The Elephant in the room

[joemamas]

How long before the uneven and unfair schedule gets discussed.
Of the teams that played yesterday, who end up in a preliminary Quarter final and win and then proceed to the Quarter finals, those teams will be forced to play (counting yesterday)five games in six weeks.
The speed of the game under the new rules, which IMO have greatly enhanced the game, take a significant toll on players unlike anything we have witnessed before. Gaelic football has become a speed game.
Given the above scenario, Why the GAA could not allow a two week break between the prelim Q final and the Q final is nuts.
It has effectively IMO significantly reduced the chances of any team not winning their group of not advancing, all because the All-Ireland final needs to be finished by July.

[tiempo]

Jim McGuinness will be all over it when excuses needed

Clubs can play week on week why can't 40 man grant funded county panels?

What's the point in players 18-40 if you aren't prepared to consider throwing them in?

[marty34]

Exactly. Taper the training week on week and from match to match.

Mc Guinness needs someone/something to blame on.

[Cunny Funt]

How long before the uneven and unfair schedule gets discussed.
Of the teams that played yesterday, who end up in a preliminary Quarter final and win and then proceed to the Quarter finals, those teams will be forced to play (counting yesterday)five games in six weeks.
The speed of the game under the new rules, which IMO have greatly enhanced the game, take a significant toll on players unlike anything we have witnessed before. Gaelic football has become a speed game.
Given the above scenario, Why the GAA could not allow a two week break between the prelim Q final and the Q final is nuts.
It has effectively IMO significantly reduced the chances of any team not winning their group of not advancing, all because the All-Ireland final needs to be finished by July.

HQ could or should have adjusted that schedule after year one of the group stage but chose to ignore it. Topping the group and avoiding a play off game is enough of reward already. As you said with the new rules with a faster more energy sapping game it could well become a bigger issue than before leaving us with games in the business end that should be competitive but probably won't be with such advantages.

[ONeill]

How long before the uneven and unfair schedule gets discussed.
Of the teams that played yesterday, who end up in a preliminary Quarter final and win and then proceed to the Quarter finals, those teams will be forced to play (counting yesterday)five games in six weeks.
The speed of the game under the new rules, which IMO have greatly enhanced the game, take a significant toll on players unlike anything we have witnessed before. Gaelic football has become a speed game.
Given the above scenario, Why the GAA could not allow a two week break between the prelim Q final and the Q final is nuts.
It has effectively IMO significantly reduced the chances of any team not winning their group of not advancing, all because the All-Ireland final needs to be finished by July.

Just to play devil's advocate:

Those who win their group should have an advantage.
Nearly every other national sport (albeit professional) plays every week, sometimes twice a week.
Clubs play every week.

[joemamas]

How long before the uneven and unfair schedule gets discussed.
Of the teams that played yesterday, who end up in a preliminary Quarter final and win and then proceed to the Quarter finals, those teams will be forced to play (counting yesterday)five games in six weeks.
The speed of the game under the new rules, which IMO have greatly enhanced the game, take a significant toll on players unlike anything we have witnessed before. Gaelic football has become a speed game.
Given the above scenario, Why the GAA could not allow a two week break between the prelim Q final and the Q final is nuts.
It has effectively IMO significantly reduced the chances of any team not winning their group of not advancing, all because the All-Ireland final needs to be finished by July.

Just to play devil's advocate:

Those who win their group should have an advantage.
Nearly every other national sport (albeit professional) plays every week, sometimes twice a week.
Clubs play every week.

Agree on first point, would a three week break suffice, not sure.
as Marty 34 agreed, this is a whole different game re energy levels.
Most games I have watched this year has seen numerous players just shagged out from the increased speed that is now involved. Just seems a tad punitive, that if you dont finish first in the group stages, your goose is pretty much cooked.

[Rossfan]

Jeopardy is finishing 2nd or 3rd.
Anyway there's a new system hext year.

[thewobbler]

We had I dunno what maybe 15 years of the back door system in AI Gaelic Football.

And before the Dublin behemoth came along, year on year the narrative would change. Some years everyone would tell you that the teams that arrived through the front door were fresher and had an advantage. Some years everyone would you that the teams that arrived through the back door, they were battle hardened and had an advantage.

My conclusion, then as now, is that "everyone" is full of shit; "everyone" just doesn't want to accept that the reason their team didn't win was because on any given day in knockout football, anything should be able to happen.

Basic summary of what I'm trying to say is, rules don't beat you. Competition formats don't beat you. Sometimes you're just  not quite good enough. Don't blame the format. Regroup. Go again.

[tiempo]

Supporters are fickle, managers are full of shit, these are universal constants

The cribbing and crying about having to play games is beyond a joke, it's a simple case of get on with it, heaven forbid you might even enjoy it and get a win or 2 along the way

[onefineday]

Jeopardy is finishing 2nd or 3rd.
Anyway there's a new system hext year.

That's it in a nutshell, win your games and get the rewards.

Unfortunately we're taking a backward step next year, hopefully not for too long though.
The biggest problem with the current system is the seeding that losing provincial finalists get. Seed the winners and all other seeds should be on the basis of league rankings and we've got a pretty equitable system.

[RedHand88]

We had I dunno what maybe 15 years of the back door system in AI Gaelic Football.

And before the Dublin behemoth came along, year on year the narrative would change. Some years everyone would tell you that the teams that arrived through the front door were fresher and had an advantage. Some years everyone would you that the teams that arrived through the back door, they were battle hardened and had an advantage.

My conclusion, then as now, is that "everyone" is full of shit; "everyone" just doesn't want to accept that the reason their team didn't win was because on any given day in knockout football, anything should be able to happen.

Basic summary of what I'm trying to say is, rules don't beat you. Competition formats don't beat you. Sometimes you're just  not quite good enough. Don't blame the format. Regroup. Go again.

👏👏👏

[twohands!!!]

One thing that could be changed is the number of subs allowed, especially now that the clock is stopped for subs is to increase it to 6, 7 or even 8 subs allowed.

Would probably need to be some rule about doing them in batches and giving advantage to doing them at half-time to limit the number of stoppages but if you had 8 subs with a rule that each team was only allowed stop the clock 4 times in a game for subs [any subs made at half-time wouldn't count towards the 4 stoppages], it would make very little difference to the game but would allow managers make a fair bit more use of their squads.

Looking at match reports it's fairly rare to see an intercounty side not use their full allocation of subs in a championship game.

[Blowitupref]

One thing that could be changed is the number of subs allowed, especially now that the clock is stopped for subs is to increase it to 6, 7 or even 8 subs allowed.

Would probably need to be some rule about doing them in batches and giving advantage to doing them at half-time to limit the number of stoppages but if you had 8 subs with a rule that each team was only allowed stop the clock 4 times in a game for subs [any subs made at half-time wouldn't count towards the 4 stoppages], it would make very little difference to the game but would allow managers make a fair bit more use of their squads.

Looking at match reports it's fairly rare to see an intercounty side not use their full allocation of subs in a championship game.

A number of managers called for that change and has fallen on deaf ears.

Even with all using pretty much all of their full allocation of subs it's clear watching games that teams even the ones that are considered ultra fit and conditioned are running on empty in the final quarter of games.

[Rossfan]

While 6 unused lads sit on a bench....
I'd suggest 7.

Otherwise what about interchange??

[joemamas]

One thing that could be changed is the number of subs allowed, especially now that the clock is stopped for subs is to increase it to 6, 7 or even 8 subs allowed.

Would probably need to be some rule about doing them in batches and giving advantage to doing them at half-time to limit the number of stoppages but if you had 8 subs with a rule that each team was only allowed stop the clock 4 times in a game for subs [any subs made at half-time wouldn't count towards the 4 stoppages], it would make very little difference to the game but would allow managers make a fair bit more use of their squads.

Looking at match reports it's fairly rare to see an intercounty side not use their full allocation of subs in a championship game.

A number of managers called for that change and has fallen on deaf ears.

Even with all using pretty much all of their full allocation of subs it's clear watching games that teams even the ones that are considered ultra fit and conditioned are running on empty in the final quarter of games.

This sums up in in line the point I initially tried to make.
This is unlike any other championship we have witnessed,
Ok free pass to the powers that be in year one, but they should acknowledge the new game, and give teams reasonable time between the latter stages of the championship.
Not too digress, but new rules have really enhanced the game. Why the rush to end it.