AFL's latest Kerry import Monahan looking to follow the path walked by Kenneally and O'Connor 

Former Kerry underage star Rob Monahan has been making quite the impression since joining the Carlton Blues ranks. 

QUICK LEARNER: Rob Monahan in Carlton Blues' colours. Pic: Carlton Blues

The cross-code transition from underage GAA to the AFL is a journey that some have mastered. Others have found that road more than a little bumpy. 

For one of the latest to make the switch, 19-year-old Kerry star Rob Monahan, role models don't come much better than two AFL Premiership-winning Kingdom natives in Tadhg Kenneally and Mark O'Connor. 

Monahan signed a Category B contract at Melbourne outfit Carlton Blues three months ago, bringing an end to his burgeoning career as a Kerry footballer.

The Ardfert native and former midfielder has made a decent impression with his new employers, but he insists it's a case of keeping the head down and trucking away through the hard graft. 

“It’s a challenge, but I’m willing to take it on. It’s always going to be tough, but I’m basing it off players that have done it before," Monahan told  9News.

“I’m ambitious enough to play, but I don’t want to set my expectations too high. I’m just going to go in head first and see what happens.”

Dingle native O'Connor made the same trip a number of years ago, and has since become a Premiership winner and a mainstay in the Geelong Cats defence. 

ALL THE ATTRIBUTES: Mercy Mounthawk's Rob Monahan gets a little air time at the start of the 2022 O'Sullivan Cup Schools Final in Fitzgerald's Stadium, Killarney. Pic: Alan Landers.

A trip back home for the Christmas festivities gave the duo a chance to talk footy. 

“I went for a kick with him (O'Connor) when I was back home, and that helped a lot."

The advice from one prodigious Kerry footballing talent to another?

"Go at it head first and see what happens," was the word from O'Connor.  “If I can have half the career they had, I’ll be doing well,” Monahan added.

As previously seen in these parts, Monahan has all the attributes to succeed at the highest level in his chosen discipline. Carlton development coach Brad Ebert believes the teenager's AFL destiny is very much in his own hands. 

“He’s been fantastic, he really has. He’s constantly asking questions and is always really engaged with everything he does: with a guy like that, he’ll pick up the sport a lot quicker,” Ebert said.

“He has that potential. It’s now down to him, and for us and for our environment, to bring that out in him.”