Past #45: Red Óg Murphy - has quit, returning back to Ireland

[JeanLucGoddard]

yep

It was a superb piece of fieldcraft, siting the initial bomb so that the survivors and initial reaction teams would use the building where they planted the secondary as a command post, and also the timing on the secondary.

 

[Bigeasy]

If we ever sign another Irishman, how about we ease up on the cheap, demeaning gags about their accent next time round?

Attention is best focused on the US though if we want the "free hits" on international talent imo. The Irish are much more immediately adapted and suited to our game but seem to be mentally fragile in sticking it out.

My recollections are that every listed US player has not only stuck it out but displayed a very "American" willingness to back themselves and do everything to claw for success - Holmes, Wallace, Cox.. that other Collingwood bloke too seemed very driven trying to make it (name escapes me).

The strikerate might be low right now but there could be better facsimilies of Mason Cox out there (no sarcasm please). It'll only take 1x or 2x 205cm talented and athletic ex-College basketballers or American footballers to break through and every club will be mining that market for opportunities.

Plus the US guys typically come from a comprehensive and respectful system where they're completely devoted to their athletic development.

The problem with targeting US athletes, is that your trialling the fish John West rejects.

 

[Dan]

Time to take the John Candy approach.

Jamaica.....offer a contract to the fastest athlete on that island.

It’s simplistic but it can’t go any worse than the Irish expirements.

 

[Boomer29er]

*I expect a Les Kew Ming user account to be up & running before the week is out.

How about Vac Kew Ming?

 

[ferball]

It was a superb piece of fieldcraft, siting the initial bomb so that the survivors and initial reaction teams would use the building where they planted the secondary as a command post, and also the timing on the secondary.

It was very well worked out. Home ground advantage I spose coupled with a careful study of their enemy and how they operated.

Its worth remembering given the way terrorist attacks have been increasing for years. There will nearly always be a second bomb timed and placed to cause maximum disruption to whatever emergency response there is. If you are at a terrorist incident involving bombing try to remember that.

 

[ferball]

Time to take the John Candy approach.

Jamaica.....offer a contract to the fastest athlete on that island.

It’s simplistic but it can’t go any worse than the Irish expirements.

There's a fair chance the fastest athlete in Jamaica already has one or is at a US high school (or on their way to a college.)

 

[ferball]

The problem with targeting US athletes, is that your trialling the fish John West rejects.

They have a population that's over 10 times our size. Their rejects will still be high level athletes.

 

[JeanLucGoddard]

It was very well worked out. Home ground advantage I spose coupled with a careful study of their enemy and how they operated.

Its worth remembering given the way terrorist attacks have been increasing for years. There will nearly always be a second bomb timed and placed to cause maximum disruption to whatever emergency response there is. If you are at a terrorist incident involving bombing try to remember that.

The "double tap" is also standard practice when targeting urban resistance controlled areas from the air in conflicts like Syria.

 

[rickety]

How about Vac Kew Ming?

Nah mate, he sucked :-D

 

[Bigeasy]

They have a population that's over 10 times our size. Their rejects will still be high level athletes.

Their minor leagues pay as much as AFL.

They have 32 NFL teams with 53 players on their roster and 30 NBA teams with 17 on the roster then throw in the Canadian Football League and countless Basketball Leagues around the world where players can earn better money.

Then you start to get to players who could be targeted. Strike rate at this level would be very low

 

[Caracas]

Fwiw he was a really nice lad.

And actually stuck it out iirc.

Yes, I was disappointed that Conor couldn’t make. I remember having a chat to him and he really made me feel my age. I was telling him about players from his club, O’Dempseys, that I played against in my heyday. “Jeez”, he said, “that’s a long time ago”.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Caracas]

On Red Og, taking a guy from Sligo was laden with risk of go home. They think Dublin is the big smoke.

The kids who do best are from the north or Dublin and its surrounds.

Tadgh Kennelly the outlier there in that he's a Kerryman - and even he went home for a bit too.

As for Zach, he's from the middle of the bog...

 

[King Corey]

https://www.offtheball.com/football/red-og-murphy-sligo-afl-900676

FOOTBALL
"I was naive thinking I'd love another sport like Gaelic football"

ARTHUR JAMES O'DEA @ArthurJamesOD
06:45 6 SEP 2019
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
As he looks to pick up where he left off in Gaelic football, Sligo's Red Óg Murphy discloses the reasons he felt ready to leave the Australian Football League behind him after less than a year.
It was not so much the going as the coming back that gave Red Óg Murphy the greatest trouble.
Not yet six-months into a two-year deal with North Melbourne Football Club, the aspirations he had taken with him into the AFL were already appearing painfully misguided.
A 17-year-old Gaelic footballer who progressed through the same national combine as Cork's Mark Keane and Derry's Anton Tohill, aware though Murphy was of the opportunity he had been granted, he chose to act on his dissatisfaction.
"It was probably the toughest decision I've ever had to make," he admitted a little over one week after returning to Ireland, "but hopefully now I can get back into the black and white of Sligo.
"That's what I have wanted more than anything."
Amid claims in Australia that the move abroad had proved too much for the Irish teenager, however, Red Óg Murphy's decision bore no traces of homesickness.
Tempted to persevere by the carrot of professional sport, where the lifestyle had delivered on everything he had imagined, 'footy' failed to suitably captivate him.
********************
The proliferation of Gaelic footballers headhunted by clubs within the men's and women's Australian Football League demonstrates certain synchronicity between both sports.
Although the AFL prizes physiological attributes not necessarily required of GAA players, mastering the fundamental skills of Gaelic football tends to afford Irish players tempted by the lure of professional sport a chance of success.
Something of a stranger to the gym before North Melbourne expressed their interest, Red Óg Murphy's natural talents persuaded the Australian club to make a professional of the Sligo minor footballer.
"I hadn't even heard of the sport before a guy in my school got trials at the combine the year before I went," recalled Murphy, "it was the professional lifestyle that made me want to make it work initially.
"Ultimately, I didn't really enjoy the sport though, and as the year went on it was more about just getting through games than anything else.
"You're getting paid to play sport, train every day and do what you're supposed to be wanting to do for a living, but I was probably a bit naive thinking that I could love another sport the way I love Gaelic football."
An Irishman abroad, Murphy's frustrations with the oval ball tarnished what was otherwise turning out to be an exciting departure from south Sligo.
Impressed by his Melbourne surroundings, the club prioritised a holistic approach to personal development that allowed Murphy an experience of the city beyond the confines of sport alone.
Indeed, were it not for the nagging issue of his development on the pitch, one suspects that Murphy's stay in Australia may have been more prolonged.
"I was trying desperately to make it work," he stressed, "trying to learn more about the game through talking with other players.
"Ultimately like, I was dreaming that I'd have a relatively long career out there.
"Up in Geelong I went to meet Zach Tuohy for lunch and he was giving me different tips, what to work on and all this. One thing he said that stood out to me though was how he was watching AFL every single night it was on.
"In the back of my mind, I was just thinking, shit, I can barely watch one or two games a week, don’t mind one every night!"
Professionalism for its sake alone was proving unpalatable for Red Óg Murphy.

However briefly he had held ambitions of AFL success prior to the move, for one confident enough to embrace this challenge in the first place, admitting defeat did not come easy.
"I remember at the end of April I got a little bit emotional after a game because I'd just played pretty poorly," he explained, "it just wasn't the sport I thought it would be.
"I wasn't sleeping with the pressure, and coming up to a game against Geelong my Dad just said to me on the phone, 'Go into the game and just pretend you've a decision made in your own head.'
"That helped for a while and relieved the weight of the decision."
Travelling back to Ireland for a post-season break in June, the Curry club man remained unsure whether or not he would even return to Australia.
Making his way down to the local pitch with his brothers, it was not so much the familiarity of his surroundings but the ball in his hands that forced a decision in his mind.
"I began looking back at the time I'd spent there and knew I could stay there living the life for another year," he reasoned, "but I was there to play AFL and I just couldn't do it.
"I missed Gaelic football and I wanted to be playing the sport I actually love."
Over the course of a two-week period where Murphy consulted his family, former coaches and the depths of his own conviction, an overriding disinterest in the sport he was being paid to play proved too much.
“It just doesn’t give you a lot of opportunity to express yourself or show off your skills," he lamented, "it’s more a kick and catch kind of game.
"Players are unbelievably athletic, but there’s just not that much focus on skill."
Although there were hints of progress in Murphy's performances when North Melbourne opted to employ the one-time full-forward in the attacking half of the pitch, his mind was made up.
"I started kicking a few goals," he explained, " but even when I kicked two in what turned out to be my last game, it was too late and I was just going through the motions."
Quiet though he kept news of his return, Red Óg Murphy had designs on a pressing task closer to home.

"It's all about getting back to playing Gaelic football the way I'd like to be playing it now," expressed Murphy, "I want to get a really good Leaving Cert, work hard with my club and get a call-up from the county."
Still a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday, Red Óg's return comes after a hugely disappointing year for Sligo's senior footballers.
Relegated to Division 4 and yet without a win under manager Paul Taylor, Murphy did at the very least confirm that a meeting between the pair was in the works.
For the time being, Murphy, a professional sportsman in August, has recently finished his first week back as a Leaving Cert student.
With plenty to catch up on but a whole new set of experiences to his name, the excitement, tension and ultimate relief of Red Óg Murphy's Australian journey has served him well.
"I got the best of both worlds," he happily admitted, "it wasn't my plan to come home this soon, but it has worked out really well."

 

[JeanLucGoddard]

Jeez kid hadn't even done the equivalent of VCE.

I say good on him for pulling the plug early.

 

[King Corey]

Not going to salute him or his lack of passion but if he doesn't want to be at Arden Street it's best that neither party waste their time for another year.

 

[JeanLucGoddard]

Not going to salute him or his lack of passion but if doesn't want to be at Arden Street it's best that neither party will waste their time for another year.

Its not like he was drafted with pick 1 and took a few mil off us before deciding footy isn't his thing.

Didn't even cost us a list spot.

 

[King Corey]

Its not like he was drafted with pick 1 and took a few mil off us before deciding footy isn't his thing.

Didn't even cost us a list spot.

I think there's an opportunity cost to any recruitment but that's just me.

There are athletes in Ireland, Australia and the US who might all pose reasonable gambles with a Cat B spot.

There's the resources spent scouting, persuading and administering his recruitment as well as the resources spent coaching and managing him especially including an international transfer.

I'm still for swinging the bat but this was a fail and it comes with a price.

 

[JeanLucGoddard]

I think there's an opportunity cost to any recruitment but that's just me.

There are athletes in Ireland, Australia and the US who might all pose reasonable gambles with a Cat B spot.

There's the resources spent scouting, persuading and administering his recruitment as well as the resources spent coaching and managing him especially including an international transfer.

I'm still for swinging the bat but this was a fail and it comes with a price.

Agreed, we haven't made an Irish bloke work yet, had a few cracks too.

 

[hilly]

Good luck to Red Og back home.

 

[tazaa]

fu** the campaigner
It didn’t work out for both parties but Eric Wallace is twice the human you are (literally) and it’s only for no reason other than being humble about the opportunity

 

[King Corey]

fu** the campaigner
It didn’t work out for both parties but Eric Wallace is twice the human you are (literally) and it’s only for no reason other than being humble about the opportunity

100%.

Eric gave his absolute all. VFL reserves, slogging it out in the sleet at North Ballarat and still fighting for an opportunity until he was delisted. Still gave the club media a gracious interview on his exit and follows the club from afar. Champion bloke.

Incredible attitude, wish we'd got a look at him at 17 instead of 25. Gavin Brown was a wrap for him as a hard hitting / follow-up ruckman but he was probably coming from too far back.

 

[Themanbun]

Geez you lot are precious. Kid unfamiliar with our sport was presented an opportunity but found it wasn't for him and pulled the pin rather than hogging a list spot. Would you rather he create a misleading narrative to other Irish youth and pretend that he loved the game?

 

[tazaa]

Geez you lot are precious. Kid unfamiliar with our sport was presented an opportunity but found it wasn't for him and pulled the pin rather than hogging a list spot. Would you rather he create a misleading narrative to other Irish youth and pretend that he loved the game?

Or maybe the fact North believed in him and took a chance on him he might have appreciated exactly what the football club is about.
I understand it didn’t work out but he basically couldn’t give a flying fu**.

 

[Themanbun]

Or maybe the fact North believed in him and took a chance on him he might have appreciated exactly what the football club is about.
I understand it didn’t work out but he basically couldn’t give a flying fu**.

Where has he expressed a bad word about North Melbourne?

He says the sport did not captivate or engage him enough. That's fair enough. I'd rather him do that than mislead other Irish youth that clubs may waste their time on if they're not fully sure of Aussie Rules being the sport for them.

 

[tazaa]

Where has he expressed a bad word about North Melbourne?

He says the sport did not captivate or engage him enough. That's fair enough. I'd rather him do that than mislead other Irish youth that clubs may waste their time on if they're not fully sure of Aussie Rules being the sport for them.

Did he need to? The entire interview basically spells out he hated the experience. North tried to accommodate him by allowing him a more relaxed work/life balance and playing him up forward to get him to enjoy the game.
Does not thank or acknowledge the club at all.