Aussie boss admits to round-ball struggle

THE lack of familiarity with the round ball continues to dog Australian attempts to achieve greater success from the International Rules series, home manager Gary Lyon admitted yesterday.

"You can't emphasise enough how tough it is for blokes who have never played this game. They are on a steep learning curve," he said after a warm-up game with a Western Australian selection made up of Perth-based Rules and Gaelic footballers.

Lyon felt that while his team looked 'pretty ordinary' in the first two quarters, they showed an improvement in the second half. Sensing that the Irish management would be at the game which they were the Australian players mixed their (named) jerseys to conceal their identities.