Aussies here to stay

You can’t accuse the Australian Football League of hiding its light under a bushel when it comes to its efforts to recruit GAA players to its ranks.
Ricky Nelson the former AFL player, who last week unveiled plans for a scouting network to unearth new talent, has now suggested ‘benefits’ for clubs who lose players.
While not outlining what form these ‘benefits’ will actually take it is a declaration of intent from the Aussies that they are here to stay and determined to systematically recruit Irish talent.
Donegal manager Brian McIver said today that Nelson had approached teenage star Michael Murphy and invited him down under in June.
McIver warned other counties to be wary of the Aussie recruitment drive and called on the GAA to break the link with the Australian game though the International series.
However, it’s clear that Australian interest in our players is not going away, you know.
An end to the International Rules series will not put an end to AFL attempts to poach our best young players.
The genie is well out of the bottle on this one.
The best way to keep our young players is to continue to make our games attractive to them and at some point we will, like the AFL did in the ‘70s, look at how we can open up a route to young players to benefit from their sporting talent at home, whether that’s some means of pay for play, the government grants scheme or endorsements.