The Adelaide Crows have completed the signing of Monaghan footballer Karl Gallagher on a two-year Category B deal.
Gallagher (21) impressed the club’s recruiters during a three-week pre-Christmas trial in South Australia and was expected to join the Crows but the news only became official overnight.
The Emyvale man played in all eight of Monaghan’s Championship games in 2023, and was also in the team that lost the All-Ireland semi-final to Dublin, but has long set his sights on signing professionally for an Australian Rules club.
After penning his AFL contract, Gallagher explained his reasons for leaving the GAA for a professional career across the other side of the world.
“In 2019, I was invited to the European AFL combine in Dublin, and that is where I first made contact with Hamish (Ogilvie) and the Crows team,” Gallagher said.
“We had talks and I was supposed to come over for a look at the facility and things in late 2019 and early 2020 but COVID-19 unfortunately put a dent in those plans.
“It had always been in the back of my mind, but in 2022 and 2023 I was keen to break into my senior Gaelic team so I fully committed to that.
“But once the past season ended, I wanted to give the AFL another crack and was happy to have the Crows still interested in getting me across.”
Gallagher revealed that he only decided to take the plunge 10,000 miles away after many deep and meaningful conversations with his loved ones and those closest to him back in Ireland during the festive season.
“It was definitely a tough decision to officially make the move, I went back home over Christmas and had some long chats with my family and friends,” Gallagher said.
“It’s a big commitment moving across the world, and something I didn’t take lightly.
“Opportunities like this don’t come around too often, so I was happy to take it with both hands and commit to being part of this footy club for the next two years.”
“Opportunities like this don’t come around too often.”
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) January 8, 2024
Irish recruit Karl Gallagher reflects on his journey to West Lakes 👇#weflyasone
Gallagher’s approach to his first pre-season as an AFL player is a simple one; hard work and lots of it, in his quest to make a senior debut sooner rather than later. The Crows controversially missed out on finals football last year but have the quality to break into the top eight this time around.
“The training sessions are quite similar (to Gaelic), but the big thing for me is getting used to the ball, and that is just going to come with more reps over the summer,” Gallagher said.
“I don’t have too many expectations for this year, it’s all about getting the fundamentals right and seeing where that takes me.
“Everyone knows to get into an AFL team you just need to put your head down and work, and that is my mentality for 2024 and beyond.
Despite the obstacles to signing Gallagher, Ogilvie was determined not to let his talent slip through the Crows fingers.
“He was super impressive at the 2019 combine before Covid put a dampener on Irish recruiting for a couple of years,” Ogilvie said.
“But we stayed in contact, followed his career and he has a good attitude and a thirst to have a go at a new challenge.”
Adelaide’s General Manager of List Management and Strategy Justin Reid is thrilled that after four years of pursuing Gallagher, the Crows patience has finally been rewarded.
“Karl has been able to showcase all the qualities we knew he had such as speed, power, athleticism and smarts,” Reid said.
“He’s worked really hard since arriving and earnt the respect of his coaches and teammates at training.
“Importantly Karl has a really strong desire to learn and work on his craft which will hold him in good stead.
“We are looking forward to his development with a full pre-season under his belt.
When he arrived in Adelaide in November, Gallagher resided with Cork dual star and former Collingwood defender Mark Keane, who became a mainstay of the Crows defence last season, after two years back in the GAA.
Keane is relieved that his constant nagging of the club’s recruiters to sign another Irish player has finally paid off, but he has no plans to stop with Gallagher now a Crows player.
“I was onto them all last season,” he explained.
“If we sign up this fella, I’d be onto them for another guy.”
Gallagher trained with the Crows forwards last year but is likely to work with the defenders when pre-season training steps up a notch later this month ahead of the start of the 2024 season, which will kick off two weeks earlier than ever on March 7.
Cork’s Conor Corbett, Galway’s James McLaughlin, Down’s Odhran Murdock and Tyrone’s Eoin McElholm, all visited AFL clubs in September to explore the possibility of signing professional contracts in the future.