International Rules: Ireland's International Rules panel arrived in Perth late last night and revealed they won't be participating in a practice match before Friday's first Test.
The decision appears to have been influenced by the injury sustained by Tipperary's Declan Browne in the warm-up match two years ago. Played against a Western Australian Football League selection, the practice featured a shuddering challenge from former AFL player Ashley Prescott, which it was suggested would be allowed in Australian Rules.
This time around, Ireland have decided not to take the chance.
"When an international team plays against a lesser group," according to manager Peter McGrath, "they might find the opposition are a little too enthusiastic for what we're trying to achieve. We looked at the pros and cons of playing the game and while there would have been some advantages we decided against it because we would have been in an uncontrolled environment. The injury factor was too much of a worry."
The Australians played a practice match among themselves yesterday in Busselton. The home side have more ground to cover, as only seven of their players have played the international game before whereas Ireland have 15 players with experience at this level.
The team came through without mishap and were feeling upbeat.
"Generally they're coming along pretty well," said AFL PRO Patrick Keane. "We've picked guys who have the skills and hopefully the practice will improve them tactically. Two of the guys picked up minor knocks but we're confident they'll be ready."
Like Ireland, who are missing two major players through injury, Australia had hoped to be able to select two players with particularly strong track records in the series.
Nathan Brown was their top scorer and man of the series for Australia last year but he and Barry Hall, the Sydney Swans forward, who played such a big role in his country's aggregate victory two years ago are injured.
"Nathan Brown broke his leg badly in round 10 and is only just back in training. Barry Hall played straight through the finals and a medical check revealed he'd torn a rotator cuff in his shoulder. If he'd done it early in the season it would have been two months off but because of the importance of the matches he played to the end.
"Matthew Pavlich is another we'd like to have but he's injured too. It's been a long AFL season and something like 60 players are booked in for surgery and have to get it done in the seven or eight weeks available."
According to Keane, tickets for the two-Test series are selling well with Subiaco Oval nearly sold out for this week and the Telstra Dome in Melbourne expected also to be near capacity.
"The capacity at Subiaco is up about 2,500 to 44,000 and officially there are about 1,500 left. We haven't started advertising in Melbourne yet and already 10,000 have been sold. We're hopeful that it'll sell out."
The MCG, where the Melbourne Tests are usually played, is unavailable pending refurbishment for the Commonwealth Games so the aggregate attendance won't break 100,000 - the general benchmark of a successful series. If sales of 10,000 for Melbourne appear disappointing it should be borne in mind attendances in the city are largely "walk-up", deciding to attend on the night. Six years ago only 9,000 tickets had been sold four days before the Test but 65,000 turned up.
Meanwhile, Australian media are reporting Tyrone's Seán Cavanagh is on the verge of completing his much-speculated on move to AFL club, the Brisbane Lions. The All Star is said to have been given until the end of the International Rules series to make up his mind on the move.
It is also reported that Premiership champions the Sydney Swans will make a new offer to Tadhg Kennelly to keep the Kerryman with the club beyond the expiry of his current contract in 2006. Responding to reports that Kennelly, who has recently paid over a million dollars for a house in North Bondi, is thinking of returning to Ireland to play with his native county, Sydney chief executive Myles Baron-Hay is quoted as saying: "He's a premiership player and an exciting talent. He's had a fantastic season and he's still improving. We rate him very highly.
"He's a key part of the Sydney Swans and appreciated by his team-mates. He fits in really neatly in this part of the world. And we respect he's an Irishman, his family's based in Ireland, his father was an All-Ireland champion - something like the Ron Barassi (a legendary AFL player who helped originate the international connection with the GAA) of Ireland - and he's very close to them."
