International Rules Countdown to second Test: Beyond their wounded dignity Ireland have no injuries after last weekend's hammering in the first Test of the International Rules series. The official party returns to Melbourne this morning after a short break in Sorrento, during which the video from last Friday has made dismal viewing.

Ireland's John Tobin said the management had suffered worst from regular reruns.

"We've watched it four times, including with the players. Every time we look at it, it gets worse," said the team's most experienced International Rules selector.

Statistics released by the AFL indicate the gulf between the teams in operating the interchange.

In the first Test, Australia made 62 interchanges while Ireland made less than 40 per cent of that, just 24. The quarter-by-quarter figures are 15-3/15-8/14-5/18-8.

Interchange is one area in which the AFL team have a big advantage, as it is part of their game. Ireland always struggle to get the timing and the mechanics of it right.

On Friday it was particularly significant because the Australians used the process to rotate their fast-moving centrefield players and sustain the pressure on Ireland. According to Tobin, the opposition were so well drilled on the line that the changes happened automically.

"The Australians ran a clock on their interchanges and the players knew when to come on. There was no runner needed. It's a part of their game we always struggle to get right."

He also confirmed the four players omitted from the first Test - Ryan McMenamin, Ross Munnelly (both recovered from a chest infection and dead leg respectively), Philip Jordan and Dessie Dolan - will all get a run at the Telstra Dome this Friday.

Training, which surprised some onlookers with its intensity last week, is expected to be very light this time around.

Meanwhile, Australian reaction to their success has been a little disbelieving. After their calamitous display last year the home side had embarked on a medium-to-long-term programme to improve performances at international level.

"Everyone's pretty stunned," said AFL PRO Patrick Keane. "Looking at it first we felt that we'd do well to be within five or 10 points or that if things went really well we might scrape a win. To win by 36 was amazing."

Describing the 2004 defeat as "horrendous", Keane explained the thinking behind the now obviously crucial decision to appoint a club coach in Kevin Sheedy. It was part of a radical reassessment of how the game should be approached.

"We knew after last year we'd have to improve things. We hadn't done any video work on the Irish although we knew a bit about them but this year there was detailed analysis of how the Irish move, where they run, when they run - just like a club would do in an AFL game.

"That's why we appointed a club coach. The internationals had to be treated like an AFL game with a round ball. In the past we just treated it as a different game but that had to change."

In terms of the compromises that have to be made, the Australians have an advantage in that their major concession, the round ball, can be practised on their own by players, whereas aspects like the tackle and the interchange can only best be worked on in games.

"The players were all working on their own with the round ball for five weeks before coming together last Saturday week. That happened before but the difference this time is that we picked blokes who were more proficient with the round ball so that they had a high level of skill by the time training camp started."

In relation to selling the second Test now the series is a formality, Keane is optimistic. Last year the GAA attracted 60,000 to the second Test after Ireland had established a similarly dominant lead.

At the time Croke Park commercial manager Dermot Power pointed out that the worst result would have been for the home side to lose heavily in the first Test. The AFL share that perspective.

"Australia couldn't play any better if we dreamed about it and Ireland will be much improved."

Meanwhile, there was sadness in the Irish camp yesterday when media officer Feargal McGill had to leave for home on learning his father, Cormac, had died suddenly.

Well known for his column The Follower in the Donegal Democrat, Cormac McGill was a fervent Donegal supporter, even though Feargal played for Leitrim, where the family live.