Gaelic Footballer of the Year Jack McCaffrey has warned that Ireland cannot afford to let Australia build an early lead if they are to win Saturday's International Rules Test at Croke Park.
The Dublin wing-back played in the easy win over a weakened Aussie selection in 2013 but missed last year's 10-point defeat in Perth to a team made up of All-Australian (All Star) players.
Despite the apparently close nature of that contest, Ireland trailed 22-4 by the end of the first quarter and only made the score respectable in the final period.
McCaffrey believes keeping it close in the opening stages this time is crucial to Ireland's prospects.
"In the first half last year, the Aussies outclassed the Irish lads in terms of ball skills, which is something we've really focused on this year," he told RTÉ Sport in an interview to be broadcast as part of live television coverage on Saturday.
"The lads then just had too much of a mountain to climb. They did an unbelievable job in fairness but just came up short.
Jack McCaffrey: Ireland must start well against Aussies https://t.co/3Mj7aJf8aC #rtegaa https://t.co/eov40URNMk
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) November 19, 2015
"So we'll be really focused on getting a good start. If you let these guys get ahead of you, they're professionals, they know exactly what they're at.
"They can grind out a result with the best of them so you have to go at them from the first minute and keep that, hopefully matching their fitness, right to the end of the fourth quarter."
McCaffrey says that there are a lot of similarities between the game and Gaelic football and that they have analysed their opponents for AFL traits they will carry into the hybrid rules.
"You can't read too much into them playing their own game, because of the differences in the rules and the ball.
"But in terms of the intensity that they bring in tackling, and the short passes that they play with the foot instead of the long 50-50s, you can pick up on a few things that you assume will be transferred into this Australian squad.
"In Gaelic football you're always trying to hit the space in front of a man, bounce the ball once or twice into him, whereas here you're trying to ping the ball into someone's chest.
"There is an awful lot from Gaelic football that slots straight in and fits like a glove"
"That's probably the biggest thing to practice, along with the tackle and how to avoid being tackled.
"But there is an awful lot from Gaelic football that slots straight in and fits like a glove. We're going to just go out and enjoy ourselves and hopefully the Gaelic tradition will flow."
It's a rare experience for an inter-country player to line out alongside those he usually faces on the field but McCaffrey is relishing the camraderie in the camp and the privilege of representing his country.
"It's an unbelievable experience to be able to pull on the Ireland jersey and go to play a match with the lads you play against so regularly," he said.
"I'm really looking forward to it. In a lot of sports, you get the opportunity to represent your country time and time again but in Gaelic they are few and far between. Everyone here is absolutely buzzing.
"It's strange at the start as you sit down beside the lads that you know so well, football-wise, but you wouldn't know at all off the pitch.
"But that very quickly passes, and as soon as you get onto the pitch, and you do your first training session, you realise that everybody is about the same thing and you get chatting.
"There's a good mix [of counties]. This is the off-season from inter-county football, that's all left behind. We'll go and play for the same team now."
Ireland v Australia is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7pm, with radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 and a live blog on RTE.ie.
