Aussies wary of Irish threat

AUSTRALIAN defender Paul Duffield believes Ireland will attempt to pick up at Croke Park from where they left off in Limerick.

Anthony Tohill’s Ireland rescued their chance to retain the International Rules title – and equally importantly, their pride – with a late 11 point haul at the Gaelic Grounds.

The belated run of scores began with a stunning goal from Bernard Brogan which proved, albeit with just minutes to go, that Australia’s miserly defence can be breached.

Down play-maker Benny Coulter will be drafted into that forward line for Saturday’s decisive second test and Duffield predicts a much improved Ireland performance.

Crucially, he believes they’ll (Ireland) be more attack minded and that he and his defensive colleagues will be subjected to much more of the sort of running that led to Brogan’s goal.

“I think so,” said Duffield after a 90 minute training session at Croke Park last night. “I was chasing him (Brogan) down and I don’t think I made a yard on him. He was a bit quick for me. We’ll obviously expect more of that.

“I know that style is obviously a strength of the Irish game and we’ll be expecting more scores from them this week.”

The common consensus among Irish supporters is that the hosts simply can’t play any worse than they did overall in Limerick.

However, it’s also a tradition of the series that Australian teams improve most between the first and second tests as they get to grips with the round ball.

“Even just training out here tonight helped,” continued Duffield “The (Croke Park) pitch was a bit slippier and that showed up in our training so we got a few different aspects to work on.

“We’ll look forward to another run out here later in the week and, again, kicking the round ball will be something we’ve got to keep working on.

“I think if we can continue to improve in that area it’ll go a long way for us to win the test.”

Aussie captain Adam Goodes, the star of the first test, took a full part in last night’s session and was noticeably adept with his long range kicking, nailing some curling beauties into the Canal End goals.

Coach Mick Malthouse finished up with a full scale game and a sense of quiet confidence oozed from the group who, in truth, should hold a greater aggregate advantage than seven points.

“We won’t take it (the advantage) into account at all,” claimed Duffield. “It’s not something that we’re used to so we’ll play each game on its merits and consider it 0-0 again on Saturday.

“Certainly that (the seven points) is an advantage for us late in the game but it’s something that we won’t be thinking about from the very start.

“We’re just going out to do our best and to win this next test.”

Duffield, a rookie in the hybrid game, didn’t play in the 2008 series while the infamous second test in 2006 was the last time Croke Park hosted an International Rules tie.

It was memorable for all the wrong reasons as both sets of players engaged in running brawls with Ireland’s Graham Geraghty concussed by a fierce Danyle Pearce tackle.

Duffield admitted that Australia did do some things in the past ‘we were not proud of’ though even Irish commentators have admitted since the Limerick test that the game has now gone too far the other way.

“I’m not sure about that,” retorted Duffield. “It certainly was fast out there and the Irish moved really, really well. It was tough in defence but we worked well and we’ve come together quickly as a unit which helped us defending as a team.”