Advantage to Australia

Kerry assistant coach John O'Keeffe is the Ireland selector with responsibility for physical preparation. It is a daunting task given the professional Australians' natural advantage in this area and even more so because O'Keeffe has had only nine weeks to try and prepare the players. "The physical demands of International Rules are far greater than those of Gaelic football," he says. "Stamina is a key aspect because the game requires continuous running in all sectors.

"In terms of upper-body strength we're light years behind the Australians. Some of our players do work in the gym and some clubs and counties are wising up to that at home. But full-time professionals can do a lot more work in the gym. We've a lot to learn."

Amongst the lessons learned by the Ireland management has been the use of the inter-change players. Last year, the first test was lost as players tired from not receiving rest-periods during the match.

"The thing we learned," says O'Keeffe, "is not to wait until players are knackered before resting them. Do it a few minutes before one of the breaks and you can extend it a little."

There are other advantages of the professional set-up. Ciaran O'Sullivan and Sean de Paor are injury concerns for Ireland and won't be tested until just before the start of today's match.

O'Keeffe points out that but for the immediate and integrated medical attention both players have received all week plus the opportunity to rest, their injuries would have had no chance of recovery.

Australia have no injury worries and have named their team for today's second test in Football Park, Adelaide. It shows four changes to the starting 15 but that isn't too relevant given the interchange possibilities. Anyway for the record, Rohan Smith, Ben Graham, Scott Camporeale and Michael O'Loughlin are listed to start.