INTERNATIONAL RULES SERIESTHEY'VE TWEAKED the rules and tightened the law on discipline and yet the six million dollar question remains: Can the International Rules series with Australia be restored to the proper sporting contest originally intended?

Irish team manager Seán Boylan seems to think so, as did all those present in Croke Park yesterday for a lengthy preamble on next month's series. In talking about restoring it to a proper contest it wasn't just the disciplinary aspects, but also the physical aspects, whether the amateur Irish players can still match up to the professional Australian players.

One definite setback to the latter prospect is that Kerry native and Sydney Swans star Tadhg Kennelly won't be available due to a chronic shoulder injury. Kennelly was to captain the Irish team, but will instead undergo an operation on Friday, requiring a recuperation period of around five months. He will still be available to offer any assistance or guidance as required, and Boylan has yet to consider a replacement captain.

Another Australian-based player Martin Clarke of Down is also out with an ankle injury. While his panel of 27 players won't be finalised until October 6th, Boylan has already done a large amount of the preparation work ahead of the series - set for Perth on October 24th, and Melbourne on October 31st. He has confirmed his backroom team of Anthony Tohill, Eoin Liston and Hugh Kenny, and the team runner as Seán Marty Lockhart, and a lot of the effort so far has gone into familiarising players with the rule changes designed to both improve the flow of the game and eliminate the potential for foul play.

"I'm absolutely delighted the series is back on track," said Boylan. "All the lads that had taken part in the series before were contacted. It was astonishing how quickly they came back to say they wanted the series to go ahead. And to go ahead in the proper spirit in which it was set up in the first place. We all know what happened the last time.

"But this is a wonderful game if played right. It's probably the first new football game in 100 years. And we want to get it right.

"The international dimension means a huge amount to the players. It's also a great opportunity for lads to come together. And one of the things we want to see more is the coming together of squads from both sides.

"So it will be arranged for the teams to meet before the first test, socially. This is intended as a sporting occasion, and this is going to be a sporting occasion.

"It's going to be physical, too, played with all our might, within the rules that have been worked upon. Everything had to be turned upside down and inside out so that there was clarity."

Although Boylan has yet to approach the All-Ireland finalists Tyrone and Kerry, he predicted no more than 10 players from the ill-fated 2006 panel would make the cut this time - not that any of them turned him down.

"There is incredible competition for places. So much so, that the Wexford and Cork players were up the weekend after losing the All-Ireland semi-final.

"It will very much be a new panel. But outside of injury problems and so on, there hasn't been one voice that said they wouldn't do it, because they were afraid of the series, or don't like the series. And that's very encouraging.

"But I have to say I was apprehensive, myself, about coming back into it, having been away from the intercounty scene for a few years. Then five weeks ago when I met the lads for the first time down in Dunboyne it was like we'd never gone away. The buzz and enthusiasm was there."

A lot of the groundwork already completed has been on the tackling end of the game, which has let the Irish down in the past. Boylan once again called on former rugby international Trevor Brennan for assistance, along with former Irish rugby strength coach, Mike McGurn.

"It's no great significance," he noted. "Both have played Gaelic games. Two years ago, the team went out to Toulouse, and were extraordinary well looked after. Trevor took a couple of the training sessions then. We just wanted someone who could show it to them right, both in taking the tackles, and making them.

"Everything is being done to ensure that. The lads are enjoying doing it right, and want to do it right."

That clarification of the tackle was one of the things Boylan deemed crucial to the restoration of the game: "We understand we're playing a professional team. If we're doing a dozen laps of the field, they're probably doing twice that. The same with fellas doing weights. But our lads will want to play it right, and want to be as competitive as they can.

"And I think the most important thing about this series is restoring confidence in the game, which can be a wonderful game, if it's played right."

For GAA president Nickey Brennan, a repeat of the disciplinary meltdown that marred the 2006 series wasn't worth contemplating - although he was as sure as he could be that the new disciplinary measures should prove a suitable deterrent.

"It would take a brave man to say I'm 100 per cent confident the series will be a success," he said.

"But we've worked very hard to try to ensure we've brought the series back on track. We believe the Australians are very sincere and genuine about wanting it to continue.

"Mick Malthouse, the Australian manager, sees it as important as well. On that basis, I'm as confident as one can realistically be. Because I don't want to contemplate the consequences if it's not."

Brennan will also meet with his Australian counterparts in Melbourne to discuss the increasing recruitment of young Gaelic footballers into the AFL.

"We always said that we'd follow it up when we get to Australia. This has been an ongoing issue, I accept. It's not an issue that will decide the future of the series, but we are going out there with a clear picture of some of the things we want to say to them.

" What we're ultimately about is the welfare of the players, because we can't stop them. I've said that numerous times before."

• THE GAA has confirmed the appointment of Feargal McGill as its Operations Manager. McGill takes up the role having spent six and a half years as Information and Publications officer for the Association. A member of the Bornacoola GAA club in Leitrim, McGill will work directly with the director general Páraic Duffy in the effective management of his responsibilities and will also have responsibility for player welfare matters.

MAIN RULE CHANGES FOR 2008

1 - Only one member of the team management allowed on the sideline.

2 - Panel of 27 players; 15-a-side, and nine inter-change players, limited to 10 changes per quarter.

3 - Video match referee confirmed as Ian Curlewis from South Africa, who can alert the referee to red and yellow card offences.

4 - The kick-out must go beyond the 20-metre line.

5 - After four passes with the hand, the next pass has to be with the foot.

6 - Tackling only allowed between the shoulder and the hips; one-hand grabs prohibited, as is airborne shouldering.

7 - Deliberate disregard or reckless disregard to rules results in red card, with no substitution.

8 - Irresponsible behaviour results in yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin bin.

9 - Further sanctions for indiscipline: For the AFL, nine-week suspension from the AFL season; for the GAA, period of suspension from the National Football League, to be confirmed by Central Council on Saturday week.