Managers await ban decision

THE Irish and Australian team managers won’t know until Thursday night if any of their players will be banned from next Sunday’s second Test in Croke Park.

The Control Committee, comprising two Irish representatives and the AFL’s Andrew Demetriou won’t meet until tomorrow to consider the report from the referees and view a video of the game.

A player from either side, Australia’s David Nietz (for the tackle on Paul McGrane, which forced him off) and Ireland’s Evan Kelly, for a later incident, were both yellow-carded in the second quarter.

This involved being sin-binned for a 15-minute period. However, there is no provision in the rules for penalising players yellow-carded on a cumulative basis.

Within the GAA, the view would be that the key to preventing flare-ups is to target the players who actively become involved.

Ideally, the referee should be very strict in penalising such players, but it’s accepted that this is easier said than done.

The Control Committee is an ad-hoc body which comes together after the Test games.