Injured Browne may be forced to miss both Tests

International Rules: Tipperary's Declan Browne is facing the prospect of missing the whole series because of the injury sustained in Tuesday's practice match. His dead leg hasn't responded well to treatment and he will definitely miss tomorrow's first Test at Subiaco Oval here in Perth.

"It's quite a bad dead leg," according to Irish team doctor Con Murphy.

"He won't make this week and the chances are that it won't have recovered in time for the second Test."

Manager John O'Keeffe reiterated his unhappiness at the foul that had led to Browne's injury and revealed that he had raised the matter with the joint GAA-AFL committee, which oversees the games.

"They told the referees that the offence should have been punished with a red card," he said, "and it's important that message goes out."

Further evidence of the Australians' serious intent could be seen in their training schedules.

So far there has been little sign of the lax discipline that undermined previous series at home and the players trained at eight o'clock in the morning and again at two in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, GAA president Seán Kelly said that he would be discussing the issue of a players' committee at national level with the international players present in Perth.

This matter has been at an impasse because of the refusal of the Gaelic Players Association, the unofficial players' union, to participate in elections to such a body.

As a result there has been no committee since the president took office in April.

He said that he would also be sounding out county boards on his return with a view to establishing the opinions of players.

"Ultimately it's up to the players to decide how they want to be represented. All we want is to offer the opportunity to players to have someone elected at central level.

"Obviously the GPA are there but they're not the official body sanctioned by congress and therefore I couldn't say that it would be okay for the GPA to be accepted (as the representative body) because that would be a matter for congress."