Eager Walsh poised to make Saints debut

KERRY All-Ireland winner Tommy Walsh looks set to make his competitive Aussie Rules debut next month.

The former young footballer of the year has been earning rave reviews for his efforts in training since joining St Kilda on a two-year international rookie contract in October and coach, Ross Lyon is anxious to see how he fares in first-team action.

With that in mind, the 21-year-old who “physically, is capable of doing anything” has been tipped to be left off the leash in the pre-season NAB Cup against Collingwood on February 19.

St Kilda football manager, Greg Hutchison said any decision in that regard was Lyon’s, but conceded it would be “pretty exciting” to see the big Tralee man let loose.

“The coach will make up his mind about when he plays him but the NAB Cup is interesting because not only can you try some of your inexperienced players, it’s also an opportunity to try some people that maybe haven’t got a background in AFL football,” said Hutchison.

“It would be pretty exciting if we saw Tommy Walsh run out in Round 1 of the NAB Cup. He can play at either end of the ground and once he understands the nuances of the game, who knows where he’s going to go with it all?”

Reports from Down Under suggest Walsh has come to grips with the oval ball quickly, while his pace for a man of his stature has surprised many. He has settled in with the rest of the squad who have quickly christened him “Ivan”, after the blond-haired Russian villain in Rocky IV, Ivan Drago.

“I think where he’s come from, pre-Christmas and when he got here, he’s really improved,” Hutchison enthused. “Physically, he’s capable of doing anything. The greatest challenge for him is learning the game and its skills, and once he gets a handle on that, physically I think he’s got the attributes to make an impact.

“He spends a lot of time one-on-one working with our development coaches, which is really important, and we’ve got a designated resource to try and teach him how to play the game.

“Who knows? It may work or it may not, but if it does work, we’ve certainly got a free player if you like. What he’s shown playing Gaelic football, even if we can get a little bit of that, we might have found a player.”