News: The GAA are prepared to walk away from the International Rules series unless tomorrow's crunch meeting with the Australian football officials can satisfy their concerns about indiscipline. GAA president Seán Kelly cut short his stay with the All Star hurling tour in Singapore yesterday, and headed for Melbourne accompanied by president-elect Nicky Brennan, director general Liam Mulvihill, and commercial director Dermot Power.

All four of them will sit down with their Australian counterparts tomorrow and again on Wednesday, cautiously intent on reaching agreement on key aspects of future series. Like the rules of the game they'll probably be some compromise necessary, but the GAA are making it clear that something major has to change or else the series is over.

A motion to the most recent Central Council meeting called for the series to be abandoned with immediate effect, and reportedly has significant backing.

It was agreed to defer the motion until after Kelly, Brennan and Mulvihill returned with the potential for the necessary changes, most of which will refer to better controls on player discipline.

It's Brennan's opinion, however, that is seen as most crucial, as his term of presidency, which begins in April, will oversee the series in the immediate future. Before departing yesterday he made that opinion known for the first time. "We do have some very serious discussion ahead of us," said Brennan. "I wasn't in Australia last October, but I saw enough on the television, and it bordered on thuggery, and simply couldn't continue in this vein. So we'll have to tell them a few home truths, and they'll have to be a change in mindset on the Australian side. There's a lot of anger in Ireland about this."

Like Kelly and Mulvilhill, Brennan believes the series does have a future if the necessary agreements on new disciplinary measures can be reached. "I think in general we all wish to see the series continue. But only if attitudes change. And, of course, we are prepared to walk away if we can't agree on change."

The GAA will still need to bring the agreements back to the Central Council before the future of the series can be guaranteed, and it's likely the new disciplinary measures will be tried out for a two-year period. According to Kelly, the Australian officials, which include the head of the AFL, Andrew Demetriou, are perfectly aware just how critical the situation is. "They're definitely well aware of what we're bringing down," said Kelly.

"They've got all the newspaper cuttings, and there's been verbal communication as well. So they understand our position, but we'll have to listen to what they say too. We're not saying we're the innocent party here.

"Effective deterrents are really what we require. I think in ways they're more anxious than us to ensure that the series does continue. It has meant an awful lot to them in terms of exposure and of course financially. There's a lot at stake here, but the bottom line is we need the game to be played in the same spirit and same disciplinary standard as our own game at home. We can't have the same players playing different games.

"It's hard to say if this meeting is make or break. But it's obvious there was a very strong reaction to the series last October. A motion has since come to the last Central Council meeting calling for an end to the series. Whether that is successful or not is another matter. That's still on the table."

As long-serving director general, Mulvihill has already seen the series threatened on a few other occasions, but agreed that careful consideration was necessary if the series was to go forward. "True, it's not the first time we've had problems. But this is not a blame game. Both sides have an equal responsibility to see that the proper rules are in place, and are implemented. They were as annoyed as we were at the reaction after those games in October.

"We've looked at the videos on numerous occasions, and I think it's very important that we say all the blame was not on one side. Players on both teams got away with things they shouldn't have, and we can't have a series in place that didn't protect the players and didn't allow for the skill of the game to be shown."