Also in Cody's defense, he rarely if never starts players in his side who are younger than 21. Not even Hogan or TJ Reid were regulars until after that.

Maybe Joe Brolly should look into a rule where you can't play a senior game after your 20th birthday for club and county. It might avoid burn out in younger players. It would be tough on clubs though.

Faithfull (Offaly) - Posts: 573 - 22/01/2015 21:46:29    1685683

Good post Saffron. Teams, and not just elite county teams, now have stats on every individual footballer giving breakdowns of everything they do on the pitch. That has to have an impact on performance in a negative way as it encourages hyper sensitivity but also caution as it is better to do something safe and predictable rather than attempt something mad that might come off and be heralded as genius, but might not and therefore make you look a bit of an eijit. No wonder Ciaran McDonald retired!

One day, the SG will be giving us stats on rushing yards and completed passes :-)

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 23/01/2015 08:41:39    1685700

Good posts HulrlingDub and Saffron..This issue and Cody's assertion just highlights the basic differences between Hurling and football.
Football skills have by an large been sacrificed for relentless fitness and strength and defensive spoiling tactics. This effectively is the easy way out - with no painstaking coaching of young fellas on the skills of the game because as long as they can sprint around and tackle and offload they are considered an asset and the bigger and faster you are the better . You can get away without mastering the basics . Even Gooch said that he would not get near the Kerry team if he was starting out now again, and anyone who has an ounce of skill stands out bigtime in football nowadays.

Its different in hurling as the basic skills were always the focus as there is no point in being on the pitch if you cannot do the basics.Simply cannot get away with it. Training wise its a different set of demands and it doesnt take a genius to know which would normally be more enjoyable .. Perhaps why Cody feels that ( his ) players are not slaves ....

Finsceal (None) - Posts: 559 - 23/01/2015 10:49:42    1685735