"Outside of winning an All-Ireland, this is the bigest honour you can get in Gaelic Football," says Tohill.

Anthony Tohill doesn’t mince his words. Nor does he rush to any rash decisions, it would seem.

The former All-Ireland winning Derry star and current Ireland manager still hasn’t finalised his squad of 23 for the International Rules series, but after two staggered announcements last week, 23 names are on the team sheet, but even those are far from set in stone.

Five current or former AFL players have made his squad, but two, or perhaps even three more, may be on the plane come Friday.

Sydney’s Tadhg Kennelly and Brisbane’s Pearse Hanley will meet up with the squad when they land in Melbourne this weekend, while Laois’s Colm Begley (formerly of Brisbane and St Kilda), Carlow’s Brendan Murphy (former Sydney Swan) and Carlton’s Zach Tuohy were added to his initial list of 18 at the weekend.

New Swans signing Tommy Walsh has taken the 23rd spot on the roster, but Sydney’s Chrissy McKaigue and Michael Quinn (Essendon and Longford) may still make the cut if captain Stephen Cluxton, Begley and Kerry’s Darran O’Sullivan decide to choose club over country.

All three are still involved with their respective clubs after wins last weekend.

It is far from an ideal situation for Tohill and his management team of Kieren McGeeney, Kevin O’Brien and Eoin Liston. But it is certainly not taking away from Tohill’s focus on a series he eyes with genuine hunger.

A huge supporter of the merits of the compromise game, he is deadly serious about this month’s renewal in Australia.

This will be no mere holiday for him, his management team, or the players he’s selected to bring along with him. Only those who have shown a genuine desire for pulling on the Irish jersey have made the cut.

His selection of Cluxton as captain, even though he may not now travel, is as informative as anything. Tohill chose the Dublin All-Ireland winner in the skipper’s role simply because of his unerring commitment to the Irish cause.

Within six days of winning the All-Ireland for the Dubs with the last kick of the final, Cluxton was the first man on the training ground in DCU.

It is a desire and commitment that befits everything Tohill brings to the table. And likely the main reason the Derry man chose not to opt for the retiring Tadhg Kennelly — whose last International Rules series this will most likely be — in the skipper’s role.

“Outside of winning an All-Ireland, this is the highest honour you can get in Gaelic football.

“That’s my opinion and that’s the opinion that would be shared by the management group and by a lot of the players,” Tohill said, of his attitude towards the task ahead.

“It’s a huge, huge thing to pull on your country’s jersey and to represent your country. That’s not to be underestimated. There are players who will get to do this who will never win an All-Ireland.

“OK, the series has had its knockers and will continue to have its knockers. We appreciate that it’s not Gaelic football but it’s the best we can do to give an international outlet to our players.”

Although the disciplinary problems that plagued the series in the early part of the last decade have largely been put to bed now, the issue is still there in the back of the minds of those involved.

“It’s always going to be there,” Tohill admits.

“And it has to be. Given what has happened, this series is always going to be on its last legs. If there is ever a return to the violence of the early part of the decade, never mind the ’80s when it was real violence, it’s all over. That sort of stuff is not acceptable.

“The series in 2008 was a wonderful series played in a sporting manner here.

“OK, the first Test was maybe a wee bit quiet but the second Test was a fantastic spectacle and played in the right spirit.

“If people want to see violence, go and watch something else, because we don’t need it in this game. This series and the concept is too precious to mess it up over someone stepping out of line.”

For Tohill, this will be his last involvement as manager. Winning is at the very top of the agenda, but he does believe his side will be very much up against it from an Australian side that have finally mastered their traditional Achilles heel – kicking the round ball.

“I know that after this tour is over that is my stint done. I’m gone, no matter what happens. The pressure is what I put myself under. We very much want to win.

“Being on tour has traditionally been an advantage but not always. You have to consider how far Australia have moved in terms of their application to the game so it’s a huge ask.

“We can’t control how they use the round ball. What we can control is how we use it – that we kick better. That’s what let us down last year, particularly in Limerick.

“Our kick-passing and our shooting – fellas would do it with their eyes closed in Croke Park in a GAA environment.”

The selection process has been trying. The star of the series the last time it was held in Oz, Wicklow’s Leighton Glynn, may be another absentee as he is pencilled in to play Leinster Intermediate Hurling Championship for his club Glenealy.

The Aussie-based Irish are certain to travel though, but there is one notable absentee. Marty Clarke, now back in the black and white of Collingwood after two seasons with Down, did not make himself available to Tohill.

The Irish boss says he had no set quota of AFL players in the squad, but was pleased with the keenness shown by Kennelly and Begley to be involved – established senior list AFL stars — and also by the desire of Tuohy, Walsh, Quinn and McKaigue to travel to Ireland for the training camp.

This is a commitment that could well see each one make the final squad.

The hunger, it seems, is there in abundance from all parties. And a humdinger of a series looks likely to be in store.

The Irish team will leave for Australia tomorrow, with the first Test against the Australians set for Melbourne on Friday, October 28, and the second Test a week later, November 4, at the Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast.

Ireland International Rules squad: Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Emmet Bolton (Kildare), Eoin Cadogan (Cork), Kieran Donaghy (Kerry), Leighton Glynn (Wicklow), Finian Hanley (Galway), Pearse Hanley (Mayo/Brisbane Lions), Darren Hughes (Monaghan), Tadgh Kennelly (Kerry/Sydney Swans), Steven McDonnell (Armagh), Kevin McKernan (Down), Joe McMahon (Tyrone), Neil McGee (Donegal), Michael Murphy (Donegal), Darran O’Sullivan (Kerry), Kevin Reilly (Meath), Aidan Walsh (Cork), Eamonn Calaghan (Kildare), Colm Begley (Laois and former St Kilda and Brisbane), Zach Tuohy (Laois and Carlton), Brendan Murphy (Carlow and former Sydney), Tommy Walsh (Kerry/Sydney Swans).