AFL'S THE BIGGEST DANGER TO KERRY

THE team most likely to stop Kerry over the next decade isn’t Dublin, Tyrone or Donegal.

- GARRY DOYLE

It isn't even a county at all. It's Geelong. Or possibly the Brisbane Lions.Year after year, the AFL clubs have been harvesting Kerry's finest underage talent.

Mark O'Connor left a decade ago. Since then, he has become part of the furniture at Geelong, won a Premiership and established himself as one of the league's elite.

And yet, somehow, he has still managed to squeeze in a dozen games for Dingle during the off-season, including six in their march to this year's All-Ireland club title.

Kerry have long known what O'Connor can do. Two minor All-Irelands, an ability to read a game like few others. Dingle used him in midfield and it is easy to see him line out in that position in a green and gold jersey.

But if needed he could play centre-back or as a Kieran Donaghy-style full-forward. His position on the field is irrelevant - it is his location in the world that irks Kerry fans. They want him at home, in the Kingdom, not in Australia.

And he is not alone. Rob Monahan, a Kerry minor and Under-20, has spent two years at Carlton. A midfielder-cum-half-forward, fast, strong, a natural fielder. Yet he has yet to make his senior debut for the Blues, making his absence from the Kerry setup doubly frustrating.