GAELIC GAMES/International Rules: Keith Duggan takes a straw poll in the aftermath of what many say should be the last series of the hybrid games

Even in his heyday as a charismatic and cerebral ball player on the granite, ambitious young Meath team of the late 1990s that represented Seán Boylan's last great creation, Trevor Giles was famous for never looking surprised about anything that happened on a football field.

The former footballer of the year departed the graft and glamour of the championship scene with the same subtlety with which he took to it, so it was like a remembrance of times past seeing him on the sideline with Boylan over the International Rules series, acting as trainer, warm-up man and, as he self-deprecatingly puts it, " a runner" for the Ireland team.

Giles looked as impassive as ever on Sunday when all Mel broke loose, as the Australians say in reference to their favourite son and Braveheart star Mel Gibson. He was worried when his friend and former Meath team-mate Graham Geraghty was knocked unconscious after an arguably fair tackle but as for the rest of the mauling, punching, wrestling and general rancour, Giles knew it was coming.

"Was I surprised by Sunday? No. I can't say I was," he said softly on Wednesday night, on the phone from his physiotherapy practice in Skryne.

"If you look at the recent history of this series, a pattern has developed where if the Irish team plays well over a match or two, a negative reaction follows in the next game. This thing was brewing all week. I suppose Graham's injury could have been much worse.

"Even when the team doctor was attending to him, there was still a lot of talk coming from the Australians, which wasn't the best form. But the one thing I would say about that tackle is that the ground in Croke Park is exceptionally hard. We had a player, John Cullinane, who hit his head and was concussed a few years ago playing there. And I predict this is going to become a major issue when they start playing rugby there. But the other stuff that went on, I just had a feeling it was going to come down to that."

It took Anthony Moyles by surprise. The defender left Salthill feeling highly pleased about his competitive debut, in which he acquitted himself admirably on the huge Barry Hall.

But from the beginning, the atmosphere in Croke Park felt different. Moyles concedes the Irish backs bunched together prior to the anthems but says the motivation was based on safety in numbers rather than presenting an aggressive stance.

Two days after playing out the International series, Moyles was abroad on work duty and was half relieved he was fit to travel.

"When you play any sport, football or hurling or anything, you expect to have physical encounters. And each game carries a small element of fear, worries about doing well and guarding your opponent and so on. But the intimidation that went on last Sunday definitely had a psychological impact on our team.

"It went from the usual worries in Galway such as 'Can I win the next ball? Am I going to get cleaned out?' to the distraction in Croke Park of thinking, 'Shit, am I going to get my jaw broken here? Do I react? Do I hit back?' And of course that affects your play, your decision making and I think it meant a lot of guys were probably rushing to get rid of the ball. Because when you don't know what is coming at you, of course it is going to affect your rationale in playing the game.

"It should be acknowledged too that the Australians, in the past three years, have developed in leaps and bounds at the game, whereas we are going step by step. And I think that is a reflection of the professional and amateur codes. They are superb athletes and they have tailored their teams to suit the game. But if you examine their game, they have identified a few players good at kicking the ball and the rest just handpass and run. It is highly effective.

"Even though we use the round ball, I still feel that the Irish teams have made the greater compromise because the overall feel of the game is very different."

FROM BEFORE the throw-in on Sunday, the verbal threats from the visitors were explicit and constant.

"Along the lines of 'I'm going to knock your f*****g teeth back your throat', the likes of that," Moyles says. "And when Graham went down, Danyle Pearse was getting high fives and one Australian was shouting, 'That's one - 14 more to go'. It has a cumulative effect. And obviously some players were worse than others.

"Hall, for instance, would do a bit of mouthing and might throw an odd clip if he felt it justified, but generally he is a very good player and he acted with a degree of responsibility. As the game went on, the Irish team were psyched out of it and then we were soundly beaten on the field and it was very disappointing."

The relentless edge and menace was one thing but the complete lack of certainty as to how - and if - the rules would apply also troubled Moyles. At the point when Seán Cavanagh jack-knifed into an advertising hoarding, Moyles was close to Michael Voss. Without warning, Voss shoved his hands into Moyles's neck and mouth and immediately sprinted off to take the mark from the inbound ball.

"I was looking at Seán Cavanagh, thinking there was no way the play would restart. Then I get this dig and I still felt certain that the game wouldn't begin again. Next thing Voss claimed the mark and I was left standing like a fool. And I was raging with myself. That is how your concentration breaks down. It was like that over 80 minutes and it just wore fellas down.

"I simply don't accept that it was in the Irish interest to try and intimidate Australia. Look, everyone knows Seán Boylan could have rounded up 20 nutcases from club or even county teams and sent them out. But we wanted to play football and that served us well enough in Galway."

During the build-up to the decisive Test, it wasn't hard to detect a souring in the atmosphere. Reading his local newspaper, the Meath Chronicle, Moyles was bemused to see an article bemoaning the timidity of the Galway match and finishing with the line, 'Bring back Chris Johnson', a reference to the Australian who inflicted a brutal tackle on Philip Jordan last year.

"There was this ambivalent message coming through from a lot of different sources. On the one hand, neither organisation wanted a repeat. But then the marketing slogan was about "playing it hard". It wasn't the players that dreamt up that phrase."

WHEN HE returned home to Mayobridge, Co Down, on Monday, Benny Coulter gave a radio interview in which he stated he was finished playing International Rules. The flame-haired forward seemed like the prototype player for the compromise game - a natural score-taker with great hands and feet and a sharp mind. Towards the end of the venomous first quarter, Coulter took the full brunt of Adam Selwood's shoulder into his face.

"I saw him out of the corner of my eye and presumed that he would be going for the ball as well and there would be a bit of a collision and that would be the end of it. But he stood his ground and it was a fair belt now. Another two inches higher and my nose and cheekbone were definitely broken."

On reflection, Coulter felt he was wrong to effectively retire from the rules, reasoning he should talk to team captain Kieran McGeeney and manager Boylan before reaching any final decision. But Sunday was sour - it was the Ulster man's second time in four years getting to play in Croke Park and that alone mattered hugely to him.

Although there was a post-match meal for both teams in Croke Park on Sunday evening, there was practically no mingling. Coulter, like most of his team-mates, just wanted to go home. The funny thing was that after the first Test in Australia last year, Coulter did actually engage with some of the opposition.

"We had a few beers and I ended up chatting with that boy Lindsay Gilbee and found him fair craic, we got on quite well. But there was nothing like that since. After Galway, the teams didn't see each other at all."

That may have been one of the reasons why coach Kevin Sheedy alluded to the benefits of a mutual chow-down before any future Test. When Giles was selected on the Rules team he remembers "naively thinking that we would develop friendships with the Australians. That doesn't happen.

"I believe the Australians do, at the heart of it, respect us. And the general attitude seems to be amazement at the hours and time Irish players put into their game. But the fact is that they are professional football players, it is what they do. They expect, and are expected to, beat us and when that doesn't happen, they lose face. And that is when the "win at whatever cost" comes into it."

Coulter intends talking with the management and players before coming to any firm decision on his future in the International Rules.

Moyles hesitates before giving a prediction about his own involvement.

"You know, it is nothing to do with getting a trip to Australia or that. But there is a part of me that would love to give it another go, provided there was a guarantee that the conditions would be right and that the officiating, which is also a problem, would be consistent."

When Trevor Giles pulled on an Irish team shirt in 1999, the same year as he won his second All-Ireland medal, he regarded it as the probably the greatest moment in his sporting career. He believes the spirit of those early matches in the revived series had great promise. But after last Sunday's spectacle, all that optimism has disappeared.

"I couldn't see it taking place again. I would be very surprised if it wasn't shelved for a couple of years at least and probably for good. It is very regrettable because the potential was there, but this pattern of outbreaks of negative play seems to be getting worse.

"And it is getting to the stage where you will be hard pressed to get the best of the Irish players to want to travel. Why should they?"