INTERNATIONAL RULES TEST MATCH:SATURDAY'S FIRST Test defeat by Australia is indicative of how Gaelic football is evolving away from the international game, according to Pat Daly, the GAA's director of games. Commenting on the match in Limerick, in which the visitors frequently demonstrated greater acumen with the round ball, Daly said the primacy of football's core skills have been eroded in recent years.

“Kicking is playing a much reduced role in Gaelic football the way it has evolved in recent years. The game should have two outstanding characteristics,catching and kicking, which shouldn’t be compromised. They should be rewarded.

“Instead we permit unlimited hand-passing which undermines the need to kick and have recently refused to accept a modified version of the mark, which would reward those players who practise the skill of fielding, which is one of the great aspects of our game.

“I’m afraid we’re gravitating towards an overly running game, which encourages players to slow down the play with keep ball and try to engineer frees. There are too few restrictions on possession. In hurling you can’t take the ball in hand twice. If there was unrestricted possession it would affect the way the game is played.”

The ability to string hand-passes together is restricted in the international game, ostensibly to challenge the Australians, but the requirement to kick the ball after four hand-passes appeared at times on Saturday to cause as much discomfort to the home side.

The clear definition of a tackle in the internationals means players can’t run into contact hoping for a free. It’s more akin to the concept in the AFL – well-known here from rugby – of “use it or lose it”. The ball has to be kept alive.

Otherwise the problem for Ireland, intensified by the home team having just a couple of days to absorb and address the difficulties of the first Test, is to prepare players to execute their skills in pressure situations.

“The big challenge is to make decisions under pressure,” said Daly.

“Often technical proficiency breaks down in those situations. Australia perform the basic skills of the game at speed and are getting better at kicking; they’re particularly proficient at kicking “overs”. Ireland tend to struggle without a few six-pointers in a game.”

It has been noted the AFL game has adapted aspects of Gaelic football down the years but Daly feels the process of cross-pollination of ideas has been one-way.

“They have adapted very well. We’ve been slower – for instance the fisted, torpedo-style AFL pass is quicker and more direct than ours but we haven’t absorbed it into our own game.”

The only technical issue arising from the first Test concerned an incident at the end when Donegal’s Michael Murphy effectively fouled the ball when taking a free.

In the international game both marks and frees have to be taken behind the spot where they are awarded and the player on the ball must kick through the mark from directly behind. A certain amount of latitude is allowed for players to approach the spot in an arc but having been instructed how to approach the kick, Murphy suddenly switched direction and kicked with his left foot.

The ball flew well wide of the outer posts so no question of disallowing a score arose but the match official, the AFL’s Brett Rosebury, was uncertain of the correct course of action, as he had assumed Murphy was going to kick the free correctly on his approach.

The prescribed reaction would be a “play on”, allowing the defending player tackle the kicker as soon as he switched direction.

The Gaelic Players Association has announced details of a joint scheme with the AFL to assist Irish players in Australian rules football. Both associations aim to:

• Develop a transition programme for Irish players in the AFL.
• Improve understanding of the needs of Irish players in the AFL;
• Share information on the needs of elite athletes and the creation of player development programmes.