Ireland v Australia, Rules Test 1, Breffni Park, Saturday 19 October 2013

[nrico2006]

I'm tired of listening to people defending this charade as if to criticise it is an imprisionable offence.

Nonsense, nobody has a problem with criticism of IR the issue is some posters are coming on here and making the same points, some of which are quite daft, over and over again. If a soccer supporter was doing the same about football or hurling your call them a WUM and say we should ignore them.

While some of your points are valid others are weak and if yhe best players continue to make themselves available and crowds are still good then I see no point in abandoning it. More to the point I fail to see why you and others get your knickers in a twist over it. It's two games and is successful in many ways.

But the best players aren't making themselves available so your point is redundant on that Zulu.

I know of three other Dublin players who wwill win all-stars this year who also turned it down because they couldn't be bothered with it.

If the All-Australian team and our best Gaelic Footballers don't want to play in it- why bother?

No matter what, the team that played on Saturday is not representative of the 15 best footballers in Ireland.  You had Paddy O' Rourke, Colm Begley, Ciarán Byrne, Paul Conroy, Chrissy McKaigue and Zach Tuohy starting with the like of Ciarán McKeever and Ciaran Kilkenny lucky enough to get a spot.  There are lots of top county players who would be better than these fellas yet they are not involved for whatever reasons.

In your opinion.., Begley has played AFL and played plenty of times in the past for Ireland. Zach Tuohy plays AFL with Carlton and was Ireland best player  in the first test, what games were you watching. O Rourke is one of the top keepers in the country and has a great presence. Because he doesn't take 45's like Morgan from Tyrone he's not a top Keeper?
McKeeverr has plenty of IR experience and more then likely why he was picked, Byrne recently signed a 2 year deal with Carlton to play AFL from next season.

You were raving about Ciaran Kilkenny on the All Stars thread at one stage and now you are saying he isn't a top player, Gas

Never raved about Kilkenny at all.  My point is that there are better players available than Tuohy, Byrne, Conroy, McKaigue, Begley and O'Rourke.  None of them would be the best players available in the position they played during the international rules.  Why should signing a 2 year deal with Carlton or any Aussie rules team suddenly make you an ideal candidate to play for Ireland?

I remember you said he should be nailed on for centre forward or something along those lines ahead of Cooper
Those players are picked because they are suited for the game and have experience playing IR. Tuohy was Irelands best player in Breffni Park. Conroy is a quality footballer, maybe not in your eyes.

Byrne gave a master class against Kildare in Newbridge in the qualifiers, maybe that's what the selectors liked

Never said anything regarding Kilkenny getting an all star, if I did it was probably along the lines that I didn;t think he should get one.  Fair enough if Byrne played a decent game in the qualifiers, in my view his selection is more to do with him going to play Aussie rules more than anything else.  All the players I have mentioned are good footballers, the point I am trying to get across is that they would not be the best players in the position they played and the team fielded by Ireland wasn't the strongest team they could have put out. 

[rodney trotter]

As I said, they picked players who had experience of the game. Begley has always been good for Ireland as has Zac Tuohy.
Michael Murphy,  Aidan O Shea, McCaffrey, Flynn, Boyle, Keegan, McGee, Johnny Doyle, Ciaran McManus, are all top players.
Because a few from lesser counties are involved doesn't mean anything. Some players had other commitments and couldn't commit, like Cooper and Darren O Sullivan...

[BennyCake]

As I said, they picked players who had experience of the game. Begley has always been good for Ireland as has Zac Tuohy.
Michael Murphy,  Aidan O Shea, McCaffrey, Flynn, Boyle, Keegan, McGee, Johnny Doyle, Ciaran McManus, are all top players.
Because a few from lesser counties are involved doesn't mean anything. Some players had other commitments and couldn't commit, like Cooper and Darren O Sullivan...

Would Cooper have really played? I can only remember him lining out once or twice for Ireland and the last time was about 8 or 9 years ago.

[rodney trotter]

Yeah he  played before, but turned it down after the all the physical stuff, might have been in 06,,he was considering playing this year and spoke to Early about it according to Newspaper articles, but had to turn it down due to the Club commitements.

[Hound]

If the concept worked, it would be easier to defend. As it is, the balance is never right (and all the complaints from the Irish side about Australian thuggery has affected this). It is now a neutered game, which is all it can ever be given we have removed any possible advantage the Aussies may have had in this code.

Only the Aussies coming back will save it - but why would they show the interest in it? One way would be to go with the Oval ball in Oz and the O'Neills in Ireland - the touring side can go out for maybe a little longer, play more warm-up games against feeder or senior clubs, and maybe make it more like a Lions tour (given the difference in rules interpretations between Southern and Northern hemisphere rugby, I think it is an apt analogy). Maintain the strictness of the discipline and really emphasize the skill aspects. We expect the Aussies to adapt every year - why don't we?

I think for pure curiousity value, a lot would watch just to see how the Irish lads would fare. Maybe the first couple of away trips would be massacres - but I honestly think the fitness gap is very small now, and regular picks on the international team would get used to it.

While its true in the past that the Aussies have coped with the round ball and beaten us, I agree that now the fitness gap is very small and I think we'd beat the best of the Aussies now in the current format. But they'd beat us well with the oval ball. I'd like to see both balls used, but rather than having a competition of who'd win by the most with their own ball, I'd switch the balls during the game! Any time the Aussies get a score or kick a wide, the Irish keeper would restart the game with the round ball (and anytime the Irish kick a score or hit a wide, the Aussie keeper would restart it with the oval ball). Then they'd stick with that ball until the next score/wide. I think that'd be better to watch anyway!

[nrico2006]

If the concept worked, it would be easier to defend. As it is, the balance is never right (and all the complaints from the Irish side about Australian thuggery has affected this). It is now a neutered game, which is all it can ever be given we have removed any possible advantage the Aussies may have had in this code.

Only the Aussies coming back will save it - but why would they show the interest in it? One way would be to go with the Oval ball in Oz and the O'Neills in Ireland - the touring side can go out for maybe a little longer, play more warm-up games against feeder or senior clubs, and maybe make it more like a Lions tour (given the difference in rules interpretations between Southern and Northern hemisphere rugby, I think it is an apt analogy). Maintain the strictness of the discipline and really emphasize the skill aspects. We expect the Aussies to adapt every year - why don't we?

I think for pure curiousity value, a lot would watch just to see how the Irish lads would fare. Maybe the first couple of away trips would be massacres - but I honestly think the fitness gap is very small now, and regular picks on the international team would get used to it.

While its true in the past that the Aussies have coped with the round ball and beaten us, I agree that now the fitness gap is very small and I think we'd beat the best of the Aussies now in the current format. But they'd beat us well with the oval ball. I'd like to see both balls used, but rather than having a competition of who'd win by the most with their own ball, I'd switch the balls during the game! Any time the Aussies get a score or kick a wide, the Irish keeper would restart the game with the round ball (and anytime the Irish kick a score or hit a wide, the Aussie keeper would restart it with the oval ball). Then they'd stick with that ball until the next score/wide. I think that'd be better to watch anyway!

Definitely think that the way forward is through the introduction of the aussie ball, how that is done is another thing.  Don't think the changing of the ball after a score or wide would work because it wouldn't be an equal balance, maybe just do it simply by playing the first two quarters with one ball and the other two with the alternative ball.  There are two huge factors which influence these games, the shape of the ball and the tackle.  Most Irish players get caught in the tackle and do not make the tackle as its second nature to approach each play as they would in Gaelic football, therefore its not in their instinct to drag a man down (cue the comedians) or to prepare to avoid a rugby tackle.  Our players attempt to shadow or dispossess their australian opponent when they don't have the ball and try to side step or run around the opposition when they have the ball.  However, I think that advantage which Australia have is nowhere nearly as significant as the one which Ireland have in the ball shape.  It makes it look very unfair when you see an Aussie player twenty yards from goal and hitting the corner flag.   

[Jinxy]

If the concept worked, it would be easier to defend. As it is, the balance is never right (and all the complaints from the Irish side about Australian thuggery has affected this). It is now a neutered game, which is all it can ever be given we have removed any possible advantage the Aussies may have had in this code.

Only the Aussies coming back will save it - but why would they show the interest in it? One way would be to go with the Oval ball in Oz and the O'Neills in Ireland - the touring side can go out for maybe a little longer, play more warm-up games against feeder or senior clubs, and maybe make it more like a Lions tour (given the difference in rules interpretations between Southern and Northern hemisphere rugby, I think it is an apt analogy). Maintain the strictness of the discipline and really emphasize the skill aspects. We expect the Aussies to adapt every year - why don't we?

I think for pure curiousity value, a lot would watch just to see how the Irish lads would fare. Maybe the first couple of away trips would be massacres - but I honestly think the fitness gap is very small now, and regular picks on the international team would get used to it.

While its true in the past that the Aussies have coped with the round ball and beaten us, I agree that now the fitness gap is very small and I think we'd beat the best of the Aussies now in the current format. But they'd beat us well with the oval ball. I'd like to see both balls used, but rather than having a competition of who'd win by the most with their own ball, I'd switch the balls during the game! Any time the Aussies get a score or kick a wide, the Irish keeper would restart the game with the round ball (and anytime the Irish kick a score or hit a wide, the Aussie keeper would restart it with the oval ball). Then they'd stick with that ball until the next score/wide. I think that'd be better to watch anyway!

[Hardy]

It wouldn't be any more farcical than some of the swapping that's been done before. Jim Stynes used to seem to decide from year to year whether he'd be playing for/coaching Ireland or Australia. Now Kennelly has switched sides after years of proclaiming how much it meant to him to play for Ireland. It's just another little incremental annoyance that this farce causes. It taints Gaelic Football and GAA people by association with this kind of Robbie Keanish "it's always been my dream to play for <insert latest employer>".

And I still don't get the purpose of selecting a race-based team to represent a nation. It seems a little ideologically dodgy in this day and age. What if we were to limit selection for the Irish team to white players for the next series on a similar apparently arbitrary basis? That wouldn't be acceptable, so how is the Australian race restriction on selection acceptable?

[Jinxy]

Or a team of red lads.

[Rossfan]

Maybe we could restrict the team to Oz to Meath bucks and send Jinxy and Hardy on a one way ticket along with them.

[Jinxy]

Bring back the dog.

[From the Bunker]

Or a team of red lads.

or a team of Baldies!

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Aussie ball is a must the only downside is you would probably then have to bin the keepers and goals - suddenly the big advantage to GAA swings back to the Aussies but worth a try

[Jinxy]

Just give it up lads.

[ONeill]

FFS if the players like doing it, let them play it. You don't have to watch it.