The Indigenous All Stars have vowed to be “hard and tough” as they try to regain some pride in the second international rules Test but they won’t overstep the mark.
Irish midfielder Aidan Walsh has said he expects Australia will “try and rough us up a good bit” after the tourists lost the first Test 57-35 in Cavan last weekend.
But All Stars coach Michael O’Loughlin insists he won’t tolerate any undisciplined acts.
“Going out there and throwing punches, that’s not tough,” he said ahead of the series decider at Croke Park on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEDT).
“Putting your head over the footy, making tackles when you need to tackle, that’s in our make up.
“We’ll be hard and tough at the footy and the man with the footy.”
Australia need to win by 23 points on Saturday to clinch the series on aggregate.
Captain Daniel Wells argues there is “no doubt” the All Stars are more switched on than seven days ago.
“We got a good wake-up call last weekend,” the Kangaroos star said.
“The boys have been a lot more focused … we want to finish it off on a high.
“I’m not sure about the rough stuff I think (we’ll) just compete as hard as we can go.
“Hopefully things won’t boil over. I know the boys want to play the game nice and hard but nice and fair.”
O’Loughlin on Friday was asked if the All Stars had let Australia down both on and off the field.
A number of players on Monday were warned after partying into the early hours and disturbing fellow hotel guests in Limerick.
“There are players who are disappointed at the way they played,” the coach said.
“But come Saturday the effort is going to be at a really high standard.
“We get to rectify what went wrong in Cavan.”
Australia will have just 20 players to rotate compared with Ireland’s 23.
Essendon’s Paddy Ryder hasn’t been able to make it to Dublin because his wife is yet to give birth to their third child.
Ireland manager Paul Earley says any negative press surrounding Australia will likely galvanise the All Stars whom he expects to be “ferocious” on Saturday.
