Begley fears Irish edge could kill hybrid game
The Laois captain and former Brisbane Lions and St Kilda player believes there is not enough support being given to the hybrid game in Australia.
A modest crowd of 22,921 witnessed the home side go down by 44 points in the Etihad Stadium, a defeat which compelled Australia coach Rodney Eade to suggest some of his players were “disgraceful” in their preparations for the game.
Begley, who also slammed the Irish critics of the game, intimated the series is under threat because of the host country.
“In some way I am a bit worried about it at this stage,” said Begley. “I’ve seen a few comments on Twitter and a few people writing things back home and on the radio and they always have something to say about it. Some Irish journalists are even putting it down saying it’s not really an Irish team and it’s not an Irish game.
“But for me, you ask (any) sports person if they want to play for their country in any sport and they’ll jump at the chance. It could be table tennis and I’d put on an Irish jersey. We have an opportunity to play with some of the best players from our country against professionals. I don’t care what you say — that’s an unbelievable experience.
“We’ve lads out here and they’ve burst their b***s for the whole thing. If the critics saw the huddle in the game after the first or third quarters or the dressing room at half-time and saw the passion in lads’ faces then they’d believe it.”
With this year’s series all but over after Ireland’s crushing victory in Melbourne, there are also fears a smarting Australia side may resort to over-aggressive tactics in the Metricon Stadium this Friday. Eade, who also described the skill disparity between the sides on Friday as “Grand Canyon-like”, is promising a hard-hitting reaction.
Granting Australian journalists access to his post-match address to his players, he told his charges: “We’ve got to bounce back from that. We’re going to take the gloves off. You just don’t accept it. We need to be aggressive and I’ll take responsibility for that. We don’t want to be punching, but we’re playing aggressively.”
Begley is not worried about the possibility of a response similar to those last seen in the infamous 2005 and ‘06 series.
“I’m not concerned. If I didn’t hear that from the coach or the players I’d be kind of disappointed or shocked. I’m expecting them to come out and give us every bit of it.
“I think it will be a lot tougher and it will be hard-hitting. They’ll try and bully us a small bit, up their tackling.”
Begley’s fellow Laois man and Carlton player Zach Tuohy believes the second test will feature a lot more needle.
“I have played with some of them, played against most of them, and they’ll come out swinging.”
Eade was scathing in his criticism of his players: “I reckon a few blokes here aren’t fit enough. If you’re going to play for Australia, it’s all nice to think about taking the jumper (jersey), tucking it away and saying to the grandkids: ‘I played for Australia’.
“But if you turn up and you’re not in good enough shape and you can’t run, it’s disgraceful. Disgraceful.
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