Boozy Aussies read riot act

The Australians’ attitude towards the International Rules series has again come under the spotlight with reports some of their players caused early morning disturbances in the team hotel in Clare.

Fresh from their 22-point first test defeat in Cavan on Saturday, Indigenous All Stars manager Michael O’Loughlin and AFL officials were forced to sit down squad members after a disruptive drinking session ran into the early hours of yesterday morning in Dromoland Castle.

Australian media claim hotel staff had to ask that music coming from a player’s room where a number of them had congregated be turned down on a couple of occasions after 5am. It was also suggested in reports that property was damaged.

The partying had begun the previous evening when the players headed into Limerick city to a nightclub. The squad had earlier arrived at Dromoland from Cavan.

The entire squad were summoned to a meeting with O’Loughlin and AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan, the organisation’s chief official on the trip, and operations manager Mark Evans after breakfast.

There the players were reminded of their responsibilities and ordered to focus on the second and final test in Croke Park this Saturday.

A voluntary training session yesterday afternoon was made compulsory for the entire group. Other than that, there was no reprimands for the players, unlike 2006 when Brendan Fevola was sent home in disgrace following a nightclub incident after the first test in Galway.

Both the AFL and the hotel yesterday played down the significance of the incident. Management had permitted players the two nights to relax but told them at yesterday morning’s meeting that liberties had been taken.

O’Loughlin said: “I’ve been on Australian tours when there has been a lot more (socialising) than we’ve done. You try and get the group together as quickly as possible and get them into those bonding sessions and what not but it’s been far from a holiday.”

The incident is a particularly untimely one ahead of talks between the GAA and AFL about the future of the International Rules series.

MacLachlan will meet GAA director general Páraic Duffy and president Liam O’Neill tomorrow to discuss a number of matters.

The visitors travel to Dublin today hoping to bridge a virtually unassailable deficit next Saturday.

O’Loughlin yesterday claimed only six of his players won their individual battles in Kingspan Breffni Park and admitted they were deceived by the ease of their victory in a practice match over a novice Dublin colleges team last week.

“They might have got a false sense of what the game is about,” he said. “We played against a university team and played pretty well and I think the guys were thinking it was going to be that easy.

“I don’t want to take the focus away from the Irish. I thought they were sensational but equally we were pretty terrible in some of our areas. As a coach and to talk about those things leading up to the game and not deliver, it’s not acceptable.”

O’Loughlin is promising “a completely different team” in attitude will take to the field in four days’ time and said some of his players should be embarrassed by their display in Cavan while his forwards were “fairly lazy at times” and midfield “unaccountable at times”.

“There are some players who would be really, really disappointed (with their performances).

“I don’t want to go as far as saying ashamed of their efforts but they would want to look at the video individually and assess themselves because they’d be pretty flat with themselves.”

O’Loughlin said they will give father-to-be Paddy Ryder until tomorrow to make himself available to fly to Ireland and replace Lance Franklin, who has returned to Australia for a friend’s wedding.

“If we get him, fantastic. We think he can offer a lot and that’s why we’re prepared to wait. If not, again it’ll fall back on some of these guys.

“There’s been a lot questioned about why we didn’t bring more players but with the inter-change being (limited to) 10 changes (per quarter) it’s hard to get blokes on.

“It’s a fantastic challenge for this group and it’s a test of character. I get to find out about them and they get to find out about each other.

“Make no mistake, it’s (the first test defeat) been addressed and as a coach I guess the buck stops with me. But our preparation in terms of what the coaches want from the players has been rock solid so we’re looking forward to the weekend.”