Kildare midfielder Dermot Earley says the removal of the square-ball rule is a "positive thing".

The controversial rule arguably cost the Lilywhites their place in both the 2010 and 2011 championships - and they were on the receiving end of a generous decision against Meath last year - so Earley certainly knows what he's talking about when he says:

"I suppose it's going to get rid of all these decisions - bad decisions. It takes that out of the game.

"People are talking about players standing in the square, you know - you want to make a contribution and you can't really do that standing in the square. I don't think there's going to be a lot of problems to it.

"I think it will be a positive thing, that it will get rid of decisions that have been made over the last couple of years where legit goals have been disallowed," Earley continued at the launch of Newstalk's championship coverage.

"I'm sure by the end of the summer we're all going to have different opinions on it again but until then we'll get cracking into the championship and see how it works.

"It depends on what kind of way you want to play as a full forward, do you want to play in on the square? But that's only a very small area and then you're relying on defenders kicking in perfect passes as well to be of full benefit.

"If the ball isn't running correctly, all the defender has to do is box you out. So look, there's a lot more to it than just standing around the square but it's going to hopefully bring in better decisions than those that have gone against teams." Tweet

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