COLIN O’RIORDAN and Darragh Joyce will attempt to impress the scouts over the next four days as they participate in the AFL Draft Combine at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium.
The Irish pair will be amongst 80 hopefuls put through their paces in front of the recruiters and attempting to end up with contracts to play Aussie rules at professional level.
Paddy Brophy created a huge impression at the Combine 12 months ago and ended up signing with West Coast Eagles, while his Kildare team-mate Seán Hurley joined Fremantle, having done well two years ago.
O’Riordan, and Joyce will be tested on speed (20m sprint), agility, jumping (standing and running), endurance (3km time trial and beep test), handling, kicking and goal kicking in the coming days.
O’Riordan, who will celebrate his 20th birthday next Monday, won an All-Ireland minor football medal with Tipperary as a 15-year-old in 2011 and pocketed a hurling memento the following year as a substitute.
The JK Brackens man has been a regular at U21 level in both codes over the past three seasons and was named U21 footballer of the year this term as he captained the Premier to the All-Ireland final.
He was nominated for a football All Star at the end of his debut season at senior level last year and has also played in the pre-season Waterford Crystal Cup for the hurlers.
Joyce is a younger brother of Kilkenny defender Kieran, and he was captain as the Noresiders won last year’s All-Ireland minor hurling championship.
He was a key member of the team that won the Leinster title in 2015 but lost to Galway after a replay in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The Rower-Inistioge player, who has only played Gaelic football at school level with Good Counsel of New Ross, had been approached previously before impressing the AFL’s international talent coordinator, Tadhg Kennelly at the annual European Draft Combine in DCU.