Michael Murphy will be rubbing his hands!
I like the idea of the mark,good lads will just play on while some will mark it depending on the score.All games evolve and if it doesn’t work then so be it.The naysayers are giving me a pain in my balls already and not even 1 game played yet.
I don’t think it evolution… Where once a lad developed the skill to play with his back to goal and kick over the shoulder, You’ll now have big apes inside to catch the ball and take the mark not even considering playing on… A bit like blanket defense diminished the man marking role, we’ll loose another skill of game…
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I don’t know if this rule change was needed but one of the consequences of it should be that the man marking role comes back into the game in a major way. No point teams now putting a wall of players on their own 45 if a simple 20 yard kick gives the opponent an automatic shot at goal.
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I think that might of been the object of the rule. The rule was in for this year’s league and the sky didn’t fall.
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Be interesting to see what Jim Gavin does with it. He totally blanked it in the league as it wasn’t going to be a factor in the championship.
It could end up being a mess, and it puts even more pressure on refs at club level, but it will give managers across the country great chance to innovate. Will be interesting to see what Rory Gallagher and his ilk do now.
For those of us operating at the local level I wonder how easy it will be to get underage players to understand this rule, I suppose if they can figure out offside in soccer they can figure out what a 20 yard kick pass is.
The mark was the only reason Tyrone bate Dublin in the league this year.
How so?
They scored two points from marks, Dublin scored 1. They won by 3.
I think it was the early diagonal balls into McShane and Donnelly that highlighted a weakness in the Dublin defence under the high ball.
They only played high balls in because of the chance of a mark,otherwise it would have been business as usual just running from deep into the 45 then turning around and passing it back.The likes of Tyrone will thrive under the new rules if they apply themselves properly
They played direct diagonal balls in because it’s a weakness Dublin had. Tyrone got a lot of joy in the late stages of the 2018 All Ireland final when they threw Colm Cavanagh full forward and he caused all sorts of panic, winning a penalty.
They played high ball in there as McShane was a good ball winner who could turn and take a score off either foot, they persisted with these tactics throughout the Championship where there was no mark and McShane finished top scorer in the Championship and a shoe in for an All Star.
They played these tactics against Dublin in the Super 8s dead rubber this year and again it caused Dublin an awful lot of problems. Rory O’Carroll was brought back in because of the issues Dublin had against Tyrone in that league game primarily and he played himself out of contention with the issues he had at Healy Park in the Super 8s game under the long diagonal ball.
Gotta admire your line of thinking
Dublin’s uncertainty under the high ball was well talked about coming into the Championship, they brought a player who had barely kicked a ball in about 4 years back into the squad in order to help them deal with this.
The fact that it was Tyrone who exploited this in the league is really a moot point but Massey said the only reason Tyrone beat Dublin in the league was the mark, the mark had a scoring differential of 1 point in that game. Dublin were a bit off colour in the league and Tyrone played a game plan that exposed a vulnerability in the Dublin rearguard.
I don’t like the mark, I don’t think it’s something that will improve the game. I don’t think it is something that will benefit Tyrone, as I’ve said McShane excelled in Championship this year without the mark.
‘Lads are dropping in and out all the time’ - GAA facing crisis as 63 players leave inter-county panels for 2020
Shur why would you bother
But McShane going off to play AFL is the wolf in sheeps clothing according to some.
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Too much sacrifice for little reward
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Cahir knows
He’s worthy of the title
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