Eamonn Fitzmaurice admits that the loss of young Kerry footballers to Australian Rules fare is far from ideal.

Following Mark O'Connor's move to Geelong last year, it is being reported that double minor All-Ireland winner David Shaw and Stefan Okunbor are set to attend an AFL assessment camp in Florida, while rumours continue to surround the Kingdom's brightest young prospect, David Clifford.

"Look, it's not ideal," the Kerry manager is quoted in The Irish Times. "You want the lads to stay around. You don't want your best players being taken.

"But I think that we have to look at it from our own point of view on how we make it that the lads don't want to go, that they want to stay around and they want to play for Kerry and that is the number one ambition, simple as that.

"But look, with the lure of a professional lifestyle it's hard for young fellows maybe to turn down the chance of going there. But I think that we have to look at ourselves at home first of all and see how we can keep the lads at home."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the age spectrum, Fitzmaurice confirmed that he expects to hear from veteran trio Aidan O'Mahony, Kieran Donaghy and Colm Cooper this month regarding their availability or otherwise for the 2017 season.

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