World Footy News

The Carlton Football Club has issued a press release confirming the de-listing of four players. As we suggested in O'hAilpin split looming? and speculated on during the past year, the Blues' cull includes one of their Irish players, Aisake O'hAilpin. The other players departing are Cain Ackland, Clinton Benjamin, Luke Blackwell, Ryan Jackson (de-listed) and Jason Saddington has retired.

The releases stated that: "Aisake O’hAilpin was recruited from Cork, Ireland as an International Rookie in the 2005 NAB AFL Rookie Draft (4th round selection). He was elevated to the Carlton senior list in 2007 but did not play a senior game".

And regarding all players, Carlton’s General Manager Football Operations, Steven Icke, said "We sincerely thank the players for the commitment they have given to the Carlton Football Club during their careers and we wish them well going forward".

Another player with European links, though possibly fairly thin, is Adelaide's 28 year old Kris Massie, born in Sweden and de-listed after many years at AFL level. Referring to Massie and other players, General Manager of Football Operations John Reid said: "We thank them all for their commitment to the club and wish them well in their future endeavours. Kris in particular has given the club great service playing 88 games for Adelaide and six pre-season games". Massie also played with Carlton prior to being traded to the Crows.

The question now is whether O'hAilpin and Massie will enter the upcoming drafts in an attempt to stay on an AFL list.

Update 6pm 14/10/2008: Carlton's Steven Icke has been further quoted as saying that they were disappointed to de-list Aisake, and that "There was never any issue with his athleticism. It was more just his game understanding where we needed to see a bit more development". The club hope Setanta can continue as a key position defender, and are considering offering contracts to Cork’s Ciaran Sheehan and Zach Tuohy from Laois. More details in Blues persist with Irish experiment.