Every year we hear rumours that certain upcoming stars are linked with a move to the Australian Football League, and more often than not it doesn't come true.
However, at least one or two big names seem to depart for the world down under by the time the new season comes around, and Kerry's Cillian Burke is the latest to make the move, as he joined the Geelong Cats.
There has been discussions around preventing these moves from happening, and trying to put some sort of legislation in place to deter the AFL from luring young Irish stars to the professional game.
Tommy Walsh, was once the brightest young star in Kerry, winning the Player of the Year award in 2009, as well as an All-Star.
Despite being at the focal point of The Kingdom's success, the flying forward was still tempted by the AFL and eventually made the move to St Kilda before transferring to Sydney Swans.
After suffering a serious hamstring injury, Walsh returned home in 2014, and eventually came back onto the Kerry panel where he played up until 2021.
Speaking on the Mike Quirke Podcast - which is fundraising for the Tír na nÓg Foundation - the Kerryman explained that we should be looking at ways to make players want to stay in Ireland, rather than ways to prevent them going.
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“From a club and county perspective you have invested so much in this person to get them to the top level and just when they are on the cusp of it they are leaving - It’s obviously devastating from that point of view.
“At the same time, rather than looking at putting obstacles in front of these guys - you’d hear people saying things like that - we need to try and make it more tempting for them to stay around and give them a decision to make.
“At the moment we are probably a bit reactive. There is a rumour going around that someone is being spoken to by whatever club, and then there’s a bit of a scrabble - 'how can we get this guy to stay?'
“Okay, if they don’t go to play for Kerry they’ve had some benefit on the way through. They’ve been educated. I’m not necessarily talking about payment, but that there can be something along those lines just to give them a decision to make.
“They know if I stay I can go down this path and it will be really, really beneficial for me even if I never end up being a successful Gaelic footballer with Kerry or whoever else it may be. I think they are the type of things that need to be looked at.”
The Kerins O'Rahilly's clubman also believes that burnout is a big thing that stops players from enjoying Gaelic football.
The demands on young stars to play for so many different teams at club, school, county or university level is a lot to deal with, and it makes the idea of escaping to sunny Australia all the more appealing.
“While physically they are probably well able, mentally that can be a little bit draining.
“Where if you are over there (AFL), you have one master, the head coach of the AFL team and you are under that system and it flows back from there.
“That’s something that probably needs to be looked at because guys are playing for 12 months a year. That’s fine when they are younger,. Then they get to 22 and 23 and there’s a bit of burnout.
“We have that discussion every February where you have guys playing Sigerson on a Wednesday and they are expected to play a National League game on the weekend.
“We don’t really do anything about it. We say it every year. They are the things that need to be looked at.
“A guy has a plan and everyone is aligned to it. In every county there are probably five or six guys that are real prospects - maybe more in other counties.
“Can there be some plan put in place for them if they are selected and put into it (an academy)? I think in rugby they do the same. They might even have different categories and Academy 1 or 2 and guys fit into that.
“They are going to UCC or wherever they are going. There’s a path there and they prioritise their education and physical development to get them to that level.
“I think they are the kind of things that need to be looked at, rather than how do we stop them going.”
Kerry are patrticuarly frustrated with the AFL because not only have they lost Burke to the Geelong Cats, one of there brightest stars Mark O'Connor has also been plying his trade over there for most of his senior career.
After using the last two All-Ireland titles, Jack O'Connor will be hoping to have as many options available to him as possible.
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