ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights has praised the fitness level of the two Gaelic footballers currently on trial at his club.
County Longford’s Michael Quinn and Limerick’s Ian Ryan have been at the club for the past two weeks but the coach insisted the club would not be making an immediate decision on whether to sign the pair.
“Both boys are in really good shape, physically,” Knights said.
“It seems like the game of Gaelic football lends itself to players being physically fit and adept to Australian Rules.”
Knights said the hardest part was learning the skills required, particularly kicking the oval ball.
“They’ll go home in the near future and then we’ll sit down as a club and assess the whole situation, the whole two weeks and how those boys went.”
Knights wouldn’t reveal whether the club would be willing to sign both boys if deemed suitable.
“We haven’t even thought whether we would or wouldn’t sign (both). We have to go through an assessment stage yet. That’s probably a month or two down the track.”
The coach insisted that the AFL’s decision to expand the League from 16 to 18 teams was not the reason for the club trying to find Irish talent.
“The Essendon football club has been looking into getting Irish players, probably for three or four years now.
“This is the first time we’ve taken the step of getting two young men out here to spend some time in our program so it’s certainly not something we’ve just looked at in the last six months.
“It’s something that the club has considered over the past three or four years but this is the first time we’ve got to the activation stage … so it’s pretty exciting.”
Knights said having the two Irish men at the club had been a “great experience”.
“They’ve really been embraced by everyone at the club. They’ve really enjoyed their time and they’ll be here for a few more days. So it’s been a great experience for the Essendon footy club to have a few of those young lads out here.”
Quinn and Ryan are just the latest in a long list of Irish players being looked at by Australian clubs.
Kyle Coney from County Tyrone has already signed a rookie contract for the Sydney Swans while Conor Meredith, who impressed on a recent trial with Brisbane Lions, also looks likely to pursue a career in AFL.
Carl Dias (Dublin) and Brian Donnelly (Louth) have already completed a trial with Adelaide while Carlton are looking at boosting their Irish stocks with Ciaran Sheehan (Cork) and Zach Tuohy (Laois) likely to begin trials with the Blues in the near future.
With Ricky Nixon’s well documented Irish draft camp due to take place in Ireland at the end of the month, it looks like the number of Irish players on AFL books next year will rise dramatically.
