Earley: No need to tinker with rules to save series

Ireland’s International Rules manager Paul Earley insists there is no need to alter the playing rules to save the hybrid series.

The AFL have intimated some changes could entice the best Australian Rules players to make themselves available.

But Earley countered: “I think sometimes there are reactions to big defeats. Ireland were defeated by 100 points to 64 in 2005 by a very, very strong and very skilful Australian team.

“If Australia were to put their best team out they would be very close games so I don’t think there’s a necessity to tamper with the rules whatsoever.

“The whole basis of the series was about to put Ireland’s best against Australia’s best and have a very strong contest and when that has happened there has been some really competitive games in the past.

“I don’t think on the basis of one very one-sided series that you should tamper with the rules that much.”

Earley’s captain Michael Murphy stressed how the game had changed for the better in recent series . “It’s a highly skilled game. A number of years ago, the ratio between skill and between physicality in this game was mainly towards physicality whereas now I think it’s maybe pushed towards skill.”

Earley is open to the suggestion of the series being pushed back to November as it would suit Ireland. He maintains as long as the players in both countries want it, it should continue. “To me it’s very , very important that this continues. The Irish players want it and I think the Australian players want it. There are issues in terms of their availability and clubs and what not but you saw out there how much it meant to the players.”

Earley knows how fickle the perception of the series can be. “Irish teams had perhaps been criticised in the past and even in a couple of media interviews I was involved in a couple of weeks ago people were saying: ‘The Australians, in the last few series were even better kickers than our guys’.

“We wanted to make sure that we showed how good kickers we were. A lot of our players would have said to us they have never kicked in their development as young players and with inter-county teams you’re usually kicking to the space, kicking on the bounce, kicking to the man who’s in space.

“So we worked a lot on kicking to the mark, which is a harder thing to do because you have to have absolute perfection in that.”

Michael O’Loughlin is confident the damage caused by this series won’t impinge too much on the Australian public’s view of the hybrid game.

The Aussie boss said: “I think you take it to the places like Perth and Adelaide and things like that. I think the people there absolutely love it and I don’t think you’ll have any dramas, especially when you’ve got the best Irish team coming out. A big Irish following obviously in Australia so that was where it was at. The series should absolutely 100% go ahead regardless of what happened.”