Ireland arrived in Perth last night as the countdown to this year's International Rules series begins in earnest. Players and management flew in at midnight after the long journey from home, which began on Saturday.

When they wake up later today and look out their hotel windows they may be startled to see familiar signposts. Pointing the way to Dublin, Nenagh, Killarney and Ennis, the landmark belongs to Fenian's Irish bar across the street on Adelaide Terrace.

Presumably, with the first Test only four days away, that's as close as the players will get to the evocative premises.

The city is just getting over the influx of England and South Africa rugby fans who were here for the weekend's World Cup match. Friday's first International Rules Test will be at the same venue as the rugby, the WACA ground at Subiaco, which sold out its 45,000 capacity weeks ago.

This will be a big challenge for the Ireland players and management, led by John O'Keeffe, who brings a new-look panel to try to maintain the impressive record of away teams. In nine series since 1984 only Ireland, in 1998, have won one at home.

For the first time Ireland are seriously debilitated by injury, with Séamus Moynihan and Trevor Giles, two very experienced performers at this level, withdrawing because of fitness problems.

This will be the first meeting of the countries at this level in Perth since the final Test in 1990, the last before the series resumed eight years later. Australia won 13 years ago to stave off what would have been a whitewash.

The Australians are already in training camp and are happy with preparations. "It's gone pretty well," said AFL spokesman Patrick Keane. "Like Ireland, we're missing a few players that we'd like to have because of injury, but we have a reasonably young side available."

It's been noticeable that Australia are coming around to the view that a more varied selection policy than simply selecting the All Australian (AFL All Stars equivalent) team as the basis of the international side is needed. Although the award winners still get first call on panel places, increasingly players with an affinity for the hybrid game are being chosen.

"It's shifted around a lot since the earlier years," says Keane. "Whenever guys declare themselves unavailable, that's fine to an extent because we can pick guys specifically suited. And when we approach replacements they're thrilled to play.

"There's been some bad luck. James Hird, who has played in just one series, was really up for it this year: 'If I'm fit I fully intend to play,' he said, but he ended the year hobbling and had to rule himself out."

Hird captained the Australians in 2000 but has missed the two series since. This underlines an odd statistic about International Rules captaincy. Shane Crawford, who leads Australia for the second year, is the only former captain on either side to be involved this time. Ireland's John McDermott and Anthony Tohill have retired, while Moynihan and Giles had to withdraw.

Although the World Cup presumably intensifies Australia's desire to win a home series for the first time, Keane says the rugby is not the main motivation for the increasing interest amongst AFL players in representing their country.

"The rugby has had an impact," says Keane. "But there were others (influences), like the two matches last year in Dublin. They were on at the same time as the Bali bombing and its aftermath and played in front of 73,000 people on the coldest day of all time.

"Guys involved said that they wanted strongly to be involved again and their attitude was taken on board by other AFL players. So we've had guys who played two and three years ago who've asked to be considered again - like Brad Johnson and Rohan Smith, who played in the first couple of years but whose AFL form meant they weren't considered since until now."

Keane, whose family is from Clare, was happy to note that his forebears' county is represented with Odran O'Dwyer in the panel - Clare's first cap since Noel Roche, who became Ireland's most capped player in the years of the original series, 1984-1990.

The Australians are based in Bunbury, outside Perth, although plans to stage a practice match at the local Hands Oval today were abandoned due to the poor state of the pitch. This is a recurrent problem at the venue, which is the subject of a legal action by Adelaide's Shaun Rehn, a former Australia International Rules cap, in respect of a knee injury he sustained there three years ago.

Instead, the home side will return to Perth at 4.30 (9.30 Irish time) and have a run-out against a Western Australia selection at Bassendean Oval. "It's disappointing," Australia manager Garry Lyon said. "It would have been good to play in Bunbury and take the game to the country people but it can't be done. The inspection was done and the ground wasn't deemed suitable, so we couldn't take the risk."