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New Crop of Irish Hopefuls to Land Next Month

  • Thursday, March 28 2019 @ 06:00 am ACDT
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Marc McGowan reports on the www.afl.com.au website that the next wave of Irish talent is on it’s way ready for potential drafting/rookie listing later this year.

The newest batch of potential Irish AFL recruits will land in Melbourne in April, while another will privately audition for Sydney.

Ronan Devereux, Ross McQuillan, Peadar Mogan and Luke Towey are the chosen ones out of the 20 Irishmen who tested in front of recruiters at the AFL Europe Combine in Dublin in December.

They will complete more testing during their fortnight in Australia, with the hope of being signed or drafted to an AFL club for the 2020 season.

 

The Swans' list and recruiting boss, Kinnear Beatson, made the trip to Dublin for that Combine and has invited 193cm, 92kg Irishman Barry O'Connor to the Harbour City.

 The 20-year-old could join countryman Colin O'Riordan, who played three senior games last year, at Sydney under coach John Longmire.

 

There is already a record 14 Irishmen on AFL lists this season after a bumper recruiting drive last year.

Ireland's James Madden (Brisbane), Mark Keane and Anton Tohill (Collingwood), Stefan Okunbor (Geelong), Callum Brown (Greater Western Sydney) and Red Óg Murphy (North Melbourne) signed with AFL clubs for 2019.

Conor McKenna (Essendon), Mark O'Connor and Zach Tuohy (Geelong), Pearce Hanley (Gold Coast), Conor Glass and Conor Nash (Hawthorn), Darragh Joyce (St Kilda) and O'Riordan (Sydney) are the others.

Devereux, 20, clocked a 2.90sec 20m sprint time and a Combine-best 7.75sec in the agility test at the AFL Europe Combine, on top of being one of four prospects to reach at least 20 in the Yo-Yo test.

Towey, who is from the same county, Sligo, as Murphy, set the second-fastest 20m sprint time of 2.82sec, narrowly behind 19-year-old Ross McQuillan (2.77sec).

Mogan, also 19, stands just 173cm, but was another strong performer in the 20m sprint (2.95sec) and agility (7.83sec) and Yo-Yo testing (20.6).

To read the original story from Marc McGowan on th AFL’s website along with other news and features, go to: https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-03-26/new-crop-of-irish-hopefuls-to-land-next-month  

 

 

Image Credits: Stefan Okunbor (Courtesy Geelong FC) top left, James Madden (Courtesy Brisbane Lions) top right.