For us to be able to put on the green jerseys that [Irish soccer and rugby players] wear with such pride, you see the national anthems and the emotion, we’d just love to have that feeling and that opportunity Kernan spoke of a desire to emphasise the skills component of the game in his selection policy.

[6] On 24 October 2015, the GAA announced that Dublin's three-time All-Ireland SFC winning forward Bernard Brogan Jnr would be appointed captain of the Ireland team for test match against Australia.

As footballers, opportunities to play for Ireland and pit our skills against athletes from other nations and codes are few and far between and next month we will test ourselves against arguably the strongest ever Australian team to come here.

[13] Retired 400 game player and perennial Australian goalkeeper Dustin Fletcher underwent a fitness test in September 2015 with the view to concluding his football career by playing in his fifth International Rules Series.

Among the squad was multiple All-Australian and recent Geelong pick-up Patrick Dangerfield, last year's Jim Stynes Medallist Luke Hodge and Hawthorn premiership players Sam Mitchell and Jarryd Roughead.

Of the 22-man squad, only four players – Roughead, Andrew Gaff, Dyson Heppell and Jake Stringer – had not represented Australia in International rules football before.