The chairman of the GAA's Standing Committee on Playing Rules Jarlath Burns has described Joe Brolly's proposal to limit the number of players between the 45s for a kick-out as "very interesting".

Writing in The Sunday Independent, Brolly unveiled the 'one simple rule change' that would help eradicate the blanket defence: "The goalkeeper must kick the ball out beyond the 45-metre line.

"For the kick-out, only the four midfielders can be in the zone between the 45s. The rest of the players must line up as per the throw-in, with six-versus-six inside each 45."

Speaking to RTE Sport last night, the 1993 Derry All-Ireland winner elaborated further: "A bit of trialling is obviously essential.

"There is no downside to this. People say that a keeper can't kick a ball that far. Anyone can kick a ball [32 metres].

"You are not going to get a voluntary return to Gaelic football so it's time to make a rule. And this rule is the least artificial.

"If you could get, for example DCU, where they've a bit of time on their hands and UUJ, the universities, you could get it trialled out, get a real look at it, get the stop-clock on, get an inter-county ref there. This is something that's urgently required.

"Everybody loves Gaelic football but everybody's saying 'Jesus Christ Almighty', I just can't stomach any more of this'.

"It makes the blanket defence virtually impossible to set up from the kick-out. The playing rules are no longer fit for purpose.

"The beauty of this is that it promotes high catching and it promotes the primacy of skills."

In response, Burns told the national broadcaster that Brolly's ideas were "certainly very interesting and we'll take them on board."

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