Football

Walsh issues a warning

The Irish fans who travel to Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday expecting to see an all-Aboriginal Australian team made up of light, fast players will be in for a shock says Nicholas Walsh.

The former Cavan footballer, who is part of the Irish management team, has spent the last two years in Australia where he has worked as a high performance coach with the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Having spent two seasons in the AFL, the 30-year-old has a detailed knowledge of the indigenous Australian team that will be lining out on Saturday evening.

Typically, Aboriginal players are quick, skilful and evasive, but Walsh has revealed that not all the players in the current Australian squad conform to that particular stereotype.

"Some of them will be less physical, but then they have some 6'5", 16-stone fellas that they will bring along like Lance Franklin who has just moved from hawthorn to Sydney Swans.

"He is going to be one of their stand-out players, but also he is a mover. They have a number of players in the same category," said Walsh (right). Even though most of the Aboriginals will be no taller or heavier than the Irish players, Walsh has warned that it would be a mistake to underestimate the physical advantages the professional AFL footballers will still hold over their amateur rivals.

While noting that the physical conditioning of GAA players is "very good,"

Walsh pointed out that there is no comparison between the weekly training schedule of an amateur county footballer and a full-time professional in the AFL.

"When I was training with Cavan Gaels and Cavan, you were doing three or four nights a week.

"In the AFL, a player would do up to 16 sessions a week. In training, they talk about load. Load is the amount of stress that is put on the body in terms of kilometres.

"In the AFL game at the moment the average running capacity is something like an average of 16 kilometres per player.

"In Gaelic football it would be somewhere around eight or nine kilometres. There is a big difference so you have to train your body to play like that as well."

Recruited by the Melbourne Demons as a 17-year-old, Walsh was eventually delisted and he returned home to play for his club and county.

Although he has fond memories of his time Down Under, the GWS coach revealed the change in training culture was a huge shock to his system. He is clearly envious of the young Irish players who have joined AFL clubs in recent years.

"It's much different now," he said. "We were put up hills and down mountains. After we ran, we were asked to lift heavy weights.

"That no longer happens. They are gradually brought into the process over a two to three-year cycle where everything is monitored, everything is laid out for them, everything is reduced when it's needed to be. Recovery is a more important part of their preparation than physically developing."

IRISH PANEL

Michael Murphy, Donegal (captain), Aidan Walsh, Cork (vice-captain), Paddy O' Rourke (Meath), Colm Begley (Laois), Colm Boyle (Mayo), Ciaran Byrne (Louth), Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone), Paul Conroy (Galway), Paul Flynn (Dublin), Finian Hanley (Galway), Lee Keegan (Mayo), Ciaran Kilkenny (Dublin), Paddy McBrearty (Donegal), Jack McCaffrey (Dublin), Neil McGee (Donegal), Chrissy McKaigue (Derry), Kevin McLoughlin (Mayo), Conor McManus (Monaghan), Ross Munnelly (Laois), Aidan O'Shea (Mayo), Ciarán Sheehan (Cork), Michael Shields (Cork), Zach Tuohy (Carlton and Laois).