Would you be embarrassed losing to a bunch of amateurs?
If the tough talk of the travelling Irish media is anything to go by, Australia’s star-studded squad will face one hell of a fight in Saturday night’s International Rules clash in Perth.
Ireland enter the one-off Test with recent history on their side after thrashing Australia in the past two series.
Last year in Ireland, an all-Indigenous Australian outfit were mauled 173-43 across the two games, with the lop-sided result placing the future of the International Rules in jeopardy.
In a bid to add relevance to the concept, Australia have selected only past or present All-Australians this year.
Luke Hodge, Joel Selwood, Nic Naitanui, Patrick Dangerfield, Nick Riewoldt, Sam Mitchell and Travis Boak are just some of the talent on offer in an Australian side oozing with big names.
In contrast, Ireland’s squad of Gaelic players is made up of amateurs, with AFL star Pearce Hanley the exception.
Mercurial Geelong midfielder Steve Johnson, Port Adelaide gem Robbie Gray and Essendon’s Brendon Goddard were grilled by the visiting Irish media on Wednesday, with Goddard taking umbrage when asked if it would be embarrassing losing to amateurs who worked day jobs.
“Yeah, you can classify yourself as amateurs, but we see you guys as pros and experts in your field,” Goddard said.
“You’re elite at the game of Gaelic.
“They’re experts in their sport and you have the advantage of kicking a round ball, which is quite difficult to us.”
Gray, who took part in the losing 2011 series, was asked whether it was more embarrassing than disappointing to lose those games on home soil.
“Yeah it definitely was,” Gray said.
“We had the opportunity to represent our country, and it was a very disappointing result over the two matches.
“We’re looking to make amends this year and looking to get a good result on Saturday.”
Johnson was then grilled about the pressure to win given several rule changes have been made this year to give Australia more of a chance.
“I think the pressure for us is we want to come out here and rejuvenate this series,” Johnson said.
“Last year was really disappointing from Australia’s point of view. We see it as a great opportunity to represent our country and we want to come out and put on a good effort.”
Goddard said it was good that Dustin Fletcher and Jobe Watson had been cleared to play despite the infraction notices hanging above 34 past and present Essendon players.
“We’ve been joking around that Fletch is about to play his 100th International Rules game,” Goddard said.
“He’s a guy that started playing the game a long time ago and is still laying the foundations and having an impact on the International Rules game itself.”
RULE CHANGES FOR THIS YEAR’S INTERNATIONAL RULES SERIES
*Goalkeepers required to kick out over the 45m line after every over, behind and wide.
*The number of consecutive handballs teams are allowed will be increased from four to six.
*Interchange rotations will be increased from 10 to 15 a quarter
*A mark will no longer be paid from a backwards kick.
bryan
Guest
The " Ämateur-v- Professional " argument is quite specious. Many of the greats of the Australian game came from a time when WANFL & SANFL players were effectively "part-timers". A few,(probably more particularly in the VFL) were "shamateurs",who worked for sports shops.etc. They had superb skills,& athleticism,as do the Gaelic footballers I have seen on games shown on SBS. By the way,we won! That must upset all the "code war warriors"-----they will have to go back to the "Football" tab & whine about something else!
TheBird
Guest
The game is actually an embarrassment by it self.
Mal
Guest
The AFL should be embarrassed every time the part timers beat the full time professionals - it's laughable. I saw the two captains on TV today - the Irish bloke had stick legs with a fat gut - fancy getting beat by his like.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
That's the simple truth of the matter Cameron. It's 70% Gaelic Football orientated. Change the ball to the Australian one & the Irish would be humiliated no question whatsoever.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
“embarrassed about losing to the amateurs” and the Irish Media wonder why we don't take it seriously.
Cameron
Guest
The talk of being "embarrassed about losing to the amateurs" is misguided. IR really does resemble Gaelic a lot more than Australian rules, from the pitch, the goals, the ball, the lack of physicality, it really is biased heavily towards the Irish. The Irish that are coming over are elite at Gaelic football, the Aussies are not. As for this year's rule changes, well, this just proves my point.