Jim McGuinnessâs media duties were finishing up on Sunday, with Robbie Brennan ready outside the press room under the Hogan Stand, when he stopped for one last question. Since everything is measured these days, could he put a number at all on the increased demands on players in the new games?
Now. This is a bee the Donegal manager has kept safely housed in his bonnet since the start of the league, regularly letting it out for air without ever letting go of it. He has been adamant throughout that the game the FRC had come up with was designed for âplaying under fatigue, all the time.â So he wasnât going to let this pitch sail by.
âThe game has increased, Iâd say, by about 80 per cent to 100 per cent on last year alone in terms of the physical attributes that are required in the game,â McGuinness said after their hammering of Meath. âTheyâre doing more distance in games, but their explosive distances have almost doubled.
âSo the challenge is absolutely massive. It is a different game now and itâs a different era as well. And weâve had to â and I have had to â make adjustments to that in terms of how we train and the length of time we train. Paddy (McBrearty) may or may not agree, but we would definitely not go after training sessions to the level that we would have been 10 years ago.â
McBrearty, his captain, was sitting beside him at this point and made a brave attempt to nod along in agreement as McGuinness continued.
âBecause theyâre so finely tuned now,â the Donegal manager said. âI think most of the work now â or a lot of work now â happens in the gym. You can see from the numbers the whole way around the country, thereâs a lot of serious injuries out there at the moment.
âPeople are so explosive and strong and powerful, theyâre putting so much torque through their body that if you put them into a state of fatigue on a consistent basis, something has to give. The strength and the power is there, but the fatigue is also there.
âSo I think weâve done a good job with managing that and trying to keep them, without going over the top in our training, keep them in a good place, keep them fresh and keep building that way. That might surprise some people, but weâre definitely not the team thatâs been talked about in terms of massively long sessions and âwhipping guysâ. Thatâs not the case.â â Malachy Clerkin
