The AFL haverecruited an All-Australian squad to take on Ireland in next week’sInternational Rules Test and our skipper says he’s looking forward tobringing home some tricks from the best in the business.

 

Playing alongside Selwood on Patersons Stadium will be a crop of the AFL’s finest, includingAdelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield, Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe, Hawthorn’s skipper LukeHodge as well as teammates Steve Johnson and Harry Taylor.

 

“I’m just reallylooking forward to the series in itself, the one off game and just spendingsome time with the boys,” Joel Selwood told AFL.com.au

 

“I obviously knowthem as opponents and I’m really looking forward to seeing them as teammates andto just see what you can pick up and take back to your own clubs.”

 

Selwood, whoagain was named the AFL’s 2014 Most Courageous Player for the fourth time, washumbled the AFL’s Football Operations Manager, Mark Evans, approached him for advice on how to improve this year’s international series.   

 

“Mark Evans cameto me quite early on in the piece and just asked how it would work and whatwould get the interest of the other players and it was a real honour that hewould come and ask me,” Selwood said.  

 

When the news ofhaving an All-Australian squad circulated, the first to jump on board was thisyear’s most valuable player in the AFL, Nat Fyfe.

 

“Certainly whenthe idea was brought up this year about getting the best talent to play, itcertainly came to the forefront of my mind that I wanted to be involved,” Fyfe toldAFL.com.au

 

Not only is Fyfe eagerto see what he can learn from his fellow AFL opponents, he is just as interestedin what he can take away from the Irish.

 

“I think it’s anexciting opportunity to see the skills cross over in the two different sports,”Fyfe said.

 

“And it will begood to watch and learn some of the playing techniques that other (AFL) playersuse… and what they do differently that potentially I could incorporate into mygame.”

 

The InternationalRules Series will commence at Patersons Stadium on Saturday November 22ndat 5:45pm WST.   

 

The Australian squad is:

 

Grant Birchall (Hawthorn), Travis Boak (Port Adelaide), LukeBruest (Hawthorn), Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide), Dustin Fletcher (Essendon),Nat Fyfe (Fremantle), Brendon Goddard (Essendon), Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide),Brent Harvey (North Melbourne), Luke Hodge (Hawthorn), Kieren Jack (SydneySwans), Steve Johnson (Geelong), Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney Swans), Sam Mitchell(Hawthorn), Leigh Montagna (St Kilda), Nic Naitanui (West Coast), Nick Riewoldt(St Kilda), Tom Rockliff (Brisbane Lions), Joel Selwood (Geelong), Brodie Smith(Adelaide), Nick Smith (Sydney Swans), Harry Taylor (Geelong), Jobe Watson(Essendon) and Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide). Coach: Alastair Clarkson. Assistantcoaches: Tadhg Kennelly, Ross Lyon, Chris Scott.