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St Kilda has continued their recruitment process for 2009 and signed 21 year old Irishman Tommy Walsh to their club, who is one of Ireland's most highly rated Gaelic Athletic Association players.
St Kilda’s list manager Matthew Drain was in New York and flew from there to Dublin for an overnight stay to enable him to sign Walsh. The Saints have signed Walsh as an international rookie for 2 seasons (2010-2012). Walsh is 195cm tall and weighs 95kgs. He is a very agile midfield forward player, extremely good pace and is very active in Gaelic Football. St Kilda General Manager of Football – List Management, Matthew Drain said that Walsh was one of the most highly rated individuals to come out of Ireland and that “while he faces hard work to adapt to AFL at the highest level, we are confident that what we have seen of him proves he has enormous talent to become an important player for St Kilda”. Walsh has stated that he is “very excited” about his new endeavour and that “it was a very tough decision ... but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up”. Walsh first starting playing for the Kerry at an under-age level and his team reached the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Final in 2006. In 2007 he made his debut for the Kerry Seniors in the National Football League as a substitute wing-forward. In 2008, Walsh was selected in the team for Kerry’s first game of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championships. He made his Championship debut against Clare in the Munster Senior Football Championship, scoring one point. At the end of the 2008 season he received an award for being the 2008 GAA Young Player of the Year. Later in 2008 he was approached by the St Kilda Football Club to attend one week of pre-season training in Australia. Players’ manager Ricky Nixon at the time described Walsh and said “I can’t tell you if he’ll want to play or stay or if he’ll be good enough but he’s definitely one of the best talents that I’ve seen”. Walsh intended to attend the training however later withdrew and did not travel to Australia before the recruitment deadline, however he did accept an invitation to train with St Kilda. Walsh is a very dominant player in the GAA and recently participated in the winning All Ireland Final for Country Kerry alongside former Sydney Swans Irish player Tadhg Kennelly, where he scored 4 points. St Kilda have said that they see Walsh, with Andrew Lovett as the Saints first round draft picks, based on his ability, size and his high credentials.
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