Without over stretching for significance, it's fair to say this International Rules series is shaping up as a watershed for the game, writes Seán Moran.

There have been false starts before but a number of issues appear to be coming to a head in this, the sixth annual event since resumption of the international project.

Three years ago, former Australian coach Dermott Brereton believed that his team had cracked the challenge. And after an emphatic series victory he wasn't behind the door in telling the world about his discovery.

"It will be very healthy for Ireland to get a loss like this because I believe you become the competition you're playing. If they were to win this series, they could almost become complacent that skills could do it for them.

"Skills didn't do it for them this time and their fitness needs to come up and until a coach gets hold of a Gaelic team and they run through an entire match without a drop-off in the execution of skills because of the fatigue factor, they're going to stay where they are, which is pretty good. But once every two years or three years now that the Australians have learned how to play this, they'll probably roll them."

A year later when Ireland whitewashed the series here in Australia, that judgment looked premature. But what happened last Friday in Perth has revived the old fear that has stalked the international game since inception: that one of the countries - in all likelihood Australia - would become dominant and the sense of competition, so vital to a two-country game, wither and die.

You need to be careful before extrapolating too much from once-off situations. For instance, the whitewash series of 2000 and 2001 were marked by avoidable deficiencies in the home challenge. This year Ireland have, for the first time, suffered serious injury problems before departure and even since arrival.

But on top of such temporary difficulties there are longer-term questions about the balance of the game taking shape. The fact Australia are taking the whole idea more seriously has trimmed Ireland's margin for error. In the past the Aussies travelled well and were less interested at home. This year has been different. It is of course a good thing that the international game is taking root here but it would be better if both sides could give it their best shot in the same year.

For the reasons mentioned above Ireland are below par this year but the evidence is the GAA may have trouble keeping up even with a full hand. Former Ireland coach Colm O'Rourke was among the first to express misgivings about the direction of International Rules.

His theory was that Australia would get better and better with the round ball whereas Irish players wouldn't adapt as completely to the tackle and mark. Beyond O'Rourke's pessimism is the situation that Ireland are becoming less proficient with the ball as their opponents improve.

The most striking aspect of the first Test was Ireland's inability to take chances. The most vivid illustration of this was the home side out-scoring their opponents three goals to one. If we accept that Ireland won't score two more goals than their opponents this Friday, it means Ireland have only once in four series scored more goals - supposedly the GAA weapon of choice - than the Australians.

Overs - the equivalent of points - were intended to be the focus of the current team in making their superior skills count. But during the five and a half series to date, Australia actually lead Ireland on overs as well.

It is clear kicking is becoming an endangered skill within Gaelic football. Attempts made to adjust that in the National Football League seven years ago - when the number of consecutive hand passes was limited - met with outright hostility.

The pattern of current successful teams has been to courier the ball out from defence and work it up to the team shooter, who finishes invariably for a point.

Instinct prompts players to react conservatively to one-on-one situations with goalkeepers: fist a point rather than go for goal. Little wonder then that it's getting harder to find players who can kick the ball over the bar from 30 metres.

The fact that these skills, supposedly an advantage to the Irish, are being practised nearly as well by the Australians - in spite of the round ball - is being lost here at the moment but can hardly escape attention for much longer.

Instead a curious phenomenon has been appearing in the Australian media: nothing less than a complete reappraisal of the international game. For a long time the view Down Under was that this game was essentially Gaelic football: 80 per cent according to 1998 coach Leigh Matthews.

As well as a general disapproval of the couple of violent incidents perpetrated by the home side, it is now noticeable that commentators are at last looking beyond the round ball and appreciating the scale of the advantage offered Australia by the tackle.

According to Martin Blake in the Melbourne Age: "It appears that the Irish, famously genial and aware of the financial benefits that these series bring, have agreed to a set of rules that favour Australia because tackling is allowed. It gives the Australians licence to intimidate.

"Whether it is fair to inflict a set of rules upon the Irish that includes tackling when there is virtually no physical contact in the Gaelic game is questionable to say the least."

Whereas there is no pressure from the GAA to change the tackle provisions in International Rules, there are signs that some tinkering with the rules - e.g., reducing playing time to four quarters of 15 minutes rather than 20 - may be on the horizon now that apprehension has set in about the series' viability.

Friday night at the MCG will tell us more. There's a lot to play for.