Meath ladies boss Éamonn Murray says he expects to lose top players like Vikki Wall to the AFLW this year.
Wall, one of the stars of last year’s All-Ireland success, has been linked with clubs in Australia and is touted for a move down under along with the likes of teammate Emma Duggan.
Murray, speaking ahead of Sunday’s Lidl National League final against Donegal, said: “Of course that’s going to happen. That is going to happen, yeah.
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“I’d say we’re losing Vikki now in September and I don’t know how many more we’ll lose. I don’t know why you’d want to play that sport because it’s dreadful stuff to watch. I can’t understand it. There’s no skill at all.”
Murray said that Wall will “definitely go alright” though didn’t specify which club she may join.
He added: “She’s getting a good contract I’m sure over there, plus she’s good at talking Irish and all that stuff. I don’t begrudge it to her, like.”
Tipperary’s Orla O’Dwyer was named as an All-Australian this week, a prestigious honour that equates with the All Stars scheme here in Ireland.
The Brisbane Lions winger is one of 14 Irish women currently plying their trade in the AFLW with the current season concluding with Saturday’s Grand Final but the days of players like O’Dwyer completing a season in Australia before returning home to play Championship football may be at an end.
An overhaul of the AFLW playing calendar is in the offing with the next competition season set to start in August of this year as the sport makes moves towards a full professional model.
That would likely mean pre-season training starting in June, at the peak of the inter-county season for ladies Gaelic footballers.
Murray fears a drain of the game’s best players to Australia in those circumstances.
He added: “It’s not good, far from it, and I think if any of ye check, the players coming back, the Sinead Goldricks or the Lauren Magees or any of them, they don’t exactly set the world on fire when they come back over here. They’re not going to win the Championship for any team.
“They keep saying, ‘Oh we’re going out here and it’s professional and we’re training seven days a week’. How much training do you want like, you know?
“You certainly won’t improve your skills over there. I’m not bitter about it, far from it, it’s great to have a country like that that the girls can spend a few years over there and enjoy that year or two and come back.”
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