The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in International Rules football, a hybrid of Australian rules football and Gaelic football. The current team is solely made up of Australian Football League players. Although Australian football around the world is played at an amateur level, Australia is considered far too strong to compete against at senior level. It has in the past competed against both Papua New Guinea at Under 19 level and more recently South Africa at Under 17 level in Australian rules football. The AFL ultimately aims to field a side in the 2028 Australian Football International Cup, as the developing nations are strong enough to compete with the best from Australia. The International Rules Series, played against the Ireland international rules football team, on an annual basis under compromise rules, has been evenly contested. The revived series was paused indefinitely at the conclusion of the 2006 series following a fiery series, which saw Australian retain the Cormac McAnallen Cup. Until 2004 the majority of the men's Australian squad was comprised of members of the All Australian Team, as well as other outstanding performers from the season; though in 2005, the decision was made to select players best suited to the conditions of the hybrid game. An elite squad of Under-17 Australian juniors took on Irish counterparts of the same age group yearly from 1998 until 2006, with the series adjourned in 2007, keeping in line with the senior teams. The Ron Barassi Medal is awarded to the best player from each country in the two-match series, with notable Australian winners including David Neitz (1991), Mark McVeigh (1998), Joel Corey (1999), Luke Hodge (2001), Troy Chaplin (2003) and Joel Selwood (2005). Tadhg Kennelly (1998) and Brendan Quigley (2004) are two of Ireland's finest to have received the medal in the past.
Squads2006 (Tour to Ireland)
Jim Stynes Medal - Ryan O'Keefe *Brendan Fevola was an emergency for the first game, but was sent home before the second game due to misconduct in that he was involved in a fight at a pub.[2] **Lindsay Gilbee and Sam Fisher only played in the first game. ***Brett Peake and David Mundy only played in the second game.[3] 2005
Jim Stynes Medal - Andrew McLeod 2004 (Tour to Ireland)
Jim Stynes Medal - Nathan G. Brown 2003Coach:Garry Lyon
Jim Stynes Medal - Brent Harvey 2002 (Tour to Ireland)
Jim Stynes Medal: Andrew Kellaway 2001
Jim Stynes Medal - Matthew Lloyd 2000 (Tour to Ireland)
Jim Stynes Medal - James Hird 1999
Jim Stynes Medal - Jason Akermanis 1998 (Tour to Ireland)
Jim Stynes Medal - Stephen Silvagni References
See also
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