Although Australia International Rules coach Garry Lyon says that the withdrawals from his squad have strengthened his hand for the coming test series, the visiting side will be one of the least experienced to represent the AFL since the international series resumed in 1998.

There has been much coverage of the fact that only four of the panel were on this year's All-Australian selection (the AFL equivalent of the All Stars) but more relevantly only three of the players played in last year's series, won on points aggregate by the Australians for their first series win on home soil.

Nathan Brown, from Richmond, Jared Crouch and Brett Kirk all played last year in Perth and Melbourne and only a further five of the panel have previous experience of the international game. Joel Bowden, Cameron Bruce, Jason Johnson, Matthew Lappin and James Hird have all played one series each leaving the vast majority of the panel making their debuts.

Traditionally the Australians have a higher rate of turnover than Ireland so will be expected to cope with the changes.

They will be boosted by the return of Hird, who becomes the second Australian to captain his country twice - following on from Shane Crawford.

Lyon is confident the unavailability of so many All-Australians had given him the opportunity to choose replacements more suited to the international game.

"It gives us an opportunity to go out and pick players who are ideally suited to playing this game," Lyon said. "Every year I've coached, we've taken at least two and often four or five players who are not suited to the game. They've wanted to go, and we were really happy to take them and encourage them, but we also went knowing that we were going to carry them.

"But we're not carrying one player this time, not one, so it puts us, I think, in better shape than we've been in years gone by. In fact, this squad is probably going to give us a better opportunity to win than had every one of those (All-Australian) players said, 'Yes, I want to go'. That's not a reflection on them, that's a reflection on the game."

Yet Australia will definitely miss a couple of the All-Australians, both injured. Barry Hall, the huge Sydney forward, was unusual in being able to combine mobility and football with his size and did Ireland major damage in the first test last year.

Chris Judd, the West Coast player who has just won the Brownlow Medal (AFL Player of the Year) in only his third year at senior level, played International Rules with the under-17s in 2000 and made an impact in the 2002 senior series in Dublin.

Meanwhile the Gaelic Players' Association yesterday released their shortlist for Hurler and Footballer of the Year. The winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony, on November 5th, and will receive a SEAT car.

Contrary to a report in yesterday's The Irish Times, Paul McGettigan would like to point out that he was not a candidate for the position of Galway senior football manager.

"I informed the county secretary last week that I wasn't a candidate and that I hadn't been despite speculation. I am very busy at work and there would have been no question of me getting involved."

The remaining three candidates, Frank Doherty, Peter Ford and Brian Talty were interviewed for the job last night.

International Rules Australia panel

Luke Ball (St Kilda), Craig Bolton (Sydney), Jude Bolton (Sydney), Joel Bowden (Richmond), Michael Braun (West Coast), Nathan Brown (Richmond), Cameron Bruce (Melbourne), Joel Corey (Geelong), Jared Crouch (Sydney), Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda), Alan Didak (Collingwood), Andrew Embley (West Coast), Brad Green (Melbourne), Robert Haddrill (Fremantle), James Hird (Essendon), Max Hudghton (St Kilda), Jason Johnson (Essendon), Mark McVeigh (Essendon), Mal Michael (Brisbane Lions), Brady Rawlings (Kangaroos) Dean Solomon (Essendon).

GPA Awards Nominations

Hurling Nominees

Paul Flynn (Waterford), Dan Shanahan (Waterford), Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford), Seán Ó hAilpin (Cork), Ronan Curran (Cork), JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny).

Football Nominees

Marty McGrath (Fermanagh, Matty Forde (Wexford), Colm Cooper (Kerry), Tomás Ó Sé (Kerry), Ciarán McDonald (Mayo).