Ridiculous rose tinted examples. You just named a few big name forwards who might have stood out more as they had more space. Canavans son is probably as skilful as him without the same level of dog. Skill levels are higher in general. More backs can kick points, solo run, handpass off both hands etc.
Corkery only looked heavy. He was well able to move
I think you are a bit all over the place on this to be honest.
Ability to win your own ball is a skill, itās not just jinking and dummy solos. There was a debate here whether Canavan was an all-time great, I donāt expect we will need have that debate for his sons.
Skill levels on handpassing are significantly higher, I agree with you on that. Itās just all the other skills that are much worse. Not many people go watch players because of their handpassing ability. If you disagree with the list sure throw up your own.
1 Like
Wed all agree games were far more open back then so I presume there were far more scores were there?
No scoring rate was similar or a bit lower I reckon. There were proper skilful defenders back then, I mentioned Moynihan and Fay but others like McGeeney, Mannion, Lynch were outstanding talents too.
Iām interested to know why you think players who train and play in a way that involves far more structure and tactics would have better football skills than lads who played in a more open, expansive style, other than the handpassing of course?
1 Like
Thought football was brilliant in the early/mid 2000s, Laois, Westmeath, Limerick, Fermanagh and others were mad competitive with some truly outstanding players. Breakthoughs by Armagh and Tyrone. Outstanding Galway and Kerry teams. Meath still around, Dublin in the pack. Bitter rivalries, characters and compelling story arcs. The Golden era.
Dublin/Mayo has been great fun recently as well obviously.
3 Likes
They train more, theyve been coached better all the way up as kids. The best players back then were as skilful if not more skilful, itās general skill levels across all players Iām talking about.
In the early 2000s (00-04) five different teams won the Leinster Championship in 5 years.
In the 19 subsequent championships the roll of honour has Dublin winning 18 and Meath 1
3 Likes
Yes but how do they train and what do they work on? The S&C levels are incomparable, much of training time is spent on that.
Schools matches are finishing with scorelines of 0.4-0.3, how many of the skills of football do you think the ābetter coachingā has worked on? If a player was trying to improve his long kick passing, shooting from distance and shooting off his weaker foot from tight angles do you think his coach is encouraging that, or is he being taught to recycle and being given a bollocking for trying anything that isnāt from the standard playbook? I know which it is, and itās not the one that develops a more skillful footballer.
4 Likes
When you see the current Kerry team itās very uninspiring bar David Clifford.
Kerry havenāt produced a top class in a long time.
I think kids are coached now to use both feet, both hands and there are player pathways and development drills and structures but kids donāt practice nearly as much outside structured training.
2 Likes
These skills are practiced in drills at a young age because thatās what the training manual promotes, but how many are encouraged to try the difficult thing in games? And especially when they get into u16 on, a player trying difficult stuff and overturning possession just is not tolerated by his coaches or teammates because they will spend the next few minutes chasing the ball trying to get it back.
2 Likes
Dublin v Mayo saved the 10ās, without their savage rivalry the rest was pure shite.
1 Like
Yeah itās all percentages now and kick out drills and retain possession
3 Likes
They have the individualism coached out of them and if you havenāt the athleticism for what they want you to do they fuck you away and coach some machine to handpass off each hand and hold him up as something to be aimed for.
You can have it pal
3 Likes
The players in every single sport I can think of are generally more skilful than they were. Why would Gaelic football be so different. Sure back in the 90s 00s everyone was saying the game was shite too. Itās a unique quirk of Gaelic football that everyone always hates the modern game.
Weāve just outlined how theyāre not.
When Messi was at his very peak with Barcelona a lot of their games were completely insufferable because the only way teams could hold him out was opting for all out defence.
There is so many lopsided games in the Gaelic football it isnāt any surprise there is a lot of teams focusing solely on defence as a mechanism to stay competitive.
If you ignore the top class forward they have produced Kerry havenāt produced any top class forwards.
3 Likes
I left out defender.
Fair enough o Connor left and a few injuries but for a football obsessed county like Kerry itās disappointing.