Irishmen Conor Meredith (left) and Niall McKeever hope their time training with Richmond will lead to a career in the AFL.
Irish are running hot
Dan Silkstone | November 13, 2008
HEAVING, beet-red and slathered in zinc cream the two young Irishmen hurled themselves onto the grass at Gosch's Paddock yesterday. And smiled.
Welcome to Australia.
"It's tough, no doubt about it," said 19-year-old County Antrim man Niall McKeever after training with Richmond's senior group. "The weather is just brutal."
They had left a chilly autumn with temperatures hovering in single figures and arrived on Sunday. Yesterday as they were put through their paces on their second day of a week-long trial at Tigerland, the two AFL aspirants slogged through 35-degree heat.
McKeever a lanky 195 centimetre ruckman type with shoulders burned to red grabbed a gulp of water as a minder from player manager Ricky Nixon's stable advised him to pick up some aloe vera on the way home.
"What's that then?" he wondered aloud.
Apparently there is not much call for it in Northern Ireland.
On the basis of yesterday's session, if the pair do not make it as AFL footballers it will not be for lack of application. Watching on, you wondered how they were possibly surviving under the punishing sun, but still they smiled and kept going.
"People warned me that Melbourne would be four seasons in one day, but since I got here it has been one season all day and every day," McKeever laughed afterwards.
McKeever and compatriot Conor Meredith are among five of the Gaelic game's brightest prospects, chosen from a camp held by Nixon in Ireland in August and flown to Melbourne for extended trials at Richmond, North Melbourne and St Kilda.
For those who make the grade, a spot on the rookie list and a potential new career on the other side of the world beckons.
The training drills are not entirely different to those of the amateur Irish game, both said, nor the aerobic capacity required to keep up. Yesterday, as the entire group ran a callous series of unending 200-metre sprints Meredith and McKeever impressively kept pace with their new colleagues.
But when the shirts came off the difference in size and power was stark.
"I'm competing well out here," McKeever said. "But in the gym it's the total opposite. I'm fairly fit, but for strength and power there is a big difference."
Then there's the swimming. In a recovery session at the beach on Tuesday, the two Irishmen struggled to do much more than prevent themselves from drowning.
Muscle can be added it is what conditioning staff do with all rookies. Other things come harder. McKeever says the kicking is the biggest obstacle and you can see it as he puts his boot through the pigskin in a kicking drill and gives it a high, up-and-under arc unlike the flat, stab pass of a modern AFL player. Overhead marking is handled more assuredly. He has been working at home with a rugby ball, but has hardly ever kicked an Australian rules ball.
"I know that will get better, though," he says. "I hope that I've shown that I can improve physically in the gym and that I am capable of competing with these players."
The professionalism of the Australian game, he says, is the biggest attraction. "The coaches are so disciplined, there's so much help and support, anything you need, they help you."
It's a long way from the amateur pursuits of Gaelic football and the surveying degree at university that awaits him at home if his trial is unsuccessful.
McKeever was a senior listed player at his county, as was Meredith. They are among the brightest talents in the Irish game. The player many judge as the brightest Tommy Walsh will arrive in just over a week for a trial with St Kilda.
In Melbourne, they are pasty curiosities with big dreams, but these boys and their journey are big news back home. At yesterday's session they were watched by an Irish newspaper journalist and filmed by a camera crew from RTE, the Irish public broadcaster. Their more illustrious Tiger teammates were clearly amused at the media attention and responded with the obligatory ribbing.
Director Stephen McQuillan is making a documentary about Nixon's Irish experiment and the growing player exodus to Australia.
"It's quite a controversial thing over there," he says. "There's a movement from the players towards some sort of payment. When you see a player like Tommy Walsh coming out here who is the young player of the year over there, he's like a young Chris Judd. Marty Clarke before that was the best young player of his generation. They are losing heroes."
Walsh's imminent arrival is already big news in Ireland with Nixon hoping the young star is not pressured into withdrawing from the trial. Walsh's decision to try his luck in Australia is an even greater blow considering his father Sean Walsh is chairman of traditional powerhouse County Kerry.
McKeever has no idea what position he might play though he says others have told him he'd make a good half-back. He has a background in soccer as well as Gaelic football and says he has dreamed of making a living from his talents.
"To do something you love and be paid and do it every single day of your life would be just unbelievable," he says.
Meredith from County Louth is 19, shorter but still athletic and more of a power runner. He can't stop smiling, though he looks as though he might vomit from the workout he has just completed.
"I love it here so far," he says. "I wasn't expecting such a high level of intensity in the training. The ball is tough, but this heat is a major factor. It's just so draining."
The word they both use to describe their adventure is lifestyle. "You see the life these guys live, the city, the weather, the training they put into their bodies and it is amazing," Meredith says.
Word has spread around the talented youth of Ireland the achievements of household names such as Tadhg Kenneally and Clarke have not gone unnoticed. The exotic dream that brought Jim Stynes to Australia is becoming a commonplace ambition. Who knows what that will hold for the Irish game?
"People talk about it a lot," Meredith says. "There are more windows opening up here for us all the time. There will be nine or 10 Irish players here soon and they are all top players back home. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) people will be mad and definitely be against it, but what can they do to stop it? It's the individual's choice and for me the lifestyle here, the weather, everything is just great."
Age link....Irishmen Connor Meredith and Niall McKeever also trained impressively with Richmond yesterday.
The club will decide whether to list them as rookies next year.
Herald-Sun link (last two lines)
