Irish vice-captain Ciaran McKeever in action against Derry in the Ulster SFC semi-final in June. He's hoping Irish support will form a big contingent for tonight's IRS test at Etihad stadium. (Pic: File)
Irish vice-captain Ciaran McKeever has said he is expecting big Irish support at Etihad stadium for Ireland’s first International Rules test against Australia.
“The way things have been back home (with the economy) we’re expecting a big following of Irish supporters here on Friday night,” McKeever said.
The Armagh man said the chance to play in the series is an opportunity he’s relishing.
“It’s totally different, you’re in the dressing room with a crowd of boys you’ve played against all year from different counties, you know, you get a chance to represent your country and go outside and stand for that national anthem it’s something big and something really looking forward to.”
Ireland completed their last training session ahead of the International Rules first test in Melbourne at Etihad stadium with the roof open last night. But when the siren goes tonight, the roof will be shut with possible showers expected — a part of the game that Irish manager Anthony Tohill would love changed.
“Obviously we would rather if the roof was open and it was howling a gale and pissing out of the heavens but you guys have taken those two variables out of the game,” Tohill laughed.
“But it’s a great place to play. It’s great for us to get to play in a closed arena and a wonderful place for us to play football.”
While the Australians have home advantage, Tohill said he is hoping that the use of the round ball, which grants a huge advantage to the tour party, can be used more efficiently in the 2011 installment.
“It’s got to be the round ball you know but that hasn’t been evident in the last few series. At times last year, you’d have thought it was the Australians who were playing with the round ball or were used to playing with it. The big thing for us is that we should be able to kick it better. We should be able to score better with it but our players are not used to being put under the pressure they’re put under when they’re disposing of the ball.”
It’s that pressure, or the full bodied tackle that Irish vice-captain Ciaran McKeever identified as being the most difficult challenge to overcome as the side attempt to also improve their stats in front of goals.
“Just going on the last series I think that in front of nets we let ourselves down,” McKeever said.
“At the end of the day everyone knows we play with a round football but we never got as many overs as we would have liked. There were behinds but I think it was just a case that boys weren’t used to the tackle where the Australians can come in and wrap us where as in our game you have to stand off and tackle and try and disposess the ball so hopefully we’ve done our homework on that now on boys getting wrapped as they’re ready to shoot.”
Australian coach Rodney Eade rejected the notion that the Australians have a huge advantage because they are professional players.
“I think people talk about professional and amateurs mainly because one group gets paid and one group doesn’t but if you have a look at the Irish, they’re elite sports people. They’re playing at the top of the ladder in their country so they’re the best in the country so because they don’t get paid doesn’t mean they’re not professional in their attitude and the way they go about it so I think we probably have too big a gap in what professional and amateur really means.”
Tohill said that the internet had been a big part of his research on what is a relatively low profile Australian squad compared to other series.
“I never thought YouTube would be as useful as it has been over the last few weeks. The world is a very small place now and you can find out a lot about Australian players now and we probably know more now than we would have in previous tours.”
While the Irish manager referred to the staggered arrival of the squad and the unavailability of players for training due to club commitments as a “soap opera”, he said he is satisfied at the squad he now has at his disposal.
“I think we’ve got a good squad. We’ve got a good mix of young boys and experienced players … we’ve got a nice blend of guys with AFL experience as well. Four of the squad are based in the AFL so we feel we’ve got a good combination of players and we’re happy with the players we have.
The way this game has gone, you have to try and pick players that you think are able and suited to playing the game. You need to be exceptionally fit, that’s the fundamental criteria. The way this game has gone, it’s played at a higher pace than GAA or AFL so if you can’t run you’re in trouble … we hope that we’ve got a squad that we think is capable of winning the series and I’m sure Rodney feels the same about the squad he’s put together.”
FOLLOW THE ACTION: We’ll be live-blogging the first test tonight from 19:45 AEST here on www.irishecho.com.au.
