Former Ireland manager Brian McEniff has hit out at the Australian camp over their preparations for this year's International Rules series.

Having seem Anthony Tohill's men's demolition of the hosts in Melbourne last Friday, the Donegal All-Ireland winning manager, who steered his country to series wins in 2000 and 2001, believes the Aussies have demeaned the hybrid game with their lack of interest and poor preparations for the series.

"I was disenchanted before the first Test that they sought to demean the competition by only fielding four that had played before. There is a fair bit of investment goes into it financially and otherwise - and Anthony had put a fair bit of time into it," McEniff told the Irish Daily Star.

"They had done 11 or 12 weeks and had to go out and play a team that seemed to be a bit of a gather up. Lads travelled halfway around the world for that - it's not on.

"It's disappointing that the Australians didn't have the same level of preparation. They had a 13-yard free that they put 35 yards wide. There was one from the centre of the goals dropped into the goalkeeper's hands. For professional footballers that's not on.

"If you gave me an oval ball for a week I'd kick it over the bar from 14 yards," he added.

With only 22, 921 having attended the first Test at the Eithad Stadium, McEniff says that Australia need to incorporate higher profile players to attract interest from AFL players and also feels that hosting the second test in the Gold Coast this Friday is a mistake.

"We need big crowds to make it self-supporting," he said. "I think taking it to the Gold Coast is not the best idea. They need to go to the bigger cities to get the bigger crowds."