Cooney plays down threat of AFL as duo eye move
Christy Cooney was speaking following reports that two Kerry players, Tommy Walsh and David Moran, are on the verge of signing a two-year international rookie contract with Aussie Rules outfit St Kilda.
Both players have been linked with such a move before.
“I have expressed my view previously that the whole thing about our players going to Australia and playing AFL is blown out of all proportion,” said Cooney in Dublin.
“Something like four players have announced in the last week that they are coming back and we have about four or five now playing full-time AFL professional sport so it is not a major issue.
“We don’t have a great deal of players out there. People have their own free will. If they want to go and play professional football in the AFL, or professional soccer or professional rugby, then that is their decision.
“We have a bigger task in ensuring we are maximising our playing levels at home so one, two or three deciding to go out and play other sports… I wish them the best. We can’t and shouldn’t stand in anybody’s way.”
Whatever about the bigger picture, Kerry defender Tom O’Sullivan accepted that Walsh and Moran face big decisions but stated his belief that both would remain on in Ireland.
“Kerry are there and thereabouts for the last nine years and I think they will be there for the next couple of years also,” said O’Sullivan. “I don’t think that the boys are going to walk away from it.
“It is a big thing for a young guy to go over to Australia for a couple of years. I think they have a rosy enough life around here. They have a few All-Irelands. It is competitive back here and I think they’ll stay around. They’ll be a huge loss if they go, of course.”
Kerry county chairman, Jerome Conway, says he knows nothing about reports linking Tommy Walsh and David Moran with AFL giants St Kilda.
“We haven’t had any contact and I haven’t been talking to them. Obviously we’d be hoping they’d stay with us and help us have another assault on the Sam Maguire.”
Player agent Ricky Nixon is due to visit Ireland in the near future with a view to signing a handful of unidentified players but, as Cooney pointed out, it hasn’t been all one-way traffic between the two countries.
Down’s Martin Clarke and Armagh’s Kevin Dyas are both back home having terminated their ties with Collingwood while Kennelly and Michael Shields featured in this year’s All-Ireland final having also departed the AFL.
Much has been made of the difficulties facing young Irish players taking the plunge in Australia and, in fairness to Cooney, he spurned the temptation to say that those returning home served as some sort of cautionary tales.
“Maybe they do but I don’t know the circumstances and I would want to be fair to the people that are coming home.
“That’s their choice and we in the GAA wouldn’t want to put any pressure on them. They are coming home now to play Gaelic football again and I wish them every success with their clubs and counties. It’s great to have them back.”
The GAA has previously held talks with their AFL counterparts about the possibility of establishing an age limit prior to which young Irish players cannot be approached by professional Australian outfits.
That idea is still on the table and is part of the brief held by the GAA’s Operations Manager Fergal McGill who will be one of those attending the next round of talks with the Australians some time around the New Year when the International Rules series will also be on the agenda.
And, while the GAA may be powerless to stop young players trying their hand in the AFL, they are mindful of the need to provide those who return home with the softest landing possible.
“We are looking at trying to create a kind of fund as well to support players that will be finished or seriously injured and had to come back home,” Cooney added. “All those things have to be discussed but it is not as big an issue now.”
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