Best of luck for the future Kobe, an amazing opportunity to have a professional sports career. All the best

If any young lad is going to be paid for running after and kicking a ball of wind then why wouldn't he take the opportunity of a lifetime. The best of luck to kobe. We have plenty of good footballers in mayo and will be challenging for sam next year with Andy ay the helm. I am really looking to the fbd tp get out and suppprt the mayo team.

Cant blame any young lad for going,,potential to play professional sport and earn a living anyone' would be mad not to take it.

Let’s not forget Cian Hanley who ended up leaving Mayo at a young age to pursue a career in the AFL and ended up with some unfortunate injuries.

Best of luck to Kobe, the world is his oyster and i’ve no doubt whatever he throws his talent towards he will be successful.

Yes WJ while I understand and accept it (his decision) I’m desperately disappointed by the decision. What a loss to Crossmolina, Mayo and us supporters.

I thought that this is a Mayo GAA blog. It seems it is now an Australian Football Blog. Players who choose to play a different sport should not be mentioned . Look at what is happening in Mayo. Both male and female players are now playing in Australia and being applauded by Mayo GAA supporters. We are going nowhere with this attitude

For a player with such a generational talent, if the dream of starring for their county, inspiring thousands of kids and possibly achieving the ultimate team prize in Croker some day is of lesser value than a pro career abroad, then that's that........Best of luck to him.

Thats all well and good martyk, but crossmolina or mayo wont pay him what he'd be earning with a pro contract in Oz..I feel thats a more sentimental attitude about winning sam dreaming of croker etc, wont get much for that.

Well fu ck it anyway...come home soon Kobe..Good luck in the meantime.

Very best to Kobe , but all i will say if he's like the old lad who got the job in bank in belmullett but it didn't "do it for him" then there's hope .

Ah no give the lad, every support , he was genuinely worth the entry fees to games all year , the crowd at minor final , the league games , the Ballina , Belmullett and Westport games , it was amazing to see the attention and post match plaudits of genuine gaa people after seeing Kobe in action and the draw of people from other clubs and the intrigue of people was crazy, so nobody's died or hurt, wish him the best if we get to see him again for Cross , support him to the hilt and embrace the quality of a genuine superstar

Just stating a fact Winston. And I disagree with your 'won't get much for that'........If Co Mayo were ever to achieve the glorious lifting of the Sam Maguire Cup with Kobe McD in a starring role, I woukd argue that fir him it would be an achievement surpassing any pro game money making........

if Kobe decided to move to Oz to work in the mines, I doubt anyone would say a word, just accept he emigrated for a better paying job etc
Like it or not, it's the same thing.

Marty K… you and I are on the same page.. and O’SULLIVAN and I know Sean Burke too as are many, many others here who are on the same boat too but it’s very clear that there are some people in Mayo who consider themselves Mayo fans but are content seeing our best talent go. That’s very, very obvious now from posts not just throughout today but for some time. It’s sad. I don’t get it. If you want to see Mayo win Sam then anything that diminishes that is a negative but still, even after the reports today, we continue to have mixed opinion here. I called earlier today for a united response on this but unfortunately it doesn’t exist and individuals hurl personal remarks (unchecked). It’s clear now to me that there are people who are borderline fanatical supporters of Mayo and who dearly crave to see us win Sam, people who have spent the bulk of their adult life travelling to and spending so much time following underage and adult sides (I include myself in his misfit bunch) and then there are others, who tokenly follow Mayo and who don’t really care that we have lost generational talents. Every county and every sporting side/club regardless of the sport has this, I get that not everyone is the same, but in GAA we in Mayo have a very unique and heart-wrenching story. Losing arguably the best we’ve ever produced is dreadfully sad and yet there are those who ridicule us.

You know what camp you fall into.

A very well written article WJ.

Well said WJ

One of these days people will realise they have zero entitlement to lay claim to anyone's time or talents, and that the decisions young men playing an amateur sport make in their lives and careers are precisely none of their business.

Today is not that day.

Well said WJ amd spot on @Anne-Marie. Kobe is a young fella who happens to be very good at football. He is not beholden to Mayo GAA and no supporter has the right to demand that he should be playing for Mayo.just because he has been good enough to go through the underage system and the benefits that go with it. He owes nothing to Crossmolina, Mayo or anyone else. Football is just a game at the end of the day and if he has decided that the lifestyle on offer, the money on offer and the opportunity to try his hand at something new with nothing to lose on his end then fair play to him and I wish him well.

@Mayonaze, that does not mean that I, or anyone else, is a lesser Mayo supporter than you are. Just because I dont demand that fellas should be dreaming of All Irelands and only have eyes for wearing the Mayo jersey does not mean that I dont love and support Mayo any less than you do. If anything it probably means that I am in a more healthy place in terms of my support for Mayo. For all any of us know Kobe could have grown up watching AFL and wishing he could play for Brisbane or Sydney or West Coast, we dont know.

Mayo can only line out with the players available to them and for a multitude of reasons some of the very best players, including some for better than Kobe at the same age, have not been available to Mayo over the years. Players who absoloutly would have been the difference in at least one All Ireland final last decade.

I would like to know what exactly does amateur actually mean ?

How could a county owe millions of Euros playing an amateur sport ?

Why should it require a million or two to prepare a team for a season - per county - to play in an amateur competition ?

How can clubs be burdened with thousands of euros that has to be paid every year before there is ever a ball kicked in our national amateur game ?

How can the top brass rake in 100's of thousands in wages each year in this amateur world ?

Why do people have to pay ever increasing entry fees to watch non paid athletes playing a so called amateur sport ? There is nothing amateur about paying to go to matches.

Do referees get paid and if so are they to be regarded as professional ?

It's very hard to find any aspect of Gaelic football that is not driven by big money - that is of course until you get to the rock stars, the players, without who there would be no merry go round.

There is 10's of millions of Euros circulating in the Gaa stratosphere each and every year.

Highly paid delegate's, good enough to explain to the players that, " Sorry. It's an amateur sport", no pay.

Unfortunately, and as long as our players are not paid or given some little contract our lands will be plundered. Our best players will continue to go abroad to play professionally and earn a crust playing sport. If they had a contract here then their clubs could seek compensation from the club they are going to.

I wish Kobe the very best of luck and hope he has every success in Australia.

The young lads that decide to go abroad to make a career for themselves can not be blamed.

The highly paid head chefs in the kitchen are making a balls of the stew.

I agree with very much with what Revillino says. I think we’re reaping very much what’s been sown. The new generation of GAA boys and girls have grown up in a GAA world with lots of big money floating about. Club/county managers & coaches getting nice money under the table & many on a merrygoround moving on to a new club every couple of years. There’s nice bucks in weekly club lottos & sponsorships, big bucks to develop second club pitches, all weather pitches, astroturf training areas, all under state of the art costly lighting systems, top class club houses, video analysis, S&C gyms, physios being paid for sessions & games and all the ACL knee injuries needing painful, costly rehab.
Plus there’s club tops/outfits to be paid for so that the squad arrive at games and training properly attired with the right attitude & every time I look around the underage players are wearing new club tops around the town, summer & winter attire with club crests & initials.
And the amateur players have to lay their bodies on the line like pros for the love of game, training multiple nights a week, following the gym & S&C plans that were sent out in recent weeks (there’s no off season for these amateurs). And when they go out on the field, shut out all the abuse that gets shouted at them from outside the fence if they slip up once. This new generation are not fools & you can’t hold them. If they want to go out and see the big world, they’re free agents & if they get paid to play a professional sport, good luck to them. Let’s get real, if you want to set up a process to retain top talent, the big bucks are floating around to make it happen, are the clubs willing to set-up & pay into a talent retention system at county level? The money trough is big and deep. This could be a task for the Mayo GAA/LGFA Director of Football Development to get stuck into.

Meanwhile back at the ranch — any word on league fixtures yet?.

What can a rookie exoect to earn in first few years in Australia, and if they make it , what can they make per year.

Great piece WillieJoe.

WJ, think you should mention the countless mayo women footballers, that playing in the Australia. Kobe some loss to Mayo, but hopefully it works out for him

Fair play Willie Joe, very diplomatic.

Nobody could blame Kobe for going.
Primarily because he is a young lad playing an amateur sport making life choices.
To offer your own opinion publically would ooen him for further scrutiny and would be inappropriate.
Its also not our business, and no player owes us anything.

It's still sad though, and I think we can say that. There is a sense of loss.
Imagine we never had the mystical ciaran mc, had he went away. He gave us plenty of pride, and still does, when we think of our favourite players, discuss the 90s or 00s.
Or even nationally when people discuss the best player to never win an all ireland.
Now we can be even more grateful that we did.

Best of luck to Kobe and his family.
We never know what will happen in the future.

Mayonaze, I share a lot of your frustrations but there is one key point that you appear to be missing. Like you, I had hoped Kobe would be more like Clifford, Daire Cregg, Cavanagh, Kilkenny and choose the game he grew up playing/representing his community ahead of pay for play. It looks like he has decided to choose the latter and he is perfectly entitled to do so. As with any Mayo person who decides to travel for work (be it on a construction site, office etc.) once the decision is made, you have to just wish them the best, anything else comes across as serious bitterness.

My frustrations around this whole issue are pointed in certain directions though.

1. The County Board
I have no problem with the county board sending a few words of congratulations to Oisín Mullin on making it to the AFL grand final however in one week between the semi final and grand final, I counted 4 separate posts from the official Mayo GAA twitter account retweeting AFL videos and pictures. They are completely unaware that they are now involved in ruthless competition with the AFL in terms of winning over the minds of prospective young players. In contrast, I checked the Kerry GAA social media accounts and couldn't find a single post in relation to Mark O Connor, who also played in that final. You could argue that Kerry have also lost talent recently but at least their county board know that they're involved in a competition. Maybe there's nothing the Mayo board could have done to convince Kobe but the above actions give me no confidence that every avenue was explored.

2. [Deleted].

3. Those within the county who constantly go around repeating the line that young players would be 'better off'/'mad not to' go to the AFL.
Maybe it's because we're the most emigration plagued county in Ireland (arguably the most emigration plagued corner of western europe since 1845) that so many of us have this ingrained notion that 'the grass is always greener on the other side'. It's not the 1980's anymore where the choice might have been emigrate or toil away on a few wet acres for decades. Talented young players are human and they are susceptible to the messages they are constantly hearing in their communities. There are plenty of us out there who are of the view that young players can have a far more fulfilling life at home representing their family/friends/neighbours than playing a shite sport on the other side of the world, even if they are getting paid for it. It's up to those of us who hold that view to become more outspoken about it. It looks like Kobe has made his decision and that's fair enough but this issue isn't going anywhere. There will be plenty more like him in future going down under unless there's a mindset change around the county.

MD - I've deleted that second point you've listed as I'm uncomfortable for personal references of that kind to be made here. So everyone else is aware, this is the AFL/AFLW scouting issue, which a number of other people mentioned here yesterday. I've since decided to delete all of these as well for the same reason.

Absolutely gutted to hear this. Best of luck Kobe, but come home in a couple of years and bring Oisin with ya.

The amount of comments re Money on here now.
I got deleted yesterday for mentioning or suggesting Money as a motivational factor.
Maybe if I post again I'll just Keep talking about how sad it is Cian Hanley, Oisin Mullins ect left for Oz for the next 10 year's .

Mike H - you got a comment deleted yesterday because it was a bone-headed offensive remark directed at a 17 year-old kid. Maybe if you comment again try engaging your brain a bit beforehand.

You can't stop a young lad from taking the opportunity to play in Australia.
My problem is how the GAA facilitate all this by playing Compromise Rules.
Junkets for the top brass.
We should put an end to it immediately.

Some have been asking about our league fixtures next year. Provisional fixtures have been provided to the counties but, unusually, they haven't leaked as yet. There are articles online listing Donegal's and Kerry's schedules and these show that we're due to play both of them away, meeting Donegal in Round 3 and Kerry in Round 6.

My comment on here only said money appeared to be a motivational factor.
Which it is.
It was not meant to be offensive to anyone.
The only offensive remarks on here is your comments towards towards me
Lots of people on here have mentioned money and it appears to be ok.
I wished the lad the best in Oz
This will deleted as well.
I have followed Mayo football for 50 years and always respect the players and How dare anyone think otherwise.
Maigheo Abù.

You may not have meant to be offensive, Mike H, but your comment certainly came across that way. Claiming otherwise now doesn't alter that.

Something has to be done to keep the top talents in the country here. We can’t compete of AFL series but scholarships and tax incentives such as other sports people can avail of should be considered. It’s not a guaranteed path going over. The vast majority don’t manor it and come back behind in their education and no not as effective as Gaelic footballers either. Having a route here to gain from your sport would make the choice more interesting. For every Pierce Hanley there a 10 Cians’ and having an alternative would no doubt keep some more here.

It goes without saying though that there are some folks around Mayo football who should not in any way shape or form he involved in underage setups within the county anymore. You will never know are they there for the benefit of Mayo football or to poach a few teenagers for Aus

I agree with your points MD. This AFL problem is going nowhere. There is a concerted effort by this organisation to scout in Ireland year on year. The money, resources and effort of volunteers and communities poured into cultivating exciting young talent only for it to be exported across the globe should be a major issue of concern for the GAA. The money spent on these young players doesn't come out of thin air, people's time and efforts should be valued more. The AFL know very well that the amateur ethos is a loophole for them. You can be sure they wouldn't be sniffing around if there was an expectation that they should compensate the clubs they are lifting talent from in exchange for taking a chance on an unknown quantity. There was conversation yesterday about David Clifford - he is the biggest star in GAA right now and would be many people's reason for even buying a ticket to a game. See how he gets mobbed by kids at the end of games, how he's discussed by people who aren't even that familiar with Gaelic football. He is an ambassador for the game and the GAA owes him to be quite honest. Imagine if he'd left? All the work gone into him as a child and adolescent sent to another country for another audience to enjoy. There is good reason to believe certain sections of the GAA, including our own county board, wouldn't have batted an eye and that's sad to me. When does the shrug of the shoulders or, worse, the celebration at the loss of talent become an existential issue for clubs, counties and the organisation at large? When do certain GAA people see that professional organisations like the AFL are competitors instead of taking their cynical interest in our games and youth as some ridiculous form of flattery? The issue is bigger than the loss of one player. It's about squaring the community-led and amateur ethos of the organisation with the rampant capitalism and globalisation of professional sports, it's about our emigration narratives in Ireland and the attitude that getting as far away as possible and "making it" elsewhere is to be encouraged and celebrated. Complicated topic that I could talk endlessly about.

All that said, it is an amateur sport so as such players are free to come and go as they please. A person cannot be held and if Kobe's heart isn't in playing for Mayo, then so be it. Obviously there'll be "what ifs" but if playing for Mayo isn't a priority for him, we simply have to move on.

The sky hasn't fallen in,we've only lost three players to the AFL in twenty years (Admittedly good players) it's not as if half the Mayo panel were baling out.I think we should be proud of the GAA lads and ladies who have done well for themselves and the best of luck to Kobe.As for staying at home to win Sam, he could stay at home and (like his father) not win Sam.Daire Cregg said he wanted to stay at home and win an All Ireland with Roscommon...Dream on Daire. At least Kobe has more sense.

Congratulations to Tooreen on s good win today. Hopefully they can win another connacht and have another shot AL glory. They are a fantastic club...

I read that Roscommon are playing Dublin on the first Saturday of the league at 5pm
Possibly a double header with Meath.

I don't really think you can do much about AFL agents operating in GAA circles.
You cant stop people talking to who they want and I think in this case there is a close relationship between Tadgh Kennelley from when they played compromise rules.....
Ciaran knows well playing for Mayo is not all roses in the garden and in the end they just don't call you when you don't fit and it's have a nice life....thanks for the memories and good luck paying the mortgage Son.

Can we all please take a step back and look at the manic reaction we are having to one talented young player deciding to try AFL down under for a couple of years? It’s like the sky has fallen in or end of the world stuff for Mayo football. Yes this young lad is talented but one swallow dosent make a summer , he had a good senior championship debut ( but we all know it’s the second season that young lads have to really prove themselves) and a good underage career with Mayo. There are plenty of talented committed young players in this county so the sky has not fallen in and let’s give respect to all the talented footballers the county have coming though that will give the commitment required. Best of luck to this young man and hope we see him in county colours again.
I would much prefer if we were discussing the young talent on show around the county this morning in the u21 championship games…

Was anyone at any of u21 games this weekend.
Any players playing well?

There appears to be a communication gap between the county board and supporters that doesn't exist in counties that have released provisional league fixtures. TSU would eliminate that shortfall in keeping supporters informed. Even though they are only provisional, it would only be a positive step in keeping everyone in the picture.

Yes went to Claremorris Westport game and as a neutral despite the early start it was an entertaining game. Great to see all the Westport lads turn up after last weekends dissapointment ( unlike other clubs that decided to pull out of the competition all together
) and good performances from Holmes, Silke, McGloughlin and Dawson to pull it out of the fire in last 5 minutes with a brace of two pointers after Claremorris had gone 4 up with an excellent worked goal from Harry Smyth. Claremorris played some excellent open football also on difficult underfoot conditions with good performances from the 3 Hurleys, Beirnes, Cassidy , Noonan, Mortimer and Gilmore. This u21A championship is wide open and more games to look forward to next week.

Very disappointing outcome but hard to see what the GAA can do about it, as long as they don’t want to pay the players. It’s gotten to the point where almost everybody in the upper echelons of the game is getting paid except them. So Kobe MacDonald is entitled to play his cards in life as best he can, same as the rest of us.

IMO people rarely come back from Australia unless some unforeseen circumstances intervene. A bunch of my contemporaries went out there during the recession, are earning huge salaries, are hitched to local Sheilas, have families. None of them plan to return, and there’s a reason for that.

Tough that we have lost three generational players to the AFL in less than twenty years. Unlike maybe Kerry or Dublin, we can’t afford that.

Best of luck to Kobe and if it doesn't work out for him he'll be welcome back with open arms.

In other news NFL fixtures sent out to counties and of those leaked Mayo will be away to Kerry and Donegal

Definitely disappointing news. But you have to wish him well.He still is very young and you never know how things can work out .Gaa needs to make it more attractive for our best players to wait because its very hard for him not to give it a go with the demands on players at the minute.he was made for the new rules such as disappointment not to see him play.I watched afl final this year and found it a hard watch our game is a lot more enjoyable to watch but the chance of being a pro is probably the more attractive at the moment. We just have to wish him well .

Dreamysleepynightysnoozysnooze, your points well made. As you say, If Kobe's heart isnt in playing for Mayo senior team (....next obvious 'promotion') then that's that.........I wish him well.in his pro career....

SO Disappointed Kobe is off to Australia such a loss for Crossmolina and mayo football Australia profesional football have destroyed the mayo Lady football team in recent years.

Rereading all this again tonight why are even discussing a 17 ( or possibly 18 year old now) on this blog at all? This young lad is not an adult yet and he’s been elevated to some kind of potential superhero for Mayo’s future football fortunes. Sad now really when you think about it. I don’t what impact all this blog noise will have on the lad going forward .

Mayo Man for life,

Infairness to Willie Joe there was no discussion or debate on this until the news was made public in the Examiner.

It was strictly moderated and unacceptable comments were removed.

This is an emotive subject for GAA people and its going to hit harder in Mayo who let's behonest are holding out for that missing piece of the jigsaw that would get them over the line.

Rumour in Kerry tonight is another of our lads is AFL bound with Ben Murphy.

I dont begrudge the players but it's a kick in the stomach from a GAA perspective.

@MayoMan , my own dissapointment stems from watching his father and awaiting the day when another Mc Donald, who seems to possess the same brilliance, grace the Green and Red at senior level. It may never come to pass now. Oisin Mullin was another huge blow and its not that long ago. I know there are more lads on the up and up and that is always positive, but it feels like we are watching our own potential "Clifford" ride into the sunset. Go neiri an bothar leat.

@mayoman for life , it will have no effect on him id say because i would imagine his Dad would have him made fully aware of the nonsense that would be written about him on social media both good and bad , probably a bonus to have someone to speak to who knows what's its like to play for Mayo and all the pro's and cons that go with that. Thats actually one of the great things about him ,he is level headed. I doubt he'd even read this blog , no offense Willie Joe lol .

He'll have to get used to it unfortunately. Sad reality of the multimedia age.
Some of the stuff oisin was getting off his own fans in Oz was shocking.

I'm on about Mayo fans Gizmobobs, the expectations and pressure that would have been on his shoulders would have been totally unrealistic. He won't have that in Australia , not at the start anyway, they are taking a punt on a young Irish lad , he will be given time , he definitely won't be under the scrutiny that he would have been should he stayed here , loads of Irish lads have gone over and not made it .

St.Kilda.

Sad as it is to see Kobe going to the AFL all I can do is wish him well and move on. He's no longer a Mayo prospect so forget about him and concentrate on Mayo, our players and our clubs. We've enough going on here at home without fretting about what's happening in Australia.
U21 championship in action with some tasty games in prospect. Plus the provincial club action taking off this weekend coming.
Hard luck to Westport lgfa and Claremorris lgfa and well done Tooreen hurlers.

The Deel Rover – If you followed Oisín during his first two seasons in Australia, you’ll remember the comments Geelong fans posted online some of it was truly bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, especially while he was still on his rookie contract. Professional sport is ruthless, and it won’t be the easy ride some might imagine. There will be tough moments, and he’ll need a thick skin at times. That said, I’ve no doubt Kobe will handle it well. He seems level-headed, composed, and not easily rattled plus he’s got all the qualities needed to succeed over there, if it doesn’t work out for him there is no shame in that either, at least he is giving it a go and best of luck to him.

You're deluded Deel Rover if you think there's no pressure on new recruits in Australia. As Kevin O'Connor has stated above, some of the stuff said about young Irish recruits on the AFL forums is real bottom of the barrel stuff. It's a professional sport, it's ruthless. There's an assumption over there that you have to hit the ground running and if you're not showing signs of adapting to the sport at an early stage, the knives come out. At the end of the day, if you have a bad game in Mayo for the club / county, you can be surrounded by clubmates / friends, it's a lonely world in professional sports where your teammates are colleagues, not lads/friends you grew up with.

I've said my part on this matter over the past few months, I think it's a disaster for the GAA as a whole. He is the most promising talent I've seen in Mayo. He could have been the Clifford type player that could have inspired us to that elusive 4th All Ireland. I feel that we will have a decent / very good team over the next few years, however, we may fall short once again because we have lost a serious player / scoring threat.

To the individual(s) operating on behalf of the AFL in Mayo, have a long hard look at yourselves, you can't want the best for Mayo GAA / the GAA as a whole while stripping the sport of it's best young players In my view, you can't be a proper GAA supporter if you're at that.

@The Deel Rover

In fairness as @Kevin O' Connor said Gealong cats fans posted some awful comments online about Mullin in his first 2 seasons so your statement there that Aussie fans don't do that is just not true . It's not just mayo fans that can be ruthless . The comments made over Mullin were absolutely horrible.

There is some hysteria on this topic. Mayo have had 3 male AFl players ever.

If there is a scout of male players - he/she/they are clearly useless. The dog on the street could see Mullin and Kobe were generational talents. If some "scout" is getting paid for spotting those two - that's money wasted.

Mayo have no discernable "system" of training coaches, and young players for intercounty football. Occasionally, excellent players arrive if they spent a fair bit of time in the garden with the father and if there mother brough them to all the matches and training sessions all the way along. There is no club, currently systematically producing intercounty players - most are too focused on winning U12/14/16 to look at the bigger picture of developing players with key intercounty quality skills. The Mayo county board don't employ coaches to go around the county with a set of drills and upskilling the coaches of every club to achieve those skills.

Instead, we have a semi professional coaching system of independent contractors, employed by clubs to help them go one round further in the championship then the last mercenary they employed was able to achieve.

Lets stop the nonsense about what the clubs or county have done for Kobe - his father kicked ball with him and his mother drove him around to matches and training - there was no systematic training system in Crossmolina or Mayo that produced this super-talented kid. None exists - there is no Mayo version of the La Masia hidded in the bog somewhere.

And as we all know, they longer he is away, the better he will be - there will be lots of talk of another great 17 yr old who had all the skills, only this time it will be professional sports that robbed Mayo of him, not beer or injuries.

One point made by WJ was around so called scouts operating in Mayo. While it is insignificant in AFl - it is a huge problem in AFWL. Mayo is supplying a half an intercounty LGFA team to AFWL. These are not talents known to everyone, but are clearly being identified and recommended to these teams. It would be interesting to know how much a "scout" for AFWL gets per player. That money should go to the LGFA club.

Tirawleybaron, would not be getting to much I would imagine, nice holiday or two down south be main perks. When see the salaries players are on by the end of the new pay deal agreed in 2023 I think it was, and runs until the end of 2027, the average AFLW player salary will increase to $82,000 (from the current $46,000).
A quick google search says the average annual salary in Australia is approximately $92,029 to $102,742, with the median annual salary (the middle value of all salaries) being around $88,400 for full-time workers.
So for the ladies in particular its a lifestyle choice, not a financial bonanza.