Earley: warm-up game vital

November 15, 2014

Nicholas Walsh leads the Irish International Rules squad in a warm up before the start of training.
©INPHO/Cathal Noonan.

Ireland will fine-tune their preparations for the International Rules clash against Australia with a warm-up game against a Victorian Football League selection tomorrow.

The clash will give manager Paul Earley the opportunity to see how some of his newcomers adapt to the hybrid game.

"There's a lot of new players in the squad who have not played this game before competitively," he highlighted to The Examiner.

"It's all very fine tuning in the last number of weeks among ourselves but we need to play against Australian Rules players so that the players understand the instinct in the game sense of an Australian Rules player.

"It was invaluable to us last year when we played against a VFA amateur team in advance of the first test.

"The fact it's a one-off Test this year means it is crucial, not only for the new players but the ones who played last year.

"It's a year since they played competitively and just to get the pitch of the game and play as close to our best.

"There's always a risk that you'll pick up injuries but you balance that, it's a trade-off."


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