World Footy News

Aisake O’hAilpin (pictured, courtesy of Carlton FC) was officially placed on AFL club Carlton's international rookie list today. The young Irishman joins his brother Setanta, who has spent much of the past year on the list and is expected to step up to senior level sometime in 2005. Aisake has been given Anthony Franchina's old number 45. Franchina has been a great friend of Setanta in his stay at Carlton.

Carlton's coach heaped praise on Setanta during 2004, for his enthusiasm, athleticism and work ethic. This obviously paved the way for the younger O’hAilpin, who like Setanta, has been a gifted hurler in County Cork, Ireland. At around 6 foot 7 inches, but fairly light, the Blues will be looking for him to put on a lot of muscle in the next 12 months. It has certainly been a strange combination of events that brought the 19 year old to play in Australia. Aisake, who has both Irish and Fijian heritage, got his chance because of the success so far of his brother. Further, Setanta's chance came when Carlton looked further afield for potential talent, when they were exlcuded from the AFL Draft for breaches of AFL rules in previous seasons. Who would have thought that such actions would have been a coup for international footy?

Read more about Aisake's move to Carlton in stories on the Blues' website:

O'hAilpin set to join his brother at Carlton

Aisake inherits the number 45

World Footy News also has several previous articles related to Aisake and Setanta.