The GAA have agreed a number of measures with the AFL to tighten disciplinary rules for any further International Rules series. The changes still need to be brought back to Central Council and the AFL Commission, but the likelihood is the series, the future of which had come under pressure since violent incidents in last October's second Test in Melbourne, will continue.

There was some surprise at how stringent the proposals were. The main provision would see any player receiving a red card dismissed from play, with his team reduced to 14 on the field for the rest of the match. His team would also concede a penalty, worth six points if converted.

Speculation leading up to the meeting between officials from both organisations had suggested that requiring a team to play a man short would be too severe and might unbalance the match. A 20-minute period with 14 men had been expected.

Furthermore, any player guilty of a yellow-card offence will be sent off for 15 minutes, with a replacement allowed, and no penalty kick. Any player receiving two yellow cards will be sent off for the rest of the game with no replacement. A tribunal hearing would then determine any further penalty.

"To have proper discipline, you must have proper deterrents," said GAA president Seán Kelly, at a media conference with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou. "And it's quite obvious to everybody that we didn't have proper deterrents up until now. But I think this will go a long way to stemming it.

"You're penalising the player immediately, and you're also penalising the team, because you'll be down a player and it'll also be a penalty awarded against them, and I think that in itself will focus the minds of the players and management."

Demetriou emphasised that the organisations were in full agreement. "There has been absolutely heated agreement by both the AFL and the GAA that there were some very unsavoury incidents in last year's series and that we are one - as we've always been - on the attitude to zero tolerance for onfield violence," he said.

"There is no place for that sort of activity on any sporting field - let alone the AFL game, any GAA game or any International Rules game - and both the AFL and the GAA agree that those sorts of incidents have no place in our game."

The statement issued by the AFL after Tuesday's meeting added that the joint control committee for the series would conduct a thorough review of the rules and conduct of the series this May.

On the equally controversial matter of the youth series, the AFL have agreed to come back to the GAA with proposals to restrict the recruitment of young Irish players. It is likely these will involve excluding GAA recruits from the international rookie list - in other words, obliging clubs to draft youngsters into the senior list, which wouldn't be as attractive as the probationary conditions attaching to rookie status.

"A lot of people have been concerned particularly after a coaching session was held (last year) in Ireland and a number of players were offered contracts here," said Kelly. "Players that are 17 or 18 years old shouldn't be uprooted from their families and coming out and maybe coming back again. But we think with the AFL's co-operation - and indeed initiative - we'll be able to stem that tide as well."

Although the movement of players to the AFL has been little more than a trickle, tighter regulation of this area is central to any chances the youth series has of continuing. Consideration of its future isn't, however, an immediate concern, as this year's tour to Australia will definitely go ahead this Easter.

Despite reports that the AFL were keen to involve South Africa in the underage series, the matter wasn't discussed in any detail by Tuesday's meeting.

"It wasn't talked about at the press conference or in the Q and A," said AFL media manager Patrick Keane. "Initiating this at youth level depends on the standard that players in South Africa can reach. The Australian under-18s and Irish under-19s are well matched and it would take the South Africans a while to reach that level. You're talking about 2008 before it would even arise in talks."

The training and preparation of match officials is another area that will be reviewed, with the likelihood being that match officials will stay together during a series rather than with their own country's team.

There were no further developments in relation to the switching of the junior series to a different time of the year or the rescheduling of the senior tests on a biennial, rather than annual, basis. Both matters are believed to have been on the agenda.

The GAA was represented by Kelly, president-elect Nickey Brennan and director general Liam Mulvihill.

Any player guilty of a red-card offence to be automatically sent off for the rest of the game with no replacement, and a penalty kick awarded to the opposition. A tribunal hearing would then determine any further penalty, with a minimum of a one-match suspension for any guilty verdict.

Any player guilty of a yellow-card offence to be sent off for 15 minutes, with a replacement allowed, and no penalty kick. If a player received two yellow cards, he would be sent off for the rest of the game with no replacement. A tribunal hearing would then determine any further penalty.

The joint control committee for the series to conduct a detailed review of the playing rules and the conduct of the series in May of this year.

The AFL to re-examine its rules on international player drafting, to address the concerns expressed by the GAA.