World Footy News

Carlton's Irish recruits, the O'hAilpin brothers, are continuing their development with the Northern Bullants in the Victoria Football League. The younger of the two, Aisake, has recently been in excellent form in the Bullants' reserve grade, twice named best player for his side. However he has now experienced another aspect of the game that he wouldn't be quite so keen to learn about - a visit to the tribunal charged with striking.

The brothers are both extremely tall and athletic, no doubt thanks to their Fijian heritage on their mother's side. Setanta has had a slow start to the year, with injury restricting him early and not preparing him well for his second AFL match, which was a night to forget. Since then he has battled away for the Bullants' seniors, but not amongst his team's best players, though he did boot three goals a couple of weeks ago.

On the other hand Aisake O'hAilpin has found a rich vein of form in the next level down, with his best player efforts coming in successive weeks. This improvement will be temporarily halted as he was reported for wrestling and striking last week against Frankston. Under the new system in place, players can receive reduced penalties if they plead guilty, and Aisake did not contest either charge. He was fined on the wrestling offence (as was Frankston's Stuart Kemperman) and suspended for one match for striking.

Earlier this season we suggested that Setanta may need to step up at AFL level to guarantee Carlton continue with him in 2007, so hopefully his season will turn around soon. However his younger brother probably has more time to impress, and this recent setback should not detract from his good performances. With both Bullants sides doing well in 2006, competition for spots must be tight, but at least they have winning form, something the Blues are in desperate need of after a 2 wins 6 losses start to the AFL season.