As the teams got ready for today's conclusive second test in the Foster's International Rules series at Football Park, Adelaide, there was an outbreak of diplomacy on the subject of match officiating.

After the outbursts from the Irish after last week's test, both manager Brian McEniff and captain Anthony Tohill were at pains to distance themselves from further criticism.

"Speaking very objectively," said McEniff, "I would have been very happy with refereeing standards last Friday night. We were annoyed that play had been allowed continue with people on the pitch but I had no complaints with the overall standard."

Tohill who had been particularly outspoken - impugning Australian umpire Brett Allen's impartiality - backtracked a little on his comments of a week ago.

"That was last Friday," he said, "and there's been enough said and written about it. We as players want to focus on the game and leave it in the hands of those entrusted with refereeing."

The parking of this issue comes after a week of controversy that featured the five-test suspension handed down to Ireland selector Paddy Clarke by the joint AFL/GAA tribunal last Monday.

GAA officials have been quick to point out that the match monitors (Kevin Sheehan of the AFL and the GAA's Pat Daly) were satisfied with the performances of both Allen and his Irish counterpart Pat McEnaney.

The consensus view was that only four significant errors had been made during the match - two by each official - and that such a statistic was more than acceptable over the course of 80 minutes.

This morning's match is expected to present a tougher task for the officials than the first test in Melbourne, given a local consensus that the Australians didn't make the most of their physical game or of the possession they enjoyed.

Accordingly, the Irish are bracing themselves for some harder hitting in the first two quarters. Australian coach Garry Lyon made the point before the first test that he intended to make the most of his team's familiarity with the tackle and that intention is likely to have been re-emphasised ahead of today.

Conversely, Lyon mentioned after last week's match that he and his players had been surprised at how strong the Irish were in the tackle and how adept they proved at "standing up" - weathering the tackle and getting the ball away without being flattened.

Ireland have bulked up by bringing Kieran McGeeney in from the start and switching SΘamus Moynihan - one of the strongest Irish players in possession - to centrefield where he made a great contribution to turning the game around both in the sector and in general last week.

If expectation of more searching physical tests helped make up McEniff's mind about his choice of personnel, Lyon has been driven by the need to make better use of possession.

This has brought the towering figure of Brad Ottens into the frame. Standing over 6ft 8in, Ottens was omitted a week ago on the grounds that big ruckmen like him rarely find the international game that rewarding.

The view has now swung around to trying the Richmond player in order to see how the Irish cope with his size.

It's probably worth a go, given that Brisbane defender Justin Leppitsch caused a pile of trouble last year when used as a target man in attack. Much will depend on how well Ottens gets on with the round ball - Leppitsch was very good in Dublin.

One area of extreme concern must be the goalkeeping position. Simon Goodwin's inexperience cost at least one goal in Melbourne and, although Lyon has been careful to talk up his player and deny that Goodwin sought to step down, it must be a worry.

It's all a little unfair on the player. Australian Rules has no goalkeeper and the task falls to some unfortunate individual every year. Despite that, the Australians have uncovered some exceptional 'keepers over the years and in that context it was poignant to see Stephen Silvagni forced to announce his retirement last week.

Probably his country's best International Rules goalkeeper, Silvagni, known as SOS - son of Sergio, after his famous father who also played for Carlton in the 1970s - was a legend in his own game and was selected as full back on 1996's Team of the Century.

A hip injury has brought his career to a close but he has been helping to coach Goodwin who today has the benefit of his home crowd at Football Park.

It would have to be said that Ireland didn't exactly make hay as a result of this vulnerability and the two goals owed more to serendipity than inspiration.

Team news is brief and predictable. Ciarβn Whelan, Niall Buckley and Dermot McCabe are out with injury - an absentee list containing a fair spread of the panel's physical presence.

Coman Goggins, Francie Grehan and Brendan Jer O'Sullivan, who were left out of last week's 23, all get the call with Michael Francis Russell the only able-bodied player to miss out today. Darryl White is the only Australian panellist to be absent through injury.

There has been some apprehension in the Irish camp at how much better their opponents were for most of the match but the MCG win must have benefited what was after last year a brittle morale.

Both sides have areas of general concern. Ireland were unhappy at the commitment to the ball of some players - to paraphrase McEniff's euphemism - and Australia were frustrated at turning over so much possession through poor use of the ball.

Whichever team more successfully remedies those shortcomings will probably win. Whichever, we'll know soon enough.

IRELAND: 1 C Sullivan (Meath); 3 G Canty (Cork), 9 D Fay (Meath), 15 SM Lockhart (Derry); 24 A Rainbow (Kildare), 18 K McGeeney (Armagh), 5 S de Paor (Galway); 20 S Moynihan (Kerry), 22 D O Se (Kerry); 8 D Earley (Kildare), 7 M Donnellan (Gal way), 14 T Kennelly (Sydney Swans and Kerry); 10 G Geraghty (Meath), 26 A Tohill (Derry, capt), 6 B Devenney (Donegal). Interchange: 4 J Crowley (Kerry), 11 C Goggins (Dublin), 12 F Grehan (Roscommon), 13 P Joyce (Galway), 16 C McAnallen (Tyrone), 19 C McManus (Offaly), 21 E O'Hara (Sligo), 23 BJ O'Sullivan (Cork).

AUSTRALIA: 36. S Goodwin (Adelaide); 25. D Hardwick (Essendon), 2. D Gaspar (Richmond), 34. D King (North Melbourne); 24. D White (Brisbane), 27. B Sanderson (Geelong), 21. C Bradley (Carlton, capt.); 37. A Goodes (Sydney), 23. A McLeod (Adelaide); 10. J Francou (Port Adelaide), 33. B Caracella (Essendon), 29. B Harvey (North Melbourne); 5. B Ottens (Richmond), 18. M Lloyd (Essendon), 12. M Lappin (Carlton).