I had a yoke i butchered myself so twas barely there
These are similar. Very lightweight, easy to manipulate, you can even boil them again and reset if you make a bollix of them.
Thats the ones I’ve used
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This is from Eamonn Fitzmaurice in todays examiner. Good read.
The excitement and anticipation around the new Gaelic football rules has been building for a while now. And with it, a hint of scepticism and possibly even a fear of the unknown. The vacuum that has existed without pre-season tournaments has only added to the uncertainty. For now it is all opinion and speculation, with a sprinkling of context from challenge matches and hearsay from the grapevine.
By the time round three of the league is played on St Valentine’s weekend, we all should have some notion of the direction of travel. Between now and then there will be an establishment phase. Patience and understanding will be required. While accepting that empathy will be in short supply when league points are on the line, there has to be some level of comprehension that bringing in new rules is never easy and rarely goes completely according to plan.
If I was coaching one of the teams going into battle next weekend in the opening games of the Allianz Leagues, I would be advising the players not to obsess about the rules. It is important to know them but I would be encouraging them to focus on the football and let the rules take care of themselves. In my opinion, once they bed in the game will be a completely natural game of football. In effect, the rules are creating the conditions to allow this to happen. Opportunity knocks and my hope is that teams don’t play the old game under the new rules, but rather that they embrace the new game.
As we start to move from understanding the detail of the rules to analysing their impact on the game here are a few (of many) considerations for teams as they navigate that change.
Pressing high
This time last year, I really felt that teams would go after the high press and that it could transform the game. How wrong I was. If anything, the opposite happened with possession-based defensive football being the order of the day. Donegal did try to press high for a while but gave up midway through the league, when opposition teams constantly used their goalkeeper for an out ball to break the press.
As the goalkeeper can no longer be used in his own half, there is a huge incentive to push up on the opposition and put massive pressure on them in their own half of the pitch. Dispossession will be the target but by putting ferocious pressure on their skillset, teams can force the opposition to play the ball forward to contests, increasing the likelihood of getting the ball back. Significantly, this style of play prevents the 12 v 11 happening in your own half. I have heard reports of teams slowing down the play to get their keeper up to create the 12 v 11. The simple answer is don’t allow them to slow the game down. Get in their face and play high octane football. Geggenpress. Conversely, when in possession, backs will have to relearn how to properly support off the shoulder again. Soloing out at their dead ease under no pressure as a team retreats or sitting back in the pocket to rotate the ball the other direction should no longer be options. Break that press, though, and there is open country ahead.
Kickout considerations
Early in the league - unless a team backs off and gives up the kickout - there should be plenty of long kickouts to contests. Fielders and breaking ball savants will be in-vogue again. Attacking teams can leave players inside the opposition goalkeeper when he is kicking out now. This could cause chaos (aka entertainment) if a team is kicking into a nice breeze and a couple of players from the opposition are stationed behind the keeper for a delivery should they win the keeper’s restart. (To explain - Kerry are playing Cork. Cork have a kickout and are kicking into a nice breeze. Kerry leave two forwards behind the keeper as he is taking the kickout. Should Kerry win that kickout they can go directly inside to the two forwards that are close to goal.)
Teams taking the kickout will also be conscious of the risks associated with losing a medium, placed kickout, particularly centrally. There is a significant danger of being caught wide open and I imagine teams will start to leave a safety at the top of the traditional ‘D ’to combat that. Importantly the forwards facing the kickout can intercept the ball inside the 40 metre arc, provided it has travelled 13 metres. The backs can’t touch it until it goes beyond the arc, further incentivising the kickout press.
The fact that goalkeepers can go quick from their kickouts without having to get permission from the referee or for everyone to clear the 20 metre line provides a tantalising option of going long immediately. If the opposition have been engaged in a slow attack and have committed the maximum number of bodies forward there is a great opportunity to go long rapidly as they retreat back into shape. Get it beyond halfway and one of the three players left up the field could be used as a kickout target. This is another tactic I would use to put manners on a team that is constantly bringing their goalkeeper up to create the 12 v 11 scenario.
The Solo and Go
When coupled with the 50m advancement rule, I see huge opportunities around the solo and go in terms of attacking quickly to get at a team before they are set defensively. This can be done in any part of the field up to the opposition 20 metre line but I feel it can have a significant effect in the middle third of the pitch and up towards the opposition’s 40 metre arc. When fouled in these areas, if a player elects to solo and go, particularly as part of a quick attack, they could create goal chances. I’m surprised to hear it hasn’t been used much so far in the challenge games but I’m expecting to see more of it over the coming weeks. For the team defending the solo and go, I would be advise them to immediately back off the four metres, similar to what they do in rugby. Once the player takes the solo and go they are allowed to advance unimpeded for a further four metres, so I would wait for them to take their next play and then tackle them from there, thus ruling out the risk of a 50m advancement.
The three v three structure
There will be plenty for us all to observe and analyse with regard to the ‘three up’ rule. From the setup of the forwards, to exploiting mismatches, to how teams deal with it defensively will be fascinating. There has been a good bit of chatter around the value of playing a spine formation with the three forwards, straight up and down the middle of the pitch. I wonder about this. I think forwards should be positioned to allow them to make their runs laterally and towards goals rather than receiving the ball as they run away from goals, which a spine formation promotes. The link player or first receiver will have a critical role in terms of getting the ball up the pitch quickly. Teams may elect to have two options outside and leave a finisher inside close to goals.
A further feature of the three up is when teams look to leave an extra defender back to create the four backs v three attackers situation. Will teams push a fourth forward up in that scenario? I would, for two main reasons. I would like to dictate the terms of engagement but more importantly in the four v three scenario the backs have an extra man to bring the ball out. This could create a scenario where one of the forwards could be chasing a back out the field and would have to leave him off at the half way line to avoid breaching the rule. By having the fourth forward up that could never happen. If the opposition decide to make it a five v four to create the extra defender, I would push up on that again. Many may elect not to. This is one of the myriad of areas where teams can once more react to and counteract each other’s tactical manoeuvres rather than the one size fits all model which dominated last season.
Excitingly the three-v-three structure will also allow forwards to play as forwards again. Rather than having to traipse back the field after their man out of possession they can now burn their energy productively on attacking more of the time. When in possession their duties will involve showing hard for the ball in good areas, taking on their man and scoring. Many will have to rethink the runs they make. The players that get us out of our seats will once again have the conditions to thrive. It also means we will have more situations where backs have to defend in one-on-one situations. Think of Lee Keegan on Diarmuid Connolly back in the day. A back winning these one-on-one battles also energises the crowd. Either way it won’t be boring.
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I’d be interested to hear from anyone coaching adult football teams on how they are approaching the new season & rules.
The standout things to me:
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fitness will be massive, the new game sounds relentless if played as per the above. Tap & Go frees, 50m advancement for delaying things, quick kick outs, support runners. Being the lazy, flashy inside forward will never be so prized a role.
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Kick outs will need serious work and adjustment to.
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players will need to be retrained to lift the head and scan ahead of the play more. There should be genuine opportunities for teams that can get the ball forward quickly with long kick passes. Watching the likes of Derry last year you could see how their game fell down when they didn’t have men ahead of the ball. With 3 up top that should reinvent teams. It will also expose the backs who’ve been swimming without togs.
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That’s harsh
If you don’t hand the ball back to the opposition player, give him a hug and tell him you’re really sorry then the ball is advanced 50m
With such a gain it will just be manipulated
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Theres lots of them around.
The fielder is back and it’s gonna be great.
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I was chatting to a prominent football coach and made this point to him. He reckons this role will be a serious ball breaker as so much ground to cover on own and the transition could be much quicker in getting ball to you
He reckoned a team would need to be significantly fitter overall alright…but I’m not sure where the scope for that to come from is
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Ya this will an issue. A top manager I was talking to reckoned they’ll have to increase the sub limit.
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Or else they’ll just slow down in the game and adapt.
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Exactly, the whole idea is the ball will start to travel far more than the players again. We shouldn’t be allowing more subs to appease coaches wedded to low-skill football.
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After the league there’ll be calls to either go to quarters or reduce inter-county playing time down to 60 minutes.
They played quarters and rolling subs in the interpros and, even with that, you could see the players were bollixed.
Pre-season games I have heard about consisted of 2 40/45 minutes periods with different teams for each.
The 70 will be some stretch
We need broaden their minds not their sessions
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That’s cause most players nowadays can’t kick the ball,it’s been coached out of them.Itll have to be coached back into lads.Lots of gym bunny’s masquerading as footballers for the last 10/15 years.
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As I was told when I was younger,the ball will travel a lot faster than you can run.The same is true today.The art of the long pass/kicker will return thank god.
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We’re taking our game back lads. Send all these professional coaches to LGFA or rugby
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