Australian Rules clubs are renewing attempts to recruit Irish footballers, with the most famous club in Australia eager to sound out the son of a Kerry legend for a semi-professional career.

Gerard Sholly, the player development manager at Collingwood, the Melbourne club with the biggest following in Australia, said players such as Tadhg Kennelly, the 17-year-old son of former Kerry All-Ireland captain Tim, would be ideally suited to Australian Rules.

The 6 ft 2 in Kennelly greatly impressed Australian scouts during the under-17 compromise rules matches in April. Several Melbourne clubs are known to be interested in Kennelly, who turned down a trial opportunity with Blackburn Rovers when he was 15.

His appreciation of Australian Rules grew during the matches in April. "I love it," he said. "The tackling, especially, and the speed of the game."

Other Irish players to impress have been Michael Francis Russell, the 19-year-old forward who played in Kerry's All-Ireland winning side last year, and Larry Keenan, a 6 ft 8 in forward who has not played football since returning recently from a two-month stint playing in a mini-league in Chicago.

Keenan (20), disappointed Laois officials when he left for the United States the day after the Leinster under-21 final victory over Dublin in April, causing him to miss the All-Ireland semi-final victory over Galway and the loss to Kerry in the final.

Clubs such as Carlton and Melbourne sent scouts on the April tour of Ireland, on which Australians lowered their colours only to Connacht in matches against the four provinces and the national side. Sholly said Collingwood was best-placed to recruit from Ireland because the club had set up a recruiting structure last year and had a good idea of the best young footballers.

He said other clubs sent representatives on the Ireland tour without any prior knowledge of players. The first Irish players to try out in Australia were Sean Wight from Kerry and Paul Earley from Roscommon in the early 1980s. Wight served Melbourne with distinction for more than 10 years; Earley returned to Ireland and earned a place in the 1985 All Star side at full forward. He now lives in Sydney.

The most famous export is Jim Stynes, the brother of Dublin midfielder Brian. Jim Stynes (32), astounded Australian Rules fans by playing 244 games in a row over 11 years before finally succumbing to injury this year. His record is likely to stand for decades, as players are succumbing to injuries more and more as the speed and intensity of the game continues to increase.

Stynes has won four best player awards at his club, Melbourne, as well as the Brownlow medal for the best and fairest in the league in 1991.

The recruitment of Irish footballers stopped in the early 1990s because the clubs deemed it too costly. Changes in the rookie rules in the Australian draft system, which is based roughly on the systems used in US football and basketball, have deemed it worth while for Australian clubs to resume interest beyond their shores.

Under the changes, clubs are obliged to give every player recruited from outside Australia at least a three-year contract.