Collingwood premiership players Dane Swan and Tyson Goldsack have been named in the Mick Malthouse-coached Australian squad for the upcoming International Rules Series against Ireland.
The Australian team leave for the two-Test series Ireland on Saturday October 16. The first Test will be played at Limerick on Saturday October 23 and the second Test will be played at Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday October 30.
Swan, 26, enjoyed a phenomenal 2010 season. He played all 26 games for the Magpies, winning the AFLPA MVP award as well as a host of media awards. He led the AFL in disposals and is a great chance to win his third-straight Copeland Trophy.
23-year-old Goldsack overcame illness and injury early in the season to play 11 games in the second half of the year, including the preliminary final and grand final replay triumphs.
Both players, neither of whom has played in the International Rules Series before, will be well suited to the hybrid game with their considerable speed and skill.
Magpies premiership coach Malthouse will again lead the Australian squad, after coaching the Aussies in 2008 on home soil. Ireland won by five points on aggregate in that series after recording narrow victories in both tests
The squad is:
Todd Banfield (Brisbane Lions), Eddie Betts (Carlton), Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs), Daniel Cross (Western Bulldogs), Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide Crows), Paul Duffield (Fremantle), Dustin Fletcher (Essendon), James Frawley (Melbourne), Bryce Gibbs (Carlton), Sam Gilbert (St Kilda), Tyson Goldsack (Collingwood), Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans), Brad Green (Melbourne), Garrick Ibbotson (Fremantle), Kieran Jack (Sydney Swans), Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney Swans), Leigh Montagna (St Kilda), Jack Riewoldt (Richmond), Kade Simpson (Carlton), Dane Swan (Collingwood), Travis Varcoe (Geelong Cats), David Wojcinski (Geelong Cats).
Boyd, Fletcher, Goodes, Green, Montagna and Simpson have previously represented Australia at senior level with Fletcher captaining Australia on its victorious 2006 tour to Ireland under Kevin Sheedy and Simpson winning the Jim Stynes Medal as Australia’s best player in the 2008 series on home soil.