Sydney Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh will join an all-star cast this Saturday night when the Australian International Rules team takes on Ireland at Patersons Stadium.

McVeigh will line up alongside top-line AFL talent including Joel Selwood, Nat Fyfe, Jobe Watson, Patrick Dangerfield and Travis Boak, as well as fellow Swans co-captain Kieren Jack and defender Nick Smith in Saturday’s match, which will be the first time International Rules has been played in Australia since 2011.

Ahead of the team’s final practice match ahead of Saturday’s clash, McVeigh told Radio Sports National that he could not wait to represent his country alongside some of league’s best talent.

“It’s very exciting,” McVeigh said on Tuesday morning.

“The team is stacked full of talent with some of the best players of the competition, so it’s a great honour to be able to pull on the Australian jumper and play alongside some great players.”

McVeigh, who will represent Australian for a second time after taking part in the 2010 series, said he was thrilled to be selected in the side this year.

The 29-year-old, who is due to return to the Swans for pre-season training following the International Rules, said the decision to play in this year’s series was a simple one.

“I’ve played before in Ireland and had an unbelievable time and made some lifelong friends, and to be able to meet over there was a great experience for me,” he said.

“There was no hesitation in playing again when you see the calibre of coaching staff and players, so it really was a no brainer.”


The co-captain said he was also looking forward to working closely with some of the competition’s most experienced players, including North Melbourne small forward Brent Harvey and Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher, who will both line up in the green and gold this weekend.

“You can learn so much from guys like ‘Boomer’ Harvey and ‘Fletch’ and Nick Riewoldt,” McVeigh said.

“They are players who have been around for a long, long time, so hopefully I can take some stuff away from them and learn and take it back to our footy club to our younger players.”

Following the Australian team’s poor performance in 2011, and the Indigenous All Stars series defeat in 2013, McVeigh said this year’s team had their sights set on claiming both victory and respect from their Irish counterparts in Perth this weekend.

“We have been disappointed with the results and the way it’s panned out over the last couple of years, so the boys are really keen to put our best foot forward and get this series up and running again,” he said.

“We’re taking the game very seriously this weekend and we’ve got to win this game and get things back up and running and get the respect back from the Irish.”

Saturday night’s clash will be the first time McVeigh, Jack and Smith will return to the field since the club’s Grand Final loss to Hawthorn in September.

McVeigh said the trio, as well as the Swans entire playing group, were determined to make amends for their poor finish to the 2014 season.

“Collectively as a group we probably all played the worst game of our careers,” he said.

“We’ve put things in place and have spoken about it and all we can do now is fight back and try to get some respect back, but there’s a long time before that can happen.

“We can look forward to a new pre-season.

“The boys started yesterday and they came back in good condition and now we can get started for a new year.”