Postcard from Brisbane: Time to get in the zone

Some advice: be absolutely, one thousand per cent certain you've turned the immersion off before you travel to Australia. There's nothing quite like jet lag to make you agonise over trivialities as you stare at the walls in the wee small hours.

Your watch tells you it's midday while outside the possoms go rustling through the bins for some 3am snacks.

The bleary-eyed travelling Irish media may still be getting their bearings, but luckily the Republic of Ireland players are looking considerably fresher.

Vera Pauw is using "a jet-lag protocol" to help them adjust their body clocks as quickly as possible. Whenever the players have been feeling sleepy, they work out, essentially telling the body that it's day time now. Regular team walks are also part of the routine to maximise exposure to daylight.

The squad were in the business class seats when they flew out in two separate groups last Friday and Saturday, a perk Pauw stressed "makes a big difference... we all said that 27 hours [in business class] felt easier than five hours travel to Eastern Europe".

They had an open training session at their Meakin Park base on Wednesday and will face Colombia behind closed doors on Friday night [8pm local time, 11am Irish time] for one final tune-up before next week's group opener against Australia.

Thirty minutes before Ireland kick off, the Aussies take on France at a sold-out Marvel Stadium in what their manager Tony Gustavsson is describing as "a send-off game".

Over 50,000 fans will be in Melbourne to see the Matildas play their first match in three months. Their last outing was the highly impressive 2-0 defeat of England in April.

We've a strong idea how Ireland are going to line up next week, Pauw pretty much confirming midweek that