Sounds like we're staying involved in hunting for Irish recruits although we passed last year .... Nixon showcases latest Irish experimentJesse Hogan | April 30, 2009
AFL club recruiters will meet in Melbourne tomorrow to peruse the results of Ricky Nixon's latest scouting trip to Ireland.
Nixon's Flying Start group ran a covert training camp in Ireland earlier this month for 23 prospective AFL converts. He would not divulge their names they have been kept secret due to significant enmity about his scouting program from Gaelic football authorities but predicted up to 10 would be brought to Australia by clubs for official trials later this year.
"Last year we gave 20 Sherrins to kids, and four or five of those kids turned up and they were just hitting (targets) lace-out," Nixon said of the training camp.
"I guess it's a bit pie-in-the-sky with the numbers, but certainly the indication at this stage is there'll probably be a minimum of five but maybe as high as eight or 10 would be invited out for a lengthier period this year."
The majority of attendees were Gaelic footballers, although one was a 198-centimetre goalkeeper playing soccer in England. The group did not, however, include highly-rated Kerry youngster Tommy Walsh, who trained with St Kilda last year but is said by local media to have "cooled on the idea of going to Australia".
The primary attraction for young players to switch codes is the ability to earn a high wage in Australia, as Gaelic football is amateur.
Five clubs Geelong, the Brisbane Lions, North Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda are already paid-up members of Nixon's Irish scouting network.Nixon will spruik the recruitment program to the rest of the clubs tomorrow, mainly the results of fitness testing and footage of their skills testing, but also psychological testing results.
"I'm not saying we're bulletproof, but by doing the psychological testing and actual interviews, like they do at the (AFL ) draft camp, it gives you a better idea of the type of kids (they are)," he said. "One of the outstanding kids there has changed his mind several times over whether he wants to come
and that is now influencing clubs to the point that if he's going to be so indecisive, then they're probably not going to bring him out."
Nixon, who returned from Ireland last week, rankled Gaelic football authorities by speaking publicly about how Ireland's economy was suffering more than Australia's, thus making the move to Australia more attractive.
"It appears that Nixon's misguided view of Irish life is that shiploads of starving young Gaelic footballers will pack their torn boots into battered suitcases, leave their wailing parents behind on the quayside and head for Australia hoping that AFL clubs will toss a few dollars at them in return for their unrefined talents," a sports columnist with The Independent wrote.
But Nixon rejected the criticism, insisting he was only relaying the sentiments expressed to him by a parent of one of the players angling for an AFL career.
The sole player signed out of last year's program as an international rookie, Conor Meredith, has begun his North Melbourne career by playing reserves for the Kangaroos' VFL affiliate, Werribee.
"A lot of players would benefit from coming out and playing a year in the VFL," Nixon said. "Instant success like Marty Clarke (at Collingwood) is going to be very hard to duplicate, but if players could come out and play in, say, the private school system for a year and do year 12, or play a year in the VFL, it would be much handier."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/nixon-showcases-latest-irish-experiment/2009/04/29/1240982277556.html
