In the middle of all the championship hoopla at the weekend, one understated piece of news was released to Sunday's papers. It will become more important as the weeks go by: Colm O'Rourke has been appointed manager of the Irish International Rules team for this autumn's tour by the Australians.

At present, with so much activity on the field, it's hard to focus on the international series, but already players will be aware that a panel is shortly to be put together. According to Croke Park, O'Rourke has indicated that he will wait until the provincial finals are over before making his initial trial selections.

After the sifting process has got fully under way, the defeated All-Ireland semi-finalists will have become available. Although the finalists will be tied up until the end of September, this won't be a major problem as the players' fitness levels will be excellent and the individuals well enough known for O'Rourke to know who he wants.

There is unlikely to be much experience in evidence when the panel is finalised. It is eight years since an International Rules series took place and few of those who travelled to Australia will still be in action. Only one footballer has the twin credentials of having been an unqualified success in 1990 and being still in fine form - Kevin O'Brien of Wicklow.

Only two are still sufficiently prominent to be still involved in this year's championship: Pat Comer - who was the sole goalkeeper brought down under in 1990 - is currently on the Galway bench, while Brian Burke will captain Tipperary in next month's Munster final against Kerry.

Other survivors currently playing for their counties are Steven O'Brien (Cork), Dessie Barry (Longford), James McCartan (Down), Keith Barr, Paul Curran and Eamonn Heery (Dublin's entire half-back line in the recent defeat by Kildare).

In the absence of any recent test series, it will be difficult for O'Rourke to select specialist players - those who, while not attracting much attention with their counties, prove to be excellent footballers for the purposes of International Rules. Noel Roche of Clare holds the record for international appearances because he was brilliantly suited to the game, a fact which far outweighed his inter-county form in any given year.

Although there are many advantages to the international dimension, not everyone in the GAA agrees, or indeed agreed at the time the series was floated in the 1980s. Among the reservations was the perceived imbalance between the professional or semi-professional Australian Rules players and their amateur Irish counterparts, and also the danger that the Rules people would poach the best young Irish players.

The latter wasn't without validity when you consider that among those who were on trial in Australia before the opportunities for overseas players contracted were Brian Stynes (Dublin), Colin Corkery (Cork), Anthony Tohill (Derry) and Niall Buckley (Kildare) - all of whom became All Stars subsequent to their stints in Australia.

The principal benefit is the very fact of international competition. In the past, the Railway Cups fed a desire for representative sport, but that has declined despite the protestations - sometimes genuine - that players still value the inter-provincial series.

Pride in representing the country was obvious on my only close acquaintance with a series, the tour to Australia eight years ago. While there were some rare instances of childish misbehaviour, the players in general were very serious about the business in hand and undertook voluntary curfews and restrictions - beyond what even manager Eugene McGee had in mind - on their social behaviour until the test matches were over.

After the tour by the Australian Youths in April had concluded with a fine international match in Croke Park, Pat Daly, the GAA's games development and coaching officer, made the point.

"To have an international outlet is one big advantage. It's obvious from soundings we have taken from players that they require something like this, even demand it. If we're going to have their loyalty on an ongoing basis, it's important that people who reach the pinnacle, be they underage or adult players, can express themselves on an international platform."

The other advantage is that - as the GAA acknowledges - football can benefit from the cross-pollination. In fact, there hasn't been enormous activity in this area. Certain elements from Australian and International Rules have been tried in an experimental context.

Earlier this year, the mark was introduced into the secondary provincial competitions along with other trial measures. Allowing the goalkeeper to take a quick kick-out was experimented with during the 1989-90 league, together with the four quarters (rather than two halves to a match).

The quick free from the hand may have arrived through the international connection, but its adoption was based ultimately on the specific grounds of a desire to stop teams deriving benefit from fouling in order to break up attacks and regroup in defence. Its application is, however, too inconsistent to have the desired effect across the board.

In relation to discipline, Australian Rules also has something to offer, in the view of Daly, who believes that the sanction of dismissal isn't always appropriate. Dismissal is too blunt a weapon and regularly inhibits referees from using it. For some offences, it should be possible to allow a player to be sent off but replaced, and let the ultimate punishment be imposed in extreme situations. Post-match reviews of video should also be routine and players punished as a matter of course for offences undetected at the time.

Whatever advantages may derive from the revival of the international connection, there is every reason to be optimistic about the future of the series. The weakness in the past has been a lack of enthusiasm at the Australian end.

This appears to have been rectified with the Australian Football League engaging with the GAA at a high level and, crucially, there is confidence that sponsors' interest can be secured.

There is a trend towards one big sponsor to cover both hemispheres, given that a four-year sequence has been arranged on a home-and-away basis. Given that the AFL numbers among its major sponsors Coca Cola and Cadburys, the search for a suitable multi-national shouldn't be too difficult.

Finally, for those interested, it should be noted that Australian Rules highlights have relocated since the demise of Network 2's Sports Stadium to T na G where they can be seen on Thursday nights at 10.20 and Saturday afternoons at 3.0.