they attended an AFL trial camp in Meath earlier this week.

Dublin manager Pat Gilroy has rubbished suggestions that he banned his players from attending yesterday's AFL recruitment camp at Gormanston College.

FOUR Dublin footballers were allegedly informed that they would be dropped from Pat Gilroy’s panel for this weekend’s NFL tie against Mayo if they attended Ricky Nixon’s AFL trial camp in Meath yesterday.

Aussie Rules agent Ricky Nixon hosted the latest AFL recruitment camp at Gormanston College today with players from across the country in attendance.

Aussie Rules scout Ricky Nixon will be joined by recruiters from a number of AFL clubs in Maynooth today where he will run the rule over the young footballers in this year’s Sigerson Cup final.

AUSSIE RULES scout Ricky Nixon will be joined by recruiters from a number of AFL clubs in Maynooth today where he will run the rule over the young footballers in this year’s Sigerson Cup final.

ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon has confirmed All-Ireland winner Tommy Walsh will make his AFL debut in the side’s NAB Cup opener with Collingwood next week.

KERRY have already lost a handful of their victorious 2009 squad and they may face the prospect of losing David Moran to Australia at the height of this season’s All-Ireland championship.

THE boss of recruitment with AFL side St Kilda has showered praise on former Young Footballer of the Year Tommy Walsh, labelling him as “different to any six foot four bloke we have seen”.

DAVID MORAN will be available for Kerins O’Rahillys’ Munster club decider with Clare champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

TOMMY WALSH may not be the last Irish man to join the AFL this year with another Australian club chasing two exciting Ulster talents.

JACK O’CONNOR is adamant that both Tommy Walsh and David Moran will play for Kerry again.

All-Ireland SFC champions Kerry have been dealt a significant blow with the news that Tommy Walsh, one of the county's best attacking talents, has completed his switch to Australian Rules football.

THE president of the GAA claimed yesterday that the practice of AFL players signing young Gaelic footballers is “not a major issue”.

THE trickle of young Irishmen ditching their nascent careers in the AFL for a return home is fast becoming a flood following yesterday’s confirmation that Down’s Martin Clarke has decided to join the exodus.

CONTROVERSIAL AFL players’ agent Ricky Nixon has lost his driver’s licence for 10 months and been fined $1,250 after pleading guilty to crashing his car into a tram in March.

ONE of the AFL’s most respected figures has admitted he would love to see a recruiting academy established here in Ireland.

THE novel Ulster football final pairing of Antrim and Tyrone on Sunday week will literally pit family against family.

PRIMARY schools are the next target in Ireland for controversial Aussie Rule agent Ricky Nixon as he tries to groom Aussie Rules stars of the future.

CONTROVERSIAL Aussie Rules agent Ricky Nixon is set to star in a new three-part documentary which begins screening on RTÉ 2 on Sunday night at 9pm.

THE number of young Irish footballers set to be lured by the prospect of full-time sport by AFL clubs will increase, according to sports agent Ricky Nixon.

JAMES CONWAY will learn later this week if he will be part of the Derry senior football panel for the All-Ireland qualifiers, after his controversial eight-week suspension was lifted at an appeals meeting.

RICKY NIXON, the Australian sports agent responsible for bringing Tadhg Kennelly, Martin Clarke, and Colm Begley to the AFL admitted that of the 23 players that attended Monday’s screening camp in Dublin, at least “three to five of those will be offered contracts.”

RICKY NIXON, the controversial agent attempting to woo young GAA talent to the AFL, was involved in a bizarre accident in Melbourne this week.

Laois teenager Conor Meredith has become the latest Gaelic footballer to sign forms with an Australian Rules club.

ONE of the important points of discussion between the AFL and the GAA in Australia concerned the active recruitment of Gaelic players to the AFL.

IRISH AFL star Colm Begley has yet to finalise a new contract with the Brisbane Lions. Begley returned to his native Laois for the past month and admits he doesn’t know what his Australian future holds.

AT LEAST one of the Irish players heading down under for the International Rules series will be playing Australian Rules professionally within months, according to the Australian media.

THE GAA has confirmed it will meet with their AFL counterparts on Wednesday, October 29 to discuss the recruitment of young Irish footballers by Aussie Rules clubs.