Carl O'Malleytakes exception to Australian suggestions that the Irish International Rules side is a bunch of whingers.
The International Rules series is back. Hostilities will resume on Friday morning at the Subiaco Oval in Perth, so those of you who can't wait until that night for a good ruck should tune in.
There have, of course, been some rule changes to afford our amateur sportsmen the opportunity to showcase their skill for a minute or two before they get blindsided and knocked into next week by an Aussie cheapshot, the likes of which prompted our own Seán Boylan to give Kevin Sheedy a right Royal bollocking in 2006.
As conciliatory as the pre-match chat has been, an Aussie team of brawn and little brains, whose agenda has always been to kick opponent first and ball second, is unlikely to be any less rabid when in front of their own crowd in Western Australia.
Now, our Australian cousins would have others believe that we've 'wimped out mate' and that we just can't take the hard hits. The truth, however, is that our gaelic footballers have never taken a step back on the field of battle and more often than not focus on the task at hand - entertaining.
Of course, that begs the question as to what's more entertaining; a fast flowing evenly contested football match with skill by the bucketful or the human equivalent of a demolition derby where the sole objective is inflicting whiplash on your opposite number.
This may be classed as entertainment in towns so overflowing with testosterone that they have to advertise for women but it certainly is not what the GAA envisaged when agreeing to unite the two codes in the spirit of sportsmanship.
That said, despite what many Down Under may think, the cheers were as loud as the boos nationwide when Graham Geraghty was singled out for special treatment by Danyle Pearce in 2006. But we can't expect the Aussies to be privy to such parochialism when they are on the other side of the planet.
Perhaps the Aussie Rules players have little better to do than grapple with other men in short shorts and sleeveless tank tops every other day of their lives. But at least they can haul their battered bodies on to a treatment table the very next morning.
The Irish players have to cart their broken limbs to work and back to the real world where humility, respect and dignity are a pre-requisite and foster identical traits in their sportsmanship on the field.
Either that or they could pack up and go down there to continue the burgeoning tradition of keeping Australians out of their teams by beating them at their own game.
* Glen Quartermain, of the Sunday Timesin Perth, stirs things up ahead of the first test.