Messages

What was also mad was in 2024 you'd go to a big inter Co Championship match and despite 10,20,30k or more spectators there was almost dead silence for 90% of the game.

Yeah, definite downside of these new rules will be the lack of in game updates from spectators (this will be particularly bothersome for non-televised games, especially at club level).

I actually quite like the current structure, it gets at least 12 of the top teams in the country, all start on a roughly equal footing, play 3 games to fine tune, whilst we say there's no jeopardy, there is a fair difference between finishing first and finishing 3rd in your group.

The problem with this proposed structure is the same issue we've had for the past 50 years, the provinces are totally unequal.

Maybe we could weight the provinces and have the finalists in the two strongest provinces qualify, but only the winners of the two weaker provinces.
Final league placings for all entrants in that year's championship could be used to determine rankings, it would be adjusted to reflect the differing numbers of counties of course. You'd imagine Ulster and probably Connacht would be the stronger two.

Does anyone know the craic with TG4 player when abroad? I am away this weekend and I see Tyrone v Kerry is on TG4 player live and then deferred on tv at 5:30pm.

Is TG4 player just on their website but restricted to Ireland only I wonder? Or is it a youtube stream for all?

What device you planning on watching it on?
If phone it might well be okay and similarly, if you hotspot the phone as your internet data source for another device it has worked for me previously. It seems to be that even though you're on a foreign mobile provider, the TV players still consider you a being in Ireland.
If using local wi-fi though, it locks you out and you need a VPN - that's been my experience anyway.

Diarmuid Murtagh on the radio Sunday evening described 2 pointers as "tap overs".
He said it looks long on TV but not when you're on the pitch playing.

So why were teams not doing tap overs before the rule? The endless moving the ball back sideways and looking to break lines to get into the 'scoring zone' and now they are just tapping them over, that would have nullified the swapped defence.

I think that's the maths of the whole thing.
Before it was keep possession until you're in the scoring zone where conversion rate is 75% or whatever, now, whilst conversion rate might only be 40% from outside the arc, it's worth 100% more, so the smart play is to take that shot.
And as for working a goal - it's worth 50% more than a 2-pointer, but the difficulty is presumably so much more than that, that's it's just not an option worth considering.

It's something we've seen in hurling too over the last decade, the realisation that as the probability of scoring a long range point has increased dramatically (lighter ball, stronger and better coached players), then the relative value of a goal has diminished and dramatically reduced the incentive to work goals.

Could have done without charging u16s for health and safety reasons it seems...

Who could have done? Half of Div 1 games at the weekend were full. 

2 out of 4 ain't saying much, could have done it on a game by game basis like before, Celtic Park, Healy, Park, Salthill, Castlebar or Croker aren't going to be anywhere near full for any league matches

Celtic park was near enough full each of the last two years when we played the dubs.

How long will the GAA stick with this idea of artificially creating more scoring with 2 point shots?  Clearly they have not thought this rule out long term because they aren't going to like what they see once managers figure out the strategy for it.

Being North American, the moment I heard about the 2 pointer I immediately thought about the NCAA introducing the 3 point shot to basketball.  It took a decade for coaches to eventually adapt, so I don't blame GAA managers for not having figured it out yet.  However after ten years all coaches had set their offence around the 3 point shot.  Consequently all defence strategy was planned around stopping the 3 pointer.  Thus basketball, which had great strategic diversity, succumbed to Group Think and every team has been playing the exact same game for a quarter century.

What's going to happen regarding the 2 pointer in Gaelic football?  Eventually every team will run their offence to set up the 2 point shot.  You're going to see less goals because goal chances are very low percentage and only net one extra point.  Load your lineup with 5 long kickers and bombs away!  Every team will end up playing the same strategy and same defence against that strategy(if you can defence it when the goalkeeper provides an odd man advantage).

But it will get worse.  Case in point Dublin v Kerry(in the wind!).  Dublin won that game because they held the ball 3 minutes at a time, whereas Kerry ran its regular offence.  Going against a wind which does not allow you to kick 2 pointers(but allows your opposition easy 2 point shots) time is more valuable than points.  Teams need to simply bring up their goalkeeper for an extra player then hold the ball.  There's nothing in the rules against them holding it 35 minutes.  Is there?

About this assumption that it's now harder to protect a lead.  When your opposition has the potential of scoring 2 pointers every possession, the smart play is to get the ball over centre, bring up your keeper then run the clock down.  Ultimately you are going to see games slowed down dramatically.

It is just a question of time before one smarter manager figures this out.  Then the Group Think will set in.  The 2 pointer is going to turn Gaelic football into a basketball game.  I advise they drop the 2 pointer before the provincial championships.

I'm in agreement Eoin and as I pointed out on the div 1 thread, goals are already drying up there, with one team, Donegal (with game's prime tactical innovator at the helm) have yet to score a goal.
The 100% increase in value of a point from outside the arc is so significant that the maths behind going for the low percentage goal option rarely makes sense.

My selection here is the limits on passes to the keeper, I don't think it goes far enough and it seems like it's 50/50 whether or not it will be extended to all situations come the end of the league, but there's no doubt in my mind that it's tremendously improved build up play.

What if you dislike all of them to the same amount?

To be fair I would like to see either the 3 v 3 or the 2 point arc tried in isolation but not both together to see what impact that has

Ah David, there must be one or two they really upsets you more than the others?
For me it's the 2-point arc, I could maybe live with it if we had the 4-point goal, but as is, the decision to double the value of a relatively straightforward shot at goal (for intercounty sharpshooters) has the potential to absolutely transform the game and not positively.

Just like removing the 4 point goal whilst retaining the 2 pointer (because of fears that scores might get out of hand).

And of course allowing some technical fouls to be brought back outside the arc to avail of the 2 point option if desired.

7 goals in 5 division one games to date - worth keeping an eye on how this develops with the reduced incentive to work a goal.

On the face of it, this didn't age well as the next game was the infamous Derry v Kerry 6 goal thriller in Celtic Park.

However, looking at it now.

We've had 12 games in D1, 3 of them have been goalless, 6 more have had one goal and only 3 games have had more than one goal. 
The average overall is 1.42 goals per game, but disregarding the Derry v Kerry goalfest, the average drops to 1.0 per game and removing all Derry games, the average drops to just .78 goals per game!

Donegal have yet to raise a green flag at all this year (they haven't played Derry yet!), Kerry are top goal getters with 7, Mayo and surprisingly Dublin who usually feature heavily in goal stakes (no Con yet I guess) have one goal apiece and everyone else has two goals.

I haven't looked at the other divisions in any detail, but there does appear to have been a signficant uptick in goals per games there.  I'm  not sure why this is the case, better drilled teams at the top who defend better?  Top level teams more likely to work a two-pointer?  Just an aberration that will balance itself out?

Stole this from the FRC feedback survey

https://www.gaa.ie/article/give-your-feedback-to-the-frc-rule-enhancements-during-the-allianz-football-league

Just curious to see what the general sentiment out there amongst us GAA nerds?

Stole this from the FRC feedback survey

https://www.gaa.ie/article/give-your-feedback-to-the-frc-rule-enhancements-during-the-allianz-football-league

Just curious to see what the general sentiment out there amongst us GAA nerds?

There have always been drubbings. And so there should be.

I just Googled the 1975 championship:

Louth 2-22 Wicklow 2-06
Dublin 3-13 Kildare 0-8
Tipperary 7-15 Limerick 1-5
Kerry 3-13 Tipperary 0-9
Down 3-12 Antrim 0-7
Derry 2-15 Armagh 1-7
Kerry 3-13 Sligo 0-5

Goals were easy come by back then - handpass to the net.

Lads you have to remember for a huge chunk of the audience this will probably be the first game they've seen under the new rules.

Also is it not good that there is some positivity around the game rather than the commentators talking the game down all the time?

Fair point re this might be first game for many people, but the relentless positivity can be very irksome after a while.
Every game is being talked up as being high octane and exciting and the last five years (at least) are being chalked off as unwatchable dross. Now my posts on here for those 5 years will testify that I was very much in favour of change as there was indeed a whole lot of dross, but there's no recognition that the new rules are not without flaws and that there were a whole load of excellent games the last few years too.

On the football pod for example, the increasingly hard to listen to paddy Andrews and James O'Donoghue were comparing Derry v Kerry this year v last year's quarter final - agreed, game was unwatchable, but not a mention of the classic semi-final the year before.

I think the bench is very important. Especially these days.

There's a few lads, without naming people, on the bench this past 4 or 5 years and they haven't pushed on.  Seem, to a certain extent, to be happy to sit on the bench and be part of the panel.

I don't know what goes on at training this past few years but I'd want to see lads really busting themselves and really trying to nail down a place.

Probably a good few counties have these players having the trappings of a county player.

We were brilliant under RG but he played the same 15 or 16 players every game for a few seasons. Now when we have several injuries and a retirement we're having to blood newbie's. That is necessary and will pay off in the longer term but we're going to be less consistent for a while.

Amazing how Derry/Rg were able to keep the same team week in week out during that time

We were blessed injury wise the two Ulster winning years and importantly, the players were 3/4 years younger then!
There was always a suspicion that the intensity of the RG training regime might not be great in the long-term for players, so maybe that's a factor in some of the more niggly style injuries.

Do only certain games, televised ones, operate the hooter after 35/70 mins?

Yes, only certain grounds. Seen the hooter man leaving CP today with a big box of about half a dozen hooters. I'd say they'll be part of all county grounds stock in the next few months.

Only division one at the moment.

I'm personally not a fan of how it's implemented - I'd much prefer it to be similar to rugby, with the game ending at the natural conclusion of a play. It's not as though it's an exact science anyway, so why not give that extra little bit to the crowd at the end of a game.