Ireland manager Paul Earley says he is expecting a much tougher test from Australia this time round when his team travel down under in two weeks.
Last years series saw Ireland take a 22-point lead from the first Test in Cavan into the Croke Park clash and demolished the visitors 116-37, taking the series on an aggregate margin of 101 points.
This series will be an entirely different story though, according to Earley, who believes his squad will motivate themselves on the prospect of coming up against a top Australian side.
Our best players always want to pit themselves against Australias best. They like the challenge of that to test themselves against the best players that Australia can muster, Earley told RTE.
Unfortunately over the last couple of series that hasnt been the case. This year I certainly think it will be a changed Australia, a changed attitude, a changed team. Itll certainly be a lot more competitive. It will be a massive challenge for us to take them on
The fact that its a month later than normal means that those players are back in pre-season training. Normally, the Test series would have been played in October when its in the middle of their break.
"Theyll all be back in pre-season so theyll have a couple of weeks done in terms of preparation that they wouldnt have had in previous series.
Its been a really positive reaction (from our players). The players who were on the squad, who have been involved with us in the training squad have been magnificent.
They all want to play for their country; they deem it a huge honour. There are many other players as well who we would have like to have involved but because of injury after long, hard season theyve had to withdraw and there are some players as well who are heavily involved in club activity and just werent in a position to make a commitment.
This year's series will be a one-off Test set to be played on November 22nd in Perth.
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