Drain of talent to Australian Football League a 'huge blow to Gaelic Games'

Eva Osborne

Chief executive of the Gaelic Players Association, Tom Parsons, has said the drain of talent to the Australian Football League (AFL) is "a huge blow to Gaelic Games".

Ben Murphy has become the latest Kerry player to join the exodus to Australia.

Kerry have several players Down Under currently. Milltown-Castlemaine’s Cillian Burke was the latest to make the move last year when he joined Geelong.

Dingle star and Premiership winner Mark O’Connor is a team-mate there, according to the Irish Examiner.

Offaly's Cillian Bourke is also expected to sign a contract in the coming weeks.

There are also a record 39 Irish players in the women's AFL this season.

At the Kerry convention last year, chair Patrick O’Sullivan urged Croke Park to form a committee to look into the number of players departing.

“Representatives of the AFL are constantly floating around Kerry minor and U20 teams over the last number of years," he said.

They come selling a professional sport to our younger players. It is hard for young players not to look at a professional career in sport.

“The Association has to take some action regarding the AFL’s constant scrutiny of our younger stars in Ireland. Procedure will have to be put in place where players cannot be taken without contributing to the club and counties who give so much to the development of these players.

“If our younger players keep emigrating to Australia, the outlook for Kerry senior teams going forward will not be a good one.

"Kerry players are at the heart and soul of our county, and we, as an Association, have to figure out a method to retain and keep our players at home in Ireland."