The Irish have enlisted a former rugby international, Trevor Brennan, to help teach the Gaelic footballers an aspect of the hybrid game they are unused to.
“It’s good to have practice at actually being tackled,” said Kennelly, who will miss the series after undergoing surgery on his groin and shoulder.
“It’s such an important tool in the game because if you can’t tackle and you can’t harass, you’re not going to be able to get your hands on the ball.
“When you’re not used to it you need to go through it and experience it at training so that you realise that it’s not that bad.”
The International Rules series gets underway in Perth on Friday, October 24, with the second and final Test in Melbourne on October 31.
Australia won the last series, held in Ireland in 2006, and Kennelly said chasing and tackling was key to the visitors’ hopes of reversing the result.
“I’ve said to the boys, if you put the Australians under enough pressure it forces them to kick the ball and they do not want to kick that ball,” he said.
“It’s like if we put an oval ball into the hands of the Irish, the last thing they’d want to do is kick it.”
