Young Irish recruit, Tommy Walsh, certainly brought a lot of attention with him when he arrived at the Saints for the 2010 season from Gaelic Championship winning side, Kerry.

Joining a number of new recruits at the Saints during the 2009 AFL Rookie Draft, Tommy knew it was going to be a tough year ahead, but came prepared for the challenge.

Speaking to saints.com.au earlier today, Tommy said; “It was a huge decision to come out here. I had so much to leave at home; my Gaelic football, college and family. But in the end I just through it was too good an opportunity to pass up.”

“I didn’t want to be looking back in 10 years time saying ‘I could have done this’ or ‘I should have done that.’ So I just decided to give it a go as then I’d know for sure.”

Originally coming out to meet with St Kilda late in 2008, Tommy’s visit was slightly too late for him to qualify for the 2008 AFL Draft, but looking back he was glad to have had the extra year to make his decision to move to Australia.

“I came to the Club in December 2008 just to see what it was like and I was offered a contract then, but I missed the deadline of the Draft. So I went back home for another year.”

“I was better off doing it that way anyway as I didn’t rush into anything and I was able to talk to everyone I needed to before making my decision.” Tommy added; “plus we also won the Gaelic Football Championship last year, which was a bonus.”

In addition to contributing to his home team’s success in the Gaelic Athletic Association, Tommy was also able get some expert advice from Kerry teammate and Sydney Swans player, Tadhg Kennelly, on the advantages of making the transition to AFL.

“I spoke to Tadhg a bit during the year, just quietly, to see what he thought and to see what he went through, as I knew he’d gone through everything that I was about to face. He never persuaded me either way but gave me some really good advice throughout the year.”

Unlike his teammates, with many growing up with an AFL football in their arms, Tommy has had to learn the skills of the sport from the beginning. Clearly not an easy task, his determination and large physique has proved to be a major asset to him throughout the year.

“I’ve done a lot of work getting to know the skills and the knowledge, which hopefully next year will allow me to take it to the next level.”

“I still do a fair bit of one-on-one work before and after training with the coaches. Everyone else has had so much of a head start on me so I am just really trying to catch up.”

With Gaelic Football a non professional sport in Ireland, Tommy was only required to train approximately three times per week at Kerry, which he fitted around his studies in Construction Management that he continues to do via correspondence.

With such a change in routine, it was the fitness element that Tommy said he struggled with the most during the preseason.

“I’d never done any of the running training as much as I have done here so that was tough and took me 3-4 weeks to really get used to it, although I am probably still getting used to it now,” he joked. “Getting to the level (of fitness) that I needed to be at was really tough.”

“My body has held up pretty well though, which has definitely been good. The coaches were worried with how I would cope with all the training and games but I’ve gotten through everything and don’t think I have missed a training session all year.”

Starting off the year in the seniors for St Kilda’s VFL affiliate team, Sandringham Zebras, Tommy has held his spot during the 18 rounds and has shown strong development throughout the year playing down back with glimpses up forward.

“I’ve played most of my games down back so I feel comfortable down there. But like most people I also do like playing forward and kicking some goals.”

“I’d never been a defender before I came here. At the start I didn’t really like it but as the games went on I started to feel more comfortable down there.”

Remembering his first game for Sandringham, Tommy joked; “It was very very long. I remember sitting at half time and thinking that if I was at home the game would be over.”

With the VFL season now over for the Zebras, Tommy will continue to train at the Club before going home during the off season break. But there will be no rest for the Irishman who is already looking ahead to having another solid pre-season to prepare for 2011.

“I’m just looking to take a step towards to the next level now. I want to come back and train hard and try and improve as much as I can. I’m not really looking past the pre-season at the moment, so I just need to come back and work as hard as I can then.”