Armagh star Jamie Clarke feels managers and coaches are instructing their players to "be cute" when it comes to exploiting the rules of the game.

Clarke sat suspended during the Orchard men’s defeat to Meath last weekend in Navan after having his appeal against the red card he picked up against Clare in Round 2 turned down by the CCC.

The Crossmaglen man was cited for a striking offence against the Banner men which he has strongly refuted ever since. 

"I'd say it's coming from the top down that there's that many rules changes that teams and managers are trying to adapt to the rules because most players try to play on the boundary of how to do things in a way that they can get away with,” Clarke told the Irish Independent.

"I'd say it's the amount of talk, the amount of change that's going on that teams and management are trying to manipulate the game. I even find trying to chat to the referees about, 'what's your reason?', very difficult, they don't want to have a conversation with you on the pitch.

"You'd like to understand what way he's going to referee the game. Some referees let it go, some don't and it's just getting that balance right for those guys across the board."

He added: "You're nearly afraid to go in for certain tackles because... even the black card now, you can get done for a black card now in the first five minutes for making a genuine effort to go for the ball. You just have to be wary of it. The old-school physicality, the natural hard hitting, it's nice to be part of that when a game is in the melting pot but now you can just bang and you're gone straight away, the referee can make a decision."

Join the hoganstand.com match tracker on Saturday and Sunday for live coverage of the Allianz Hurling League.

Tweet

Most Read Stories