Pat Spillane has called on Jack O’Connor to ‘ease up on the handbrake’ as he enters his final year as Kerry football manager.

In a week when O’Connor unveiled a new-look backroom team which includes the much-travelled Cian O’Neill, Spillane uses his Sunday World column to appeal for a more attacking mindset.

“Jack is conservative by nature, preferring a safety-first approach and is reluctant to change,” the Kerry legend wrote.

“And he stays loyal to a hard core of players. And that’s probably his biggest challenge. Getting Kerry to play less conservatively, less focused on safety-first and easing up on the handbrake.

“Take risks. Use the league for experimentation, try new players, new tactics, new game plans. How about a bit of thinking outside the box? Let’s have a forward line with – guess what – exciting scoring forwards, not work horses.

“Let’s look at wing backs: why not Paudie Clifford at wing back, or some other forward? Three of the highest-scoring half backs this year were converted forwards in Peadar Mogan, Craig Lennon and Seán Bugler.

“To repeat myself, improved forwards coaching is a necessity. We need to get the best out of Kerry’s forwards – we are not getting it at the moment.”

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