Ireland manager Paul Earley reckons that Australia are going to take November's international rules Test seriously after last year’s farcical second game.
The home side took a 22-point lead from the first tie in Cavan into the Croke Park Test and demolished an indigenous-only squad 116-37, taking the series on an aggregate margin of 101 points.
The lack of any semblance of competition again sparked debate around the future of the oft threatened series, but Earley says that Ireland won’t have it so easy this time around.
“It certainly is [different to the last couple of series]. They have decided to take it very seriously this year,” Earley told RTÉ Sport.
“They have only chosen those players who have been represented as All Australians [equivalent to All-Stars], either this year or in previous years so you look at the quality and calibre of the squad, it’s probably the one of the strongest, if not the strongest, squad they’ve ever put out.
“The fact that it’s a month later, played in the heat, 28-30 degrees I think is the average temperature that we’ll expect in Perth in November, it will make the challenge a fairly serious one.”
"I certainly think it will be a changed Australia, a changed attitude, a changed team" - Paul Earley
Ireland have won nine of the series since its inception with Australia claiming eight. Earley added that his players will be inspired by the strength of the Aussie selection.
He said: “Our best players always want to pit themselves against Australia’s best. They like the challenge of that to test themselves against the best players that Australia can muster.
“Unfortunately over the last couple of series that hasn’t been the case. This year I certainly think it will be a changed Australia, a changed attitude, a changed team. It’ll certainly be a lot more competitive. It will be a massive challenge for us to take them on
“The fact that it’s month later than normal means that those players are back in pre-season training. Normally, the Test series would have been played in October when it’s in the middle of their break.
"They’ll all be back in pre-season so they’ll have a couple of weeks done in terms of preparation that they wouldn’t have had in previous series.
“It’s been a really positive reaction [from our players]. The players who were on the squad, who have been involved with us in the training squad have been magnificent.
“They all want to play for their country; they deem it a huge honour. There are many other players as well who we would have like to have involved but because of injury after long, hard season they’ve had to withdraw and there are some players as well who are heavily involved in club activity and just weren’t in a position to make a commitment.”
This will be the first series consisting of just one Test and Earley, who hopes to lead Ireland to their third Cormac McAnallen Cup in-a-row, admits he would have preferred another game.
“My understanding is that it was the Australians who recommended that,” he said.
“I think the challenge that they have is that if they’re playing it in November the players are back with their clubs. The clubs have a big hold on the players. Clearly they are employed by the clubs, they pay them a lot of money.
“My understanding is, in some cases perhaps, the clubs wouldn’t release them for any longer than a week or two to play one Test.
“Perhaps there are other reasons as well. Maybe the Australians are banking on filling a stadium in Perth on 22 November, using that as the opportunity to try and reinvigorate the series from their perspective.
“Ideally we would have preferred two Tests. It’s a lot easier learn the game and improve from the first Test to the second Test. We won’t have that flexibility this year.”
