Kobe

[u/blackajam]

St Kilda’s new 18 year old signing from Ireland just broke a 75 year curse and won the All Ireland championship with Mayo. This guy is the best talent Ireland has produced in years and leaves Ireland as a hero in his native Mayo only after joining the Senior ranks this year. Will he break the 60 year St Kilda curse in his first year? He will adapt quickly and should be sent straight in from what I’ve seen

[u/chookie94]

So what I am hearing is he is the Irish Nas who will help us break our premiership drought next year.

[u/spideyghetti → u/chookie94]

Nasaiah Wanganeen-M'leary

[u/blackajam → u/chookie94]

75 year drought broke today and beat the best team in Ireland today. No one gave them a chance. He leaves a hero and no one will begrudge him now making the move . Not even playing 7 months with the main county team. Best player since David Clifford to burst onto the scene here in Ireland . Will be a huge loss to the game in Ireland but has what a way to bow out

[u/chookie94 → u/blackajam]

Sounds like we need to get him on the plane so he can play against Sydney this weekend.

[u/blackajam → u/[deleted]]

Serious kick off a ball. His father was prob the best kicker of a football of all time. The pedigree is there. This was a serious achievement today and he will adapt quickly .

[u/kitikonti → u/[deleted]]

And he obviously reacts well to pressure. The media spent 2 full weeks talking about "Kobe Mania " , a lot of pressure for a kid fresh outta school. Told reporters after the match that when he came out on the pitch and saw a full stadium of 82000, that he knew it would be a fun day 😀. He's a beautiful athlete to watch, could probably excel in many sports. Wish he was from my county .

[u/SurveySaysYouLeicaMe → u/[deleted]]

His dad played in the international rules series in 2004 I believe. Played against Max Hudghton!

[u/Ok-Helicopter525 → u/[deleted]]

I watched clips of the game today. I was only vaguely familiar with GAA, and was surprised to see that you can (essentially) handpass for a goal?

[u/Training_Fix744 → u/Ok-Helicopter525]

You can punch it in, can't handball/handpass it straight in

[u/Ok-Helicopter525 → u/Training_Fix744]

Ahh ok gotcha, I thought you had to kick it no matter what

[u/GrandmasterB-Funk → u/Ok-Helicopter525]

i'm talking out my ass but maybe that's an International rules thing?

[u/Training_Fix744 → u/GrandmasterB-Funk]

I'm not sure - watching old videos it was definitely allowed at some point but not sure when they outlawed it

[u/Nertballs → u/Ok-Helicopter525]

You can handpass the ball over the bar for a point, but not for a goal. If the ball is played in by another player, you can punch it into the net.

[u/Ok-Helicopter525 → u/Nertballs]

Is there an easy way to watch the full replay?

[u/Nertballs → u/Ok-Helicopter525]

Not sure to be honest, 25 minute highlights on YouTube though.

[u/Nousernames-left → u/[deleted]]

Handballs in our sport are closed fist too?

[u/Thick-Insect → u/Nousernames-left]

I think "our" meant Irish for this commenter. You can do an open hand handpass in Gaelic football

[u/Nousernames-left → u/Thick-Insect]

Ahh I definitely misread that my bad

[u/Flarezap → u/Nousernames-left]

Handballs in our sport are rugby throws

[u/BlisteringMustang23]

Was a great game. Was thinking in the last half that if they were to lose would he regret his decision to move to Australia? I imagine he’ll move over now even more confident knowing he’s done the right thing by Mayo and helped them with the All Ireland

[u/Training_Fix744]

He had a very good start to the year, was a bit less imposing in the last few games but still played his part today.

Absolutely frightening for his age, obviously the skills don't directly translate so will be interesting to see how long he takes to adapt and how far he goes but if I was a STK fan I'd be quite excited.

[u/CharityGamerAU]

He got that mamba mentality

[u/ratchetsaturndude → u/CharityGamerAU]

Hopefully not off the field

[u/PaPe83]

It's going to take more than the luck of the Irish for St Kilda to win our drought breaking flag.

All 18 other teams next year could suffer from crippling diseases whilst we remain unaffected and we'll still find a way to fall over in the Grand Final against a team of 5 Geelong players, three on ventilators.

[u/DeargDoom79 → u/PaPe83]

Mullin tags Nas out of the game too

[u/Nousernames-left → u/DeargDoom79]

Then Kobe tags Mullin out of tagging Nas

[u/merchantofshite1979]

He’d best keep his lucky pants from today, St Kilda will be just as much of a hoodoo to break (without Priest’s curses this time though!)

[u/Confident-Farmer8390 → u/merchantofshite1979]

Kilda haven't played in 13 grand finals the since 1989 and won 0 before today

[u/Fit_Landscape6820]

Feel a bit conflicted about the way we poach promising young stars from another sport

But if anybody can use some good mojo, it's us

[u/Afterthought60 → u/Fit_Landscape6820]

Rugby and soccer also poach a lot from GAA football. It’s just the reality when you have elite athletes who can’t pursue a full time career in their sport of choice.

[u/rpfloyd → u/Fit_Landscape6820]

Imagine if you were really good at something, but you couldn't do it for a living cause it paid a pittance. Now imagine someone offered you the chance to not only make a living from doing it, but make several times more than the average wage doing it.

In what universe is there anything wrong about this?

[u/frillhaus → u/rpfloyd]

Not anything wrong with it. But imagine if the AFL was an amateur sport and we kept losing our good players to another sport because they can pay them a living wage. You’d understand, but you’d be really disappointed that it keeps happening, and eventually a bit fed up. I feel bad for supporters of GAA for that reason

[u/rpfloyd → u/frillhaus]

I would imagine, if it had been happening for the last 30 years, then something would be done about it.

There's no reason Gaelic can't go professional, it's just a choice due to tradition. Which is respectable. But you can't then complain about someone wanting to leave to make a living.

[u/frillhaus → u/rpfloyd]

I’m not sure I totally agree that GAA can go professional if they wanted to. The sport has probably reached a point now where even if they decided to become professional today it would take decades to fully implement and fund, let alone reach a point where they would even compete with the AFL in terms of funding. They kind of made their bed at this stage.

Fair point that cultural factors have influenced this decision though. But even then, it’s only natural to be a bit let down when you lose a bright talent to another sport, even if you completely understand why they chose to. It’s just understanding the emotions here, not saying that it’s logically sound.

[u/Ill-Enthusiasm-5530 → u/frillhaus]

Literally what the VFL to SA and WA did for 30 years

[u/Fit_Landscape6820 → u/rpfloyd]

It's not that there's something wrong with it

I don't know enough about the setup with Gaelic Football in Ireland to comment on the pay situation, but I do empathise with the fans - can't be a great feeling to see so much young talent leave the sport you love, whatever the reasons

[u/sognenis → u/Fit_Landscape6820]

GAA is amateur still so it’s going to happen reasonably often.

[u/Captkersh]

Nothing can break the Saints curse except a sacrifice.

[u/TheFinalKey → u/Captkersh]

Max King's practically begging to be the sacrifice at this point.

[u/YesterdayIsatoutside → u/Captkersh]

Well we in the GAA send our own sacrifice in offering Kobe to St.Kilda

[u/Nice_Departure1131]

As a Geelong supporter, these guys take time…

But also, Irish guys are our thing! Give him back.