The Australian women's team has been thrashed in its inaugural International Rules series against Ireland, losing its second and final Test at Parnell Park in Dublin on Saturday night in bizarre circumstances.During the third quarter, the Irish had too many players on the ground with the resultant sanction seeing them stripped of all points scored during the match, but despite having to start from scratch, the Irish were still too strong and won by 21 points - 3.5.6 (39) to 0.4.6 (18).But this series did not have any tackling, which proved to be a significant advantage for the Irish women and a frustrating aspect for the Aussies.Last Tuesday in Australia's first Test, it lost to Ireland by a whopping 130 points at Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan.Kathy Zacharopoulos was Australia's only goalkicker in the first Test. Her goal came at the 11-minute mark of the first quarter.The final score of the first Test saw Ireland 6.26.16 (130) defeat Australia 1.2.3 (15).Australian co-captain Michelle Dench was among Australia's best, while co-captain Renee Campbell did not play in the first Test because of injury.For one player, Sarah Hammond, a 31-year-old ruck-rover from Darebin in the Victorian Womens Football League (she was a member of the 'Mugars' 2002 and 2006 premiership sides) it was a great opportunity to represent Australia again - although this time in another sport.Hammond also represented Australia in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in handball."I'm extremely honoured once again to represent Australia in the very first International Rules series for women and hope the concept continues and grows in popularity like the mens," Hammond told afl.com.au."Having a background with a round ball and playing at that level has really helped me with playing in this series."I had quite a few tours to Europe as a handballer and played as a semi-professional in Denmark, up north in a place called Fredrikshavn."I originally got involved in the sport after I went down to the local basketball court and watched a game of handball and I said, 'I'll give that a go'."And because Sydney had automatic qualification for all sports in the 2000 Olympic Games, they were looking for young people with potential to play handball and that's when I took it up."Hammond played in all four Olympic matches for the Australian handball team. She said the Aussies faced tough competition against the Europeans."They've played the game from the time they started walking in Europe," Hammond said."I haven't played handball since 2002, but I played both football and handball for a year-and-a-half until I concentrated on footy … but also the body couldn't handle playing both."But after playing handball from 1994 until 2002, Hammond played Australian Rules and has not looked back - although she always had a passion for the game."I enjoyed footy when I was growing up. I lived in Carlton and barrack for them and used to go to Princes Park a lot," she said.Hammond had a fine International Rules series for Australia and was strong in the backline during the second Test. Her attack on the ball and toughness was a feature of her game.