Adelaide’s Nathan Bock and North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey are the only two All-Australian players in the national squad, with players such as Hawks' superstar Lance Franklin a notable absentee due to shoulder surgery.
Kennelly himself has been ruled out of action due to shoulder and groin surgeries.
“It doesn’t matter how big a name you are, it’s a totally different game,” Kennelly told afl.com.au.
“You could be a superstar at AFL and useless at International Rules. It’s all about wanting to play for your country and being passionate about doing that.”
As to the talent Australia will have at its disposal during the International Rules series, the 27-year-old Australian Rules and Gaelic football star was in no doubt about its quality.
“Daniel Wells is a star, Brent Harvey is a star. They have a few players that won best and fairests, there are premiership players with Brad Sewell, Michael Osborne and Campbell Brown.
"They’ve picked players who were involved in finals who have maintained their fitness. Players who weren’t involved in finals would have lost a lot of fitness by now so they’ve chosen wisely.”
With a high percentage of International Rules rookies on both squads, Kennelly said it would be interesting to see who can adapt to the hybrid game best.
“There are a lot of players who don’t have International Rules experience so there is an element of them going into the unknown … I remember the first time going in there was a big feeling of that but it only lasts for around 10 minutes or so, so they’ll be alright once they get through that phase of the game.”
