Paraic Duffy says there's no way the International Rules Series is going to be dropped and predicts that one of next year's Tests will be staged in America.

The Ireland team is currently Down Under preparing for the second Test of the 2017 Series in Perth on Saturday and a meeting was held on Friday to discuss the future of the IRS. GAA director-general Duffy confirms that both parties want to extent the polarising hybrid game into the foreseeable future:

"The one thing that was absolutely clear was that they [the Australians] want this to continue. No question about that. It might have been a question seven or eight years ago but not anymore. Their players have bought into it.

"They're very happy that it's the All-Australians and they want it to continue so there's no question of it not going ahead. 

"Gillon [McLachlan, AFL chief executive]'s attitude has made that very clear. They feel they've cracked the issue of players and who plays. The fact that it's All-Australian now and that the elite players are selected means they're very happy with that.

"They're very keen on going to the States so we're going to push hard on that and see if it's possible. The whole issue has been getting a venue in the US because of the size of American football pitches but there are a couple of things we're going to explore and we said that we'd try and tie this down before February.

"One of the possibilities is Philadelphia where there appears there might be a venue. The University of Pennsylvania - Franklin Field - is being suggested and I'm actually going to be in Philadelphia the week after next so I'll take a look."

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