Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

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Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 10:42 am ACST
Contributed by: Troy Thompson
Views: 4,320

Dromintee's Kevin Dyas was an integral part of his team drawing with All Ireland Club Champions Crossmaglen last week as Collingwood’s scout looked on at the Gaelic football fixture. A week later they lost to Crossmaglen and Dyas' season was over.

It now appears that Dyas is on his way to Australia for a month long trial with the Pies, just as Martin Clarke did in July 2006. It is also believed that Brisbane had been interested in Dyas and possibly also offered him a contract. Collingwood were able to keep Clarke under wraps when he came out just over a year ago, we think Dyas might get a little more attention – even if he is hidden away in the Lexus Centre.

It is unlikely that Dyas saw Martin Clarke cop the crude high hit from the Swans' Amon Buchanan on Saturday night but if he did it just might have him thinking twice about the conversion.

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Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 02:22 pm ACST

I've said it before - the reality is that any AFL club not now actively looking at Irish players is not doing its duty in trying to produce the best squad possible.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Troy Thompson
on Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 02:41 pm ACST

So Brett, do you think the WA and SA teams are doing enough to look at the Irish guys? Is it the fierce state parochialism that might mean they are less likely to look to Ireland? (I know it may not seem an obvious reason, and maybe a stupid theory...)
By the way they may be looking, I just haven't seen any evidence of it yet.

Also for a bit more background on Dyas - try http://www.irishnews.com/championship/football/armagh.html

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Sean Finlayson
on Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 02:58 pm ACST

In reality, it should not be just an AFL thing. If the floodgates were truly open, we would see two things happen. 1) Some of the best Irish players coming over to trial with clubs in leagues like the SANFL, VFL and WAFL to get drafted, as they could easily make AFL rookie lists this way and 2) Clubs in these comps offering Irish players to play semi-professionally here in Australia.

While Irish tourists are no doubt taking up our game in big numbers around the world, these two things are clearly not happening. The reason is because only the best can be converted easily enough to make it worthwhile. Let's not forget the many failures in the 1980s that put an end to the Irish experiment. There is considerable risk for the clubs. The potential is as much about psychological assessment, and all but the wealthiest AFL clubs don't have the time or resources for it. Clarke and Begley were freaks, they had the mental commitment and endeavour to succeed and you'd have to assume most others would take more than a year, and many would return homesick. With these things in mind, it would be far from a club's "duty" to consider it.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Troy Thompson
on Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 03:13 pm ACST

I actually wouldn't be suprised if some of the well off country club's around the place were able to offer some Irish guys a year of employment and some reasonable cash in the near future. I think the biggest hurdle to this is actually getting to see them in action in Ireland to assess them. Whether that would be attractive to those being recruited, I don't know? Then again why not look to PNG?

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 06:08 pm ACST

Most (not all) AFL clubs have the resources to assess a player and give them intense, personalised training from high quality staff. The last 5 years has seen the game change on the field and the technical ability of staff off the field increase dramatically, so development can be fast-tracked in a way not considered in the past, and I don't think any failed attempts from the 1980s or even 90s are relevant.

That level of development is not available to most VFL, WAFL or SANFL clubs (not for monetary/resource cost and the inherent risk that remains for any given recruit). So realistically they are not going to be in the market for Gaelic football players who need to be developed over 1 to 3 years (Marty Clarke is a "freak" in that sense, taking less than a year). So I don't expect Irish players to suddenly start appearing in any leagues other than the AFL.

But there really haven't been very many attempts, and with Begley looming as a very solid player in 2008 and Clarke showing glimpses of something very special already, plus Kennelly and possibly the O'hAilpins, it's starting to look like there may be a pool of players in Ireland the equivalent of a second to third round draft pick waiting to be taken (but needing 2 or 3 more years development). If an AFL club is prepared to ignore that then unless they are so seriously strapped for cash that they can't afford to maintain an extra recruitment officer and pay for a few flights (yes, there are other costs), then they may well find themselves getting accused of poor recruitment by their supporters in a few years time.

No, I'm not aware of whether the WA and SA teams are actively looking. I have spoken to a senior staff member of Adelaide in the past and they made it clear their focus was in finding talent within SA, which is quite understandable that they would make a commitment to their state first and foremost. But that was a couple of years ago and with the recent showing of Begley and Clarke I would hope (as a Crows supporter) that they would also find the resources to look at Ireland. Maybe not all clubs will respond until they lose a game with two or three Irishman starring against them.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Michael Christiansen
on Thursday, August 30 2007 @ 08:59 am ACST

I presume the WA AFL clubs have a level of focus on Sth Africa - looking towards the future.

I wonder about junior development on the main internationally - will the international apprenticeship scheme be any good?
The recent Canada vs US game showed a nation vs nation gap. I'd love to see intercontinental competition at this level. Nth America vs Europe vs Britain vs Pacific vs Africa or something like that. Just in the short term anyway.

I just wonder what exactly the pathway will evolve through and to - that hopefully might see a Canadian, a PNG, a Dane and a Sth AFrican at least making a rookie list. (obviously PNG is incorporated via QLD pathways at present).

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: JMS
on Friday, August 31 2007 @ 06:04 pm ACST

If recruiting continues at this rate, how long until Ireland has the numbers to make up a national team of AFL players that could take on Australia? At two or three new players a year... maybe five years? Of course they'd be huge underdogs, considering they wouldn't have any depth to recruit from, but the impact of a genuine Aussie rules international series on the broader international scene would be huge. And so far, the Irish players being recruited are turning out to be above-average in the AFL -- Steines, Kenelly, possibly Clarke and Begley too, even O'hailphin. If that continues to be the trend, maybe it could even be a real contest...

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

Dromintee’s Dyas to join Clarke at Magpies

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Saturday, September 01 2007 @ 01:09 pm ACST

As we've speculated previously, the first true international Australian Football contest, at senior level for men, could be Australia versus the World, where the World would mainly be drawn from AFL players recruited from outside of Australia. It's looking like Ireland would make up the bulk of that squad, and we've got high hopes there will be some PNG and South African players at AFL level in 4 or 5 years. So to have a good pool to draw from, it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility for this sort of match to happen in about 10 years. Down the track they could then separate into Aus vs Ireland or South Africa etc.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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