Rival bosses keen on clean contest

AUSTRALIAN manager Kevin Sheedy shares the philosophy of Pete McGrath that there should be no thuggery in the International Rules Series.

But ahead of this morning's (10.45am) second test in the Telstra Dome, Sheedy made it known that he didn't think the player who injured Irish defender Tom Kelly in a high tackle should have made a public apology.

It was "an accident", Sheedy said, explaining that player had been following through in a tackle allowed in Australian football.

Asked how he would react to any of the Irish players "putting the boot in", the charismatic Sheedy inferred that if they wished to "up" the physical stakes, they could do so. "You ought to try it some time on us. It would fill the grandstands,'' Sheedy quipped.

However, the Irish manager said he didn't think there was any chance of his team "accepting" that offer, adding: "I don't think Kevin was serious. I think the use of the foot or the elbow or the fist in this game would be unacceptable to either the Australians or our ourselves."

Sheedy agreed yesterday but explained that Aussie Rules players had been brought up to play in a certain way and it was very difficult for them "not to keep moving" through a tackle.

"That is the problem. Strong play and hard play is an area you have to consider in the rules, what you do or don't like and that sort of thing, because the game is still developing. (Russell) Robinson would not know that Tom Kelly is one of the great players on the Irish team.

"We've seen players in our game that actually knock their own team-mate over to get a ball like that. By the way, I would not have apologised. That's the deal. It was an accident. If he had gone through with an elbow (raised), then I would say that's not on."

Sheedy, who has gone out of his way to endorse the hybrid game, agrees that the second test will really bring out the best in both teams. Last week was "a bit of a practice run" he said, but "this is the game."

With Sheedy accepting that the Irish team weren't going to let his team play as well as they did in the first test and doubting very much that they could score repeat their score of 100 points McGrath stressed that unless his players improve their tackling they'll be "in serious trouble."

Admitting that the Irish management had no pre-determined blueprint to implement the inter-change policy, McGrath said they were satisfied they had found a system to facilitate its more effective use.

And McGrath denied that there was any question of the squad being overconfident, saying that weeks in advance they knew that Australia would play a "running, pacy, mobile game."

"We told our players that. We realised that was the nature of the challenge we faced,'' McGrath said.

"You had the Australians playing exceptionally well and our fellows had one of those nights when they were flat and just couldn't get going. I'm not so sure if people dropped their heads, but some people lost their way.

"Players, and management as well, were put on the back foot very early on. Kevin says he was surprised by the way his team played. We were surprised too. People were floundering from a very early stage in the game and the further it went on, it didn't get better. I don't think people quit, they were just being over-run.''

Asked if he felt the game was now tailor-made for the Australians in the way that their mastery of the round ball made up for their perceived disadvantage in using it, he replied that when Ireland won last year there was no problem with the rules.

"But when you take a bit of a pasting as we did last week then you tend to look at the rules more critically and from a different perspective. Our inability to tackle and the effectiveness of the Australian tackling were in sharp contrast last Friday night. The reality is that they are not going to change that rule for this game.

"In relation to the round ball and the kicking, we would have to concede that Australia's kicking was even superior to ours because uncharacteristically, we had 13 one-pointers which normally would have been ten or eleven three-pointers.

"So our kicking was below its normal standard and theirs was most certainly the best standard of kicking ever seen from an Australian side.''

Irish training this week had been carried out with a greater intensity, he said. Clearly Ireland need to play with a lot more urgency and pace to "compete meaningfully."

Sheedy agrees that Australia have an added incentive because of not having won any test in Melbourne so far.

To achieve this, they may need to play as well again.

* The game starts at 10.45am Irish time and will be covered live on RTE television and radio. The attendance in the Telstra Dome, where Ireland have never played, is expected to be around 35,000.