The one-time Melbourne player said that the majority of his side actually relished the more physical attributes of the hybrid game.

Earley, the first player recruited from Ireland to play in the VFL (he made one appearance for the Demons in 1984), said most of his squad would probably prefer their own Gaelic style of football to be more physical.

"There is no sense of intimidation or anything like that, it's about a great challenge and an opportunity to represent your country and play against the best that Australia has to offer - that's what the guys love," he said.

"I think this series was always about Ireland's best playing against Australia's best.

"That's part of the challenge that the guys look forward to - testing themselves against the best that Australia has put out and this year, obviously with the All-Australian team, it is a great challenge."

The man who led Ireland to two wins over Australia last year played down any talk that his side of amateur players could not match it with the Aussies.

But he admits that the focus of their short preparation has been on tackling.

Ireland played a practice match against Sandringham in Melbourne last week, but the entire squad has only been together since Wednesday when they had a training session at Patersons Stadium.

"I'd love to have the squad a lot longer so we can perfect the tackle," he said.

"Eight guys never played against an Australian Rules player before [the Sandringham game] and they had to understand the game sense and the way an Australian Rules player plays the game and they took some learning from that.

"So we have worked hard at that and some of our guys like the physicality of it and some of the players of the team would love to see the tackles like they have in Australia in our game of Gaelic game. I don't think that will happen, but we have players who have played rugby in the past as well.

"They will have to be ready and prepared to take those hits and to give them when the opportunity presents itself."

Earley has the benefit of having Pearce Hanley in his squad, but refused to divulge how he would use the Brisbane defender.

"You'll have to wait and see," he said.

"We'd like him to be on the ball quite a bit because obviously he's a very good player."

Ireland's captain, Michael Murphy, said that a win over the Australians this year would be a much bigger achievement than in previous series.

"We've celebrated every series we have won as a great sense of achievement, but I suppose this year with the one-off Test, there is a huge amount riding on it for both teams - the build up, there has been more hype surrounding the game," he said.

"Players feed off that."