Trickle of GAA players shows there is no need to sound the AFL alarm

09 Sep 2026, 05:00 by Declan Bogue · The42

Declan Bogue

GUILT, ALONG WITH the parping sidecar of Other People’s Expectations, is the rocket fuel that makes the GAA so successful.

For the games to function, there has to be an in-built understanding that the place you come from, be it a village, town, hamlet or suburb, is populated by higher sentient beings.

That your loyalty to the bush you dried your shirt on, is a purer expression of self than that shower of, well let’s be honest here, bastards, from down the road.

That fierce loyalty makes the parish system work. It works so well it can curdle rational adults at the very sight of an opposition jersey, sustaining grudges that travel down generations.

When applied to counties, it becomes even stronger tack.

If you didn’t know better, that’s how you would imagine it has been, forever. It’s not though. The brilliantly researched book ‘Chasing Sam Maguire – The All-Ireland football championship 1928-1977’, shows that the player of yore was not averse to bouncing around from club to club, whenever education, work or whatever else took them in different directions.

To pick one season at random, let’s take 1933. Won by Cavan, no fewer than seven starting players had represented more than one club.

Centre-back Jim Smith had played for Erin’s Own in Kells, the Garda club, Bailieboro and Virginia. Their opponents were Galway and two-thirds of their starting team, 10 players, had more than one club.

There are key differences now, of course. Travelling around the country has become a lot easier and in the early formation of the state, the institutions of the Garda and Civil Service brought the influx of many rural dwellers for employment.

The Club

There is also a sense that some nostalgic marketing exists around ‘the club’, that it is a birthright or a rich inheritance, and you must not besmirch it. By and large, the war on that front has been won.

But in the eyes of some, a different kind of war is raging, one in which Australian Rules clubs and their nefarious agents are creaming off the top Irish talent and taking them Down Under to show them the kind of good time that we at home just cannot match.

Tommy Walsh with St Kilda back in 2009. Getty Images / INPHOGetty Images / INPHO / INPHO

The Aussie Alarm has been sounding all year, but the noise is reaching window-shattering levels of late.

Taking the likes of your Mark Keanes, Callum Browns, Oisín Mullin was one thing. Going after Kobe McDonald was another.

A player like McDonald, given his lineage and heritage, was always going to be tracked by Mayo fans. Signing up for St Kilda came before his senior debut for Mayo. Going on to win an All-Ireland made the story a great summer blockbuster.

In truth, his extended farewell with him back playing in the Mayo championship for Crossmolina is only going to make the eventual split harder to take.

Kobe McDonald, in action for Crossmolina last weekend. Bryan KeaneBryan Keane

Some have been strident in their objections. In March, Pat Spillane accused the AFL of taking the GAA’s ‘crown jewels.’ More recently, he has described their ‘Viking-like approach.’

Kobe’s decision to take his talents to St Kilda was a great marketing opportunity for the GAA lost, but he also managed to come back to matters more local, mentioning that Kerry’s All-Ireland winning U20 midfield pairing, Daniel Kirby and Evan Boyle, were also targets of Australia.

Vocal

Tomás Ó Sé has been vocal in his condemnation, rightly calling out the objectionable approaches from some clubs who send messages to young players in their teens through social media.

As Kerry U20 manager, a few players have gone through his hands such as Cillian Burke and Rob Monahan, future senior stalwarts who instead have sought out the Sherrin football.

Kerry U20 manager, Tomás ÓSé. Ben Brady / INPHOBen Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Some suggestions have been floated about what action the GAA can do in these circumstances. None of them are workable.

‘Compensation packages’ are suggested. You could tie yourself into knots wondering who is more deserving; the club, the school, or the various county underage set-ups that facilitated the blossoming of a sporting career?

Or you could wise up and realise that there is no exchange of labour here and the AFL clubs have to pay precisely nothing, to anybody.

A limit on how many can come from each county is another thought that stands up to absolutely no scrutiny whatsoever.

As for Spillane’s idea that wealthy business people could band together to offer the likes of Kobe McDonald ‘a package’, it’s the proverbial feather-duster to a gun fight.

Right now, the Aussies are offering the sort of package that cannot be matched. A Rookie B contract is worth €42,000 per annum. Given players will be housed and most of their utilities and meals taken care of along with a certain number of flights home paid for, this is serious money for kids in their late teens and early 20s.

For some time now, AFL clubs have been encouraging players to have a side project.

McDonald’s club co-captain, Jack Sinclair, has been the gold standard in preparing for a life after the oval, finishing a business degree a couple of years ago and spending time interning in companies such as Adidas and Deloitte.

Tempting

It’s not just about money, though. To say so or believe it is reductive. The lure of becoming a paid athlete is hugely tempting to any young, talented sportsperson.

That, and living in some of the world’s cleanest, fashionable cities with an enviable climate and opportunities makes it intoxicating.

Not all will choose it. Famous Refuseniks of the Australian Empire include David Clifford and Michael Murphy.

Kerry's David Clifford. Ryan Byrne / INPHORyan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

After scoring 4-4 in the 2017 All-Ireland minor final, Clifford was wanted. But as he told Radio Kerry’s ‘Terrace Talk’: “Of course [I have thought about it] and there are a lot of alluring factors that might lure you in.