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I'm pleased we can agree on some things Wobbler 😊.

Regarding the new rules here is my personal take on the games at the weekend.

Cork v Kerry poor game ruined by the poor application of some of the rules.

Tyrone v Mayo poor game because Tyrone were so flat and even the rules couldn't make this one exciting.

Derry v Galway excellent game. Derry brought great intensity and the ref let both teams at it and there was loads of contact that has been missing from many games. No doubt the rules added to this game and it would be hard to argue against anything if all games were like this. This was 2 division one teams going head to head in an almost knock out game which added to it.

Dublin v Armagh was just OK. Rules didn't add to this one with 3 v 3 infractions and too stop start. Plus a few forced 2 point efforts that didn't look good. Now the Rian ONeill point was class and maybe showed that 2 pointers outside 45 could be better

Saw highlights of Monaghan v Clare and it was a real 2 point fayre with a gale behind you and that's not really exciting.

Down v Louth highlights looked really good but didn't see full game.

So just like every other year there is a mixed bag.

On one side you have David mckeown and Eoinw making their points in a balanced way but the likes of the wobbler, rossfan and truthsayer just want to tell people how they should feel.

I don't like being told how to feel. I think a lot of the issues you have brought up in your last post Wobbler have very little to do with the way the game is played and more to to with the way the GAA is run.

People are sick of everything being money orientated. Every decision the GAA makes is with money as the primary focus. I grew up listening to the jibes about the Grab All Association and never paid much attention but my God it is so true nowadays.

People harp on about having our game back. No we haven't. We have a totally new game and a sport primarily for the few who make it to county level. Even at u17 and u20 there are B and C competitions meaning seasons drag on and lads play less and less club.

If you want to go back to the good old days then play knock out championships like in the 90s, let county players have lives and play club football. Let club football prosper again. Let volunteers on the ground see the fruits of their labour with the players they produce playing with the club.

There may be a short term increase in entertainment for some people but these new rules won't fix the problems that exist in football in the long term.

This may be the best thread to post this as its definitely a BIG elephant in the room.

Does anyone at the top care about club football?

3 stories I have read today:

A survey to be undertaken on the amateur status and all it talks about is county football. Do they not realise how much is being spent by each club? Overall it would dwarf what is spent on county teams. And the players are putting collosal effort in a lot of cases. Yet the amount of REAL games they get each year is embarrassing.

Tom Dempsey of Wexford saying the young people won't get a chance to see their heroes as Wexford are out of the hurling championship. Do these lads not play for their clubs? Can the young people not have local heroes and see and know them up close?

Poacher saying that the Leitrim lads can rest for a few weeks and then get onto S&C and get ready for next year. Do they not have clubs to go and play for?

All focus is on county football. When are clubs fighting back?

Derry v Galway like watching a different sport compared to Cork v Kerry and Mayo v Tyrone. The referee letting it go is adding to this while in the 2 games yesterday the refs blew everything!

What about all the rules now?

Tap and go - good
No pass back to keeper in own half - good

Both easy to ref at all levels.

Everything else in room 101 as they say.

Donegal by 5
Tyrone by 4
Kerry by 7
Roscommon by 3
Monaghan by 14
Down by 2
Galway by 4
Armagh by 3

The game in Ballybofey hinged a lot on 2 pointers. Don't like them either.

A very open All Ireland.

Be interesting to watch Dublin in Croke Park. If they beat Armagh they could be very dangerous.

Donegal look jaded and will need the missing players back.

Kerry played nobody yet so don't know where they are at.

Galway have to beat Derry next week to get back on track and you would really need to see Walsh and Comer hitting form.

Armagh with Rian back have a strong squad.

Tyrone beginning to look the part.....could wee see a big Armagh v Tyrone game in Croker?

Monaghan could make the semi finals.

Donegal have had a tough run with 4 games in Ulster and extra time in final. It has started to show and they don't really have time to recover.

Langan and Murphy played well and McBrearty hit a good 2 pointer as well but without the 2 pointers they didn't score a lot. They will need everyone on board for the Cavan game.

Tyrone may be timing their run well. Hampsey and Kennedy will hopefully recover and continue the upward trend against Mayo. As usual they may be a dangerous opponent especially if they play for McStay next week who took unwell yesterday.

Still Tyrone were defensively sound and there is room for improvement up front with McCurry still leading the way.

Topping the group would be a big plus.

I'd go with
Morgan
Quinn
Hampsey
Devlin
Mckernan
Brennan
McGeary
Kennedy
Ben McDonnell
Harte
Donnelly
Kilpatrick
McCurry
Bradley
D Canavan

How did it get to this anyway?

Years ago lads played an all ireland u21 semi final in the afternoon and a club game in the evening.

Not saying that was right but now we have swathes of footballers not knowing when they will be playing a game.

Somewhere along the line the balance completely switched to county football holding every card and club football being squeezed to the point that Tyrone will be under pressure to be like every other county. If you want to play club league games then the players the clubs produced will rarely play for them.

And the leagues will basically become friendly games.

I feel this is a contributing factor to the lack of support at county level. People are peeved!!!

Good post onefineday.......you almost have to turn the commentary off now to watch a game.

Sure the club games at the start of the year were great games so don't have to look too far back.

Anyway with the press momentum behind it we have to accept the vast majority of these rules come in and the sport will have changed forever.

I just hope the arc is not maintained as most of the game is now played around it and the scoring changes are alien to the game we are supposed to be trying to get back to.

If that was a compromise to be made I could accept everything else even though some others are not to my liking.

Sensible calm post David.

I agree with a lot of what you have been saying for the last few months.

The arc on both sides of the pitch is what I dislike the most.

At the end of the Leinster final Louth got 2 points from a dubious free which effectively won them the game and then I went to a club game this evening and 2 such calls went in favour of one team to win them the game.

I have said it before but I would love to see a game played now without the arc.

No can't go back now but hopefully sense prevails at the end of the year and only a few of the new rules are maintained for a 5 year period.

So many commentators saying some of these rules are going to cause major controversy when the stakes get higher.

When does that happen?

League not important enough?

Provincial games not important enough?

Even provincial finals not important enough??

All of these group games to lose 4 teams.

Probably Cavan, Derry, Clare will be 3 of them.

There will be some good ties on the face of it and winning the group is an advantage but they aren't exactly do or die and that's what brings the crowds.