The Ireland International Rules panel which heads for Melbourne today has a fair bit of work to do. Players and management will be protecting a record that has never seen the Irish defeated in Australia. Such is the supremacy of travelling teams that only once has the home country won a series - three years ago when Ireland won on aggregate on the resumption of the international project.
Although that project is hardly in its infancy - it's 17 years since the first official tests took place - there is still ambivalence about its long-term prospects. As a result, concerns have fluctuated wildly since 1998 when the GAA and the AFL decided to revive the idea.
First concerns centred on how seriously the Australians took the series. Three years ago, coach Leigh Matthews memorably told a press conference that the series reminded him of Vietnam: "It seems to matter a lot more over here than at home".
Selection policy in Australia seemed to be a tacit acknowledgement of that. The trip was a reward for the AFL's All Star equivalents. It made no difference that some of the bigger players, the ruckmen of Australian Rules, looked like carthorses at dressage. But the visitors were undoubtedly competitive.
Further concerns about the appetite of the Australian public were allayed two years ago when over 65,000 turned up at the MCG for the first test in Melbourne, blowing by a multiple the previous attendance record Down Under. Ireland's win became the next concern.
Wouldn't it have been better if the Australians could have had the encouragement of winning one of the tests? The then-Ireland manager, Colm O'Rourke, was privately perceptive about what had happened. He reckoned that 1999 was about the best that Ireland could do in terms of preparation and performance, whereas the Aussies had a lot more room for improvement.
Last year confirmed as much. With much swaggering and occasional taunting, the visitors took Ireland apart - suggesting that they had cracked the secret of handling the hybrid game.
Now the wheel has come full circle. Ireland travel to try to prove that they can compete with full-time professionals and that the series has a competitive future.
Although it was always true that the idea meant more to the GAA than to their Australian counterparts, that contrast is nowhere near as striking now as it was in the past. The Australians have tightened up on selection policy, adding players more suited to the demands of International Rules to bolster their All-Australian panel.
For their part, the GAA in general have been the authors of some dire cock-ups in relation to preparing teams. These have included the refusal to modify club programmes in order to allow players to represent their country. This has bedevilled both O'Rourke and his successor as Ireland manager, Brian McEniff.
Seamus Moynihan, the inspirational Kerry footballer who was Ireland's Player of the Series two years ago, reacted angrily to this problem after last year's series.
"We were missing key players: Glenn Ryan (Kildare), who had to play a bloody game yesterday; Ciaran Whelan (Dublin) had to play a relegation game which wouldn't be called off. We were missing Ja Fallon, Michael Donnellan (both Galway) and John McDermott (Meath) with injuries.
"Then you see Glenn Ryan and Ciaran Whelan in the prime of their health and they can't get a bloody game called off the night before. You've amateurs playing professionals and the amateurs are playing a game the night before. It could only happen in Ireland."
Nor was the GAA at head office level blameless. The daft scheduling of an All-Ireland replay for the day before the first test meant that on the above occasion when Moynihan spoke, he had played his heart out for Ireland in the second test after a week bringing the Sam Maguire around Kerry as the winning captain.
The management policy has also been curious. O'Rourke had established a great record with a good team of selectors. He won both of the series for which he was in charge.
For all his occasional gaucheness in public, he was a formidable leader to whom the players responded well. Replacing him on the apparent basis that everyone deserved a go smacked of an attitude as blasΘ as anything the Australians could be accused of in relation to their team selections.
None of this should be seen as a criticism of O'Rourke's successor. The widespread perception that the appointment was part of a wider Ulster anschluss conducted by GAA president Sean McCague undervalues McEniff's record as a manager. He took Donegal to the county's only All-Ireland and ran a representative team, Ulster, with spectacular success in the Railway Cup over 20 years. Nonetheless, his credentials for the international sphere remain to be franked.
No one could fail to be sympathetic to his problems last year. With all the Galway and Kerry players focused on the All-Ireland until the eve of the first test, the fittest and most in-form players in the country were effectively unavailable. Now, with a second year under his belt and virtually his full choice of players, McEniff will be judged on his merits.
Among the improvements is the greater availability of John O'Keeffe. The Kerry coach is the link with the previous management team. Last year he was largely unable to assist in preparations because of All-Ireland commitments. This time he has had an additional month to get involved with McEniff and Paddy Clarke, the other selector.
Another positive is that Australia have a new manager. Nonetheless, Garry Lyon played in the 1990 series, is well regarded as a football strategist and captained the Melbourne Demons for seven years. He will be assisted by an experienced match committee as his panel gather tomorrow in Melbourne to start their training camp for the series.
The team will again be captained by James Hird of Essendon. Hird's predecessor, Collingwood's Nathan Buckley, once again will be absent because of injury. Although he wasn't particularly missed last year, Buckley's facility with the round ball is something that the Irish will be glad not to have to face.
Another notable absentee is Jason Akermanis, who is suspended for this year's series after his tangle with Peter Canavan 12 months ago.
Despite the reputation his crazed antics earned him in Ireland, Akermanis is a highly regarded footballer in Australia and won this year's Brownlow Medal, with its official citation of "Best and Fairest". He will be a loss to the home side, but will have other things on his mind: he is to be married on the day of the first test.
Ireland's selection contained some surprises. With the exception of former captains Trevor Giles and John McDermott and their Meath colleague Ollie Murphy, there was a full pick available to the Irish management. The two omissions that have caused most comment are those of Evan Kelly and Anthony Lynch. Kelly is fast and physically resilient with great stamina and an accurate boot - in other words, made for the international game. The same could be said of Lynch.
Mobile, quick and intelligent, it's hard to believe that he wouldn't have improved the defence.
An overall impression is that the panel is a bit short on pace, which is such a vital ingredient of the international game.
A further impression is that the panel contains more gifted individuals than team players. But the remedy for that is in the management's hands. A hectic fortnight beckons.
The Squads
Ireland
Cormac Sullivan (Meath), Graham Canty (Cork), Coman Goggins (Dublin), Darren Fay (Meath), Ciarβn Whelan (Dublin), Sean Martin Lockhart (Derry), Eamon O'Hara (Sligo), Ciaran McManus (Offaly), Kieran McGeeney (Armagh), Francie Grehan (Roscommon), Seβn ╙g de Paor (Galway), Anthony Rainbow (Kildare), Seamus Moynihan (Kerry), Anthony Tohill (Derry), Cormac McAnallen (Tyrone), Dara O'SΘ (Kerry), Graham Geraghty (Meath), Padraig Joyce (Galway), Niall Buckley (Kildare), Tadgh Kennelly (Sydney Swans & Kerry), Micheal Donnellan (Galway), Brendan Ger O'Sullivan (Cork), Mike Frank Russell (Kerry), Dermot Earley (Kildare), Dermot McCabe (Cavan), Johnny Crowley (Kerry), Brendan Devenney (Donegal).
Stand-By Panel: Declan O'Keefe (Kerry), Anthony Lynch (Cork), Finbar Cullen (Offaly), Owen Sexton (Cork), Paul Mc Grane (Armagh), Des Dolan (Westmeath), Evan Kelly (Meath), Jarlath Fallon (Galway).
Australia
Simon Black (Brisbane Lions), Joel Bowden (Richmond), Craig Bradley (Carlton), Blake Caracella (Essendon), Daniel Chick (Hawthorn), Josh Francou (Port Adelaide), Darren Gaspar (Richmond), Adam Goodes (Sydney), Simon Goodwin (Adelaide), Damien Hardwick (Essendon), Brent Harvey (Kangaroos), Jonathan Hay (Hawthorn), Jason Johnson (Essendon), David King (Kangaroos), Matthew Lappin (Carlton), Nigel Lappin (Brisbane Lions), Matthew Lloyd (Essendon), Andrew McLeod (Adelaide), Stuart Maxfield (Sydney), Matthew Nicks (Sydney), Brad Ottens (Richmond), Adam Ramanauskas (Essendon), Joel Smith (Hawthorn), Nick Stevens (Port Adelaide), Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide), Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions), Darryl White (Brisbane Lions).
