Ireland must be prepared to change

Right from the start, Ireland have problems to address in today's first Test in the Foster's International Rules series. The difficulty is psychological and was alluded to by manager Brian McEniff last night in Melbourne as he announced his team and inter-change personnel.

Australian Rules is so much more comfortable with the concept of the inter-change that the home side will simply release their 23-man panel.

Ireland's 15-man starting line-up reflects the team culture at home where players are only replaced when they're injured, playing badly or because the match is over and it's safe to give someone a limited run.

"The difficulty we have," says McEniff, "is the effect on psyche of being taken off. It's something we have to work on with the players. The Aussies are used to that, it's part of their game. Our guys have to get their heads around it."

Even within the three years since the international series resumed, Australian Rules has stepped up the use of inter-change players to the extent that in AFL matches, there is constant traffic in the replacement zone as players come and go.

This was noticeable in last year's series when the Australians inter-changed almost from the start of the match whereas Ireland were much slower. Two years ago, the then Irish management dramatically raised their game in this respect and a smooth-running replacement policy played a major role in securing the series victory.

McEniff has certainly made elaborate plans to deal with the matter, by involving a host of personnel in the monitoring of the team and opponents.

Matt Kerrigan, the former Meath footballer, Westmeath manager and Leinster coach, arrived in Melbourne this week. He will concentrate on how the forwards and centrefield are performing.

Selector and team trainer John O'Keeffe will be focusing on the defence. Roscommon player Tommy Grehan who is not a member of the panel and Nicholas Walsh have been asked to keep tabs on the Australians.

Walsh is a former Cavan minor who captained the Ireland under-17s in last year's International Rules series. He is currently pursuing a career in Australian Rules with the Melbourne Demons and is tipped in some quarters - including by Australian coach Garry Lyon - for a big future.

Selector Paddy Clarke keeps track of the changes and co-ordinates the information coming in from the observers. McEniff himself has a special vantage point, used by coaches in Australia and likely to become familiar in Gaelic games in the near future.

Virtually all of the back-up team will have some specified function in relation to the match. Even the four players left off the final match panel are to be involved.

It probably comes as scant consolation to the individuals concerned but Roscommon's Francie Grehan for instance is to be in charge of the inter-change players' warm-up routines.

Grehan, Coman Goggins (Dublin) and Brendan Jer O'Sullivan (Cork) are the unlucky trio effectively dropped - "It's probably fair to say they didn't show enough in the practice game," according to McEniff.

Dermot McCabe (Cavan) was not considered because of injury whereas Niall Buckley was passed fit yesterday. The team selection took an hour and a half.

McEniff's counterpart Lyon was keeping his cards close to his chest yesterday. He too had to lose four players from his panel of 27. By late afternoon, he was only admitting to two of the omissions.

Brad Ottens was no surprise although he is highly rated within Australian Rules. One of the very big men - at 6ft 8ins - common in the game, the Richmond player was always a likely candidate for the cut.

Port Adelaide's Josh Francou was more of a surprise given his capacity for chasing and hard work, both premium attributes in the international game.

One matter that might have caused controversy concerned the Australians' problem in finding a goalkeeper. After some agonising, Lyon decided to by-pass his original choice Darren Gaspar and go with Simon Goodwin.

By most accounts, the Adelaide Crows player has improved rapidly in the position and, in a move unknown to the Irish, he was slipped into the Academy selection for last Tuesday's practice match.

Despite the faintly underhand nature of the manoeuvre, the diplomatic McEniff saw no problem. "That didn't bother me a bit," he said. "I understand the position they're in regarding the goalkeeper."

It remains to be seen if the concession of seven goals affected Goodwin's morale in the position.

Another factor with which the home side is unfamiliar may also come into play when action gets underway. The weather forecast in Melbourne for the match is poor.

"That would be an advantage for us," said McEniff yesterday. "After all, we play about 50 per cent of our football in wet weather."

Should there be much rain, it will presumably impact radically on the size of the crowd. One of the disadvantages of the "walk-up" sports crowd is that it is more easily deterred by bad weather than those who have already purchased tickets.

IRELAND: C Sullivan (Meath); A Rainbow (Kildare), D Fay (Meath), SM Lockhart (Derry); E O'Hara (Sligo), S Moynihan (Kerry), S de Paor (Galway); D ╙ SΘ (Kerry), A Tohill (Derry, capt.); P Joyce (Galway), T Kennelly (Sydney Swans and Kerry), M Donnellan (Galway); G Geraghty (Meath), D Earley (Kildare), J Crowley (Kerry). Inter-change: N Buckley (Kildare), G Canty (Cork), B Devenney (Donegal), C McAnallen (Tyrone), K McGeeney (Armagh), C McManus (Offaly), M F Russell (Kerry), C Whelan (Dublin).