Bernard Brogan: Ireland need to tackle deficiencies to succeed

It might appear strange that Bernard Brogan is facing into only his second international series and his first in five years, and that he does so as captain. Then again there have been only three series since and a combination of club commitments and injury has prevented him getting more extensively involved.

In 2010 he was Footballer of the Year and in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds he contributed a late goal, worth six points in the international game, which did a good job of keeping Ireland in touch for that year’s second Test.

As one of contemporary football’s most lethal forwards, he might be expected to find the international game more stifling, given the tackle, but although he sees that as the primary challenge, he also believes there are possibilities.

“The big challenge for us is the tackle I suppose, the intensity that the lads bring. Looking at last year’s Test, the first two quarters we were blown out of the water by the intensity that the Australians brought, so that’s something that we’re going to have to try and match.

“For me personally, in my game, the thing I love about the game so much is that mark. That if you get out in front of a man and you’re able to win that ball that you’ll then have a free kick. It means you can run really hard for the ball and you’re rewarded for your efforts.

“I think it’s a really good skill. I love the skill of the kick-out having to go past the 45. It gives the opportunity for these high catches and the great skills in both codes.

“We all love watching the AFL and the big high catches, the knee up over the shoulder, and our game has gone away from that a bit, the high fielding and focusing on those skills so it gives us an opportunity to get our big men out in the middle and compete for those big balls.

“It’s an amazing skill to watch and all spectators like it so if we can bring the skills of the game to the fore, that’s what the punters and spectators want to see and that’s how the game will grow.”

For someone who has won his third All-Ireland and fourth All Star, Brogan still sees challenges in the international arena.

“We’re amateur athletes but we always say we’re professional in everything we do. We want to pit ourselves against the best in the world in sport and see where we’re at. We wouldn’t be coming out here if we just thought we were going to make up the numbers. And Joe wouldn’t be putting his time in over the last 12 weeks.”

Joe Kernan has achieved national success at club, county and provincial level. This weekend gives him a chance to add an international dimension to his cv. This is his first year but the lessons of last year are vividly clear: hit the ground running or you'll soon be too far behind to make a race of it.

He ticks the boxes on what he sees as necessary improvement.

“The tackle is one thing: if we can improve on the tackle, improve on the catching – Australia have obviously improved on using the foot pass.

“Our two games were brought up on the same things. Basically catch it and kick the ball – and you’re rewarded in this game for good catching and good kicking.

“Add in the skilful players, the speed, the power of these lads, and the scoring. This allows for a high-scoring game and that’s what supporters love to see: scores, balls hit the back of the net, overs, even the odd wide can count if it’s a close game! The one-pointers.

“To us, certainly, we honestly believe as an association – and players, and management – that if we excite the crowd, they’ll want to come back and see more.”

That is quite a high priority for the GAA. Attendances two years ago were poor on the back of two below-par AFL selections in 2011 and 2013 when the aggregate attendance for two Tests hardly broke 45,000. Now with the series reduced to just one Test, Croke Park will hope that the strength and quality of the two selections will encourage a decent response from the public.

It’s likely that the casual chatter at the conference about the prospect of playing a Test in New York in the future will have sent spasms of alarm through the finance office, but in the meantime Dublin hosts the 19th international rules series.

A crowd of around 40,000 is expected. Tickets for the evening are priced €25 for adults and €5 for under-16s and are available from gaa.ie/tickets, selected SuperValu and Centra stores and usual match-day outlets.