Sean Boylan has admitted that his Ireland International Rules team face a tall order in Friday's first Test at Perth. The Dunboyne man has decided not to hold a practice match ahead of the game, despite the availability of players from a number of local AFL clubs. "We did consider it but when we saw the way things were there was no point in doing it," he said. "The one thing you'd want to do in a practice match is hold something for yourselves. There's no point in leaving it all in the practice game. That's the way it is and you just have to make the most of it. "What I'm saying is if you've only 22 players there (the other six, including team captain Sean Cavanagh, only arrived this morning) you don't want to do things like that because remember how long we've flown and you don't want to burn the energy out of the lads." The Ireland manager admitted that his players, who trained in Fremantle yesterday in temperatures of 35 degrees, were having difficulty adjusting to the new rule which restricts the number of hand passes to four. "It was amazing the number of times fellas were getting caught because you know the way it is at home with taking so many steps and some fellas get away with it. "In our last session, half a dozen times we got caught with it - Pat McEnaney (Ireland referee for the series) was very strict with it. "I think once you get out there in the heat of battle you'll do it right. It's the best you can hope because the practice sessions are to correct the things you're doing wrong." Tweet

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