News New Irish Recruit - Oisin Mullin...2022 edition

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crocsta

Club Legend
Oct 11, 2010
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James Rahilly is another relatively recent wearer of the number #34
 

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Dockeroo

Reckon we can put the rumour to bed. He's on the final list lodgement.

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Dec 10, 2003
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The biggest challenge for the kid will be home sickness , I hope the club has a plan in place to combat this

Have we seen this kid kick a football yet. Just try to see if his talents can be applied to an AFL game? I certainly feel home sickness is a probable issue, at least its not the first Irish kid we have done this with. MOC should give the kid a template and might be a mentor.

I just want to see him playing, if he enjoys the game and playing, its one positive step towards nullifying home sickness.

In general ..what is the attraction for the Irish recruits. Is it the financial opportunity? I presume a few seasons of football out here might get him quite a bit to compensate for the home absence.
 
I'm sure that MOC and Tuohy will be involved as part of his support team.

We've also signed Rachel Kearns to our AFLW side, so that will make 4 Irish recruits within the club

I know Tuohy has been working with Kearns outside of training to help her transition to the sport - maybe we'll end up with all 4 working together, with the experience of Merrick & Tuohy helping the two newbies
 
Have we seen this kid kick a football yet. Just try to see if his talents can be applied to an AFL game? I certainly feel home sickness is a probable issue, at least its not the first Irish kid we have done this with. MOC should give the kid a template and might be a mentor.

I just want to see him playing, if he enjoys the game and playing, its one positive step towards nullifying home sickness.

In general ..what is the attraction for the Irish recruits. Is it the financial opportunity? I presume a few seasons of football out here might get him quite a bit to compensate for the home absence.
Only looking at the same highlights everyone has but his aerial work and handballing skills stood out to me, clearly better than anyone else I have seen come over. Most of the Irish boys end up pretty solid kicks so fingers crossed we might have something here….for free too.
 

Footy Smarts

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 19, 2006
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If Jed Bews can turn into a perfectly solid small defender with his kicking technique I don't see why we should be that worried about kicking skills. Many of the Irishmen turn into excellent kicks.

There are of course question marks over what he can do but from the highlights he looks to have a lot going for him. We'll see what happens but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he plays way before most people expect.
 
Dec 10, 2003
58,438
66,184
Newtown
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Geelong
Only looking at the same highlights everyone has but his aerial work and handballing skills stood out to me, clearly better than anyone else I have seen come over. Most of the Irish boys end up pretty solid kicks so fingers crossed we might have something here….for free too.

We recruit a lot based on what he has, but it would be good to see him kicking an aust ball. At his size he will need to be able to handle the ball well.
 

Clubber79

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Apr 19, 2015
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If Jed Bews can turn into a perfectly solid small defender with his kicking technique I don't see why we should be that worried about kicking skills. Many of the Irishmen turn into excellent kicks.

There are of course question marks over what he can do but from the highlights he looks to have a lot going for him. We'll see what happens but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he plays way before most people expect.

Physically, he should adapt pretty quickly I'd say.
Game sense, positioning etc. will take longer obviously.
His natural style is running hard & hand passing so he has enough tools to make a contribution at VFL level while he develops his kicking skills and his overall understanding of the game.
 
Jun 11, 2007
21,095
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In general ..what is the attraction for the Irish recruits. Is it the financial opportunity? I presume a few seasons of football out here might get him quite a bit to compensate for the home absence.

Yeah, it's pretty much all financial I think. The Gaelic Athletic Association is still essentially an amateur sporting body where the players aren't paid to play the game. Players get what they can through 'outside' advertising and endorsements and even instagram!

Sat, Mar 27, 2021

GAA players may not be getting paid to play the sport they commit so much of their lives to but ‘pay for posts’ is well and truly here.

Payment can be monetary, in the form of free gloves, supplements, or for some even a car. But what makes GAA players so attractive for advertisers, and what makes a player the perfect brand ambassador?

“For years companies have been taking advantage of our GAA players so now there’s an opportunity to be fair about it and to get their value and be open about it,” explains Trevor Twamley, co-founder of sport management agency, Sport Endorse.

“You don’t get paid as players and we know that, but I don’t see any problem with them making a few quid outside of playing in Croke Park. In fact I’d encourage it,” says Twamley, whose Dublin-based agency represents more than 100 GAA players, past and present.

Dublin’s Dean Rock can command €1,300 per sponsored Instagram post – he has nearly 37,000 followers on the social media platform. Galway footballer Damien Comer can demand €665 per post, and a third of that for an Instagram story. Tipperary dual player Orla O’Dwyer – currently playing with the Brisbane Lions in the AFLW – can charge €830 for one post to her 24,000 followers.

The contrasting worlds of the influencer and the GAA have collided, and the holy grail for these sought-after athletes is a sponsored car.

“Instagram is where it’s at in terms of brand and getting your message across,” explains Škoda Ireland’s head of marketing and product, Raymond Leddy.

“Giving a player a demo car or giving anybody a car comes with its challenges, for one there’s a cost for the brand in giving them a car. If you’re looking at depreciation, it’s five, six, seven thousand a year. So you need to earn that back from the player.

“That’ll depend on their profile and the kind of engagement they have with your audience. Some players for example would have a big presence but they don’t post that often. So for me looking for a player, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the superstars but you want somebody with enough audience who is quite active, showing their everyday activities.”

image.jpg

While most GAA players partner with local dealerships, some car companies have national brand ambassadors too. Others sponsor county teams and provide cars to several players and management as part of that agreement.

A player’s value in the deal traditionally centred on being seen driving around the local area in the car, attending events in the local dealership, or engaging with the media to push company-related activity. Social media collaboration wasn’t something that was as prevalent when Škoda sponsored Tipperary GAA for four years from 2011.

“It’s very difficult in general with sponsorship to gauge a return on investment and to measure it,” says Leddy. “You have to be creative and work it very hard. It’s a bit of a gamble, and pays off for some brands more than others.

“You need to have a plan first of all before you get stuck into it. When we were with Tipperary we had some players who were driving our cars and we had like an Off the Ball-style event in front of an audience at a dealership where we’d have a Q&A type thing with the players. But you have to work it and you have to put money into it.

“Instagram is where we are living in now. It’s visual, it can be video and the audience can engage with it...”
 

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I like your optimism because if that happens every other one of our recruits are guns, as they should have a year or 2 up their sleeves on him.
Quite the opposite - by AFL standards he is a mature recruit and has been playing seniors for a while. Looking at our other recruits it is a bit obvious that they have been hitting the gym whilst not playing footy due to covid. Plus I suspect they will do what they did with MOC and give him a taster of senior footy early on - he had played only 7 games of footy in his entire life when he made his debut.
 
On flipside, he has more than 2 years of physical development on them...
That’s my optimistic view on this lad too. A couple of years development and one of their very best young players over there, not a prospect as such. Imagine Sam Walsh going over to Ireland now to play Gaelic footy, different sport but we would all expect him to do well. Fingers crossed this is a huge win for the Cats. 🤞
 

crocsta

Club Legend
Oct 11, 2010
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2,201
AFL Club
Geelong
This guy will be so good the AFL will change the drafting rules so Geelong can’t get anymore Irish lads in the future


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Sep 11, 2006
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This guy will be so good the AFL will change the drafting rules so Geelong can’t get anymore Irish lads in the future


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Don’t even joke about this.
We all know once all our F/s and D/s come in from our premiership years the rules will change during that period
 
Should start including M/D and M/S as well - although that will be a good 15 years down the track

And if they could get the qualification criteria right (whether it be father or mother) that would be good as its illogical that millie qualifies as F/D based on the games her dad played but on those same games her brother cant be FS.
 

Drunkcat

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 31, 2018
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Have we seen this kid kick a football yet. Just try to see if his talents can be applied to an AFL game? I certainly feel home sickness is a probable issue, at least its not the first Irish kid we have done this with. MOC should give the kid a template and might be a mentor.

I just want to see him playing, if he enjoys the game and playing, its one positive step towards nullifying home sickness.

In general ..what is the attraction for the Irish recruits. Is it the financial opportunity? I presume a few seasons of football out here might get him quite a bit to compensate for the home absence.
It is only about the money they can not make a life out of gaelic football....and he will play 1 game so he stays in Australia keep him keen
 

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