Kerry Cat rockets to MCG debut
- Thursday, May 11 2017 @ 10:51 pm ACST
- Contributed by: Troy Thompson
- Views: 2,606
After just six games of Australian football, Irishman Mark O'Connor will make his AFL debut for Geelong at the MCG on Saturday.
After being a very promising GAA football talent in Ireland and playing for County Kerry, O'Connor was invited to the AFL Europe combine in Dublin. Impressive in the testing there he was invited to Melbourne where he was hot property at the AFL Combine in Melbourne last October.
Being an international rookie prospect he was in the position of fielding a number of offers before he finally chose Geelong. He joined fellow Irish recruit Zac Tuohy who had just been traded from Carlton. An impressive pre-season and good early from in the VFL have seen the Geelong selectors back the raw Irish talent for his accelerated AFL debut.
On Saturday there is some chance he will run out on the MCG and be matched against another Irishman in Conor McKenna who had a similar journey via the AFL Europe combine before ending up at Essendon.
O'Connor's press conference today can be seen here.
Team:
|
Geelong Cats
|
Match:
|
AFL Round 8 - Essendon v Geelong Cats
|
Game Date:
|
Saturday May 13 at MCG
|
Position
|
Name
|
#
|
Name
|
#
|
Name
|
#
|
Backs
|
J.Bews
|
24
|
T.Lonergan
|
13
|
T.Stewart
|
44
|
Half Backs
|
Z.Tuohy
|
2
|
A.Mackie
|
4
|
J.Kolodjashnij
|
8
|
Centreline
|
G.Horlin-Smith
|
33
|
J.Selwood
|
14
|
S.Menegola
|
27
|
Half Forwards
|
J.Parsons
|
34
|
H.Taylor
|
7
|
M.O'Connor
|
42
|
Forwards
|
S.Motlop
|
32
|
T.Hawkins
|
26
|
D.Menzel
|
10
|
Followers
|
R.Stanley
|
1
|
P.Dangerfield
|
35
|
M.Duncan
|
22
|
Interchange
|
M.Blicavs
|
46
|
N.Cockatoo
|
5
|
C.Guthrie
|
29
|
Z.Smith
|
9
|
|||||
Emergencies
|
A.Black
|
23
|
J.Murdoch
|
21
|
T.Ruggles
|
36
|
In: Z.Smith , T.Stewart , J.Kolodjashnij , M.O'Connor
Out: A.Black (Omitted) , J.Thurlow (Omitted) , J.Murdoch (Omitted) , D.Lang (Omitted)
New: M.O'Connor ()
Team:
|
Essendon
|
Match:
|
AFL Round 8 - Essendon v Geelong Cats
|
Game Date:
|
Saturday May 13 at MCG
|
Position
|
Name
|
#
|
Name
|
#
|
Name
|
#
|
Backs
|
M.Dea
|
49
|
M.Hurley
|
18
|
C.McKenna
|
45
|
Half Backs
|
M.Baguley
|
12
|
M.Hartley
|
36
|
O.Fantasia
|
13
|
Centreline
|
B.Goddard
|
9
|
D.Zaharakis
|
11
|
J.Kelly
|
47
|
Half Forwards
|
J.Stewart
|
17
|
C.Hooker
|
26
|
D.Parish
|
3
|
Forwards
|
A.McDonald-Tipungwuti
|
43
|
J.Daniher
|
6
|
J.Watson
|
4
|
Followers
|
M.Leuenberger
|
22
|
D.Heppell
|
21
|
T.Colyer
|
32
|
Interchange
|
A.McGrath
|
1
|
Z.Merrett
|
7
|
J.Green
|
15
|
D.Myers
|
23
|
|||||
Emergencies
|
K.Mutch
|
19
|
C.Bird
|
24
|
S.McKernan
|
44
|
In: J.Watson , J.Stewart , A.McGrath
Out: B.Stanton (Omitted) , M.Gleeson (Omitted) , A.Francis (Omitted)
Milestone: J.Kelly - 300 games