Fitzmaurice understands coaches' irritation with tweaks

It is highly unlikely that there'll be any further rule changes for the rest of the Gaelic football season, unless something "completely untoward happened", according to Eamonn Fitzmaurice.

The Football Review Committee made what are envisioned to be their final rule tweaks last week ahead of the penultimate round of the Allianz League, with changes to the three-v-three rule - now four-v-three - and modifications to how games finish and regulations around black and red cards.

Round 6 of the league was played under the updated rules, with roving goalkeepers now no longer joining as the extra man in attack due to the stipulation that four players must remain in a team's own half at all times - a number which may or may not include the keeper.

While this adjustment was perceived by some to have put the mockers on attacking keepers, both Niall Morgan and Rory Beggan were still influential in general play at the weekend, though Armagh's playmaking goalie Ethan Rafferty was dropped for the more traditionally-oriented Blaine Hughes.

Following Round 5, several managers had sounded an exasperated note around the ongoing rules experiment, and the uncertainty surrounding whether all would be in place for championship.

Fitzmaurice - an FRC member - said he understood the irritation of the managers, the 2014 All-Ireland winning boss stressing that he'd been there.

However, with the rules likely finalised for the coming year, he stressed that it was close to the point where they could recede to the background as a topic of conversation and the games themselves could take centre stage.

"I totally get it from the managers' point of view. I've been that soldier," Fitzmaurice said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.

"You're looking at the players at your disposal and you're trying to figure out what's the best way for us to play to maximise what we have and be as competitive as we can.

"The tweaks last week, for some teams, it meant they had to adjust. And work that they'd been working on for the last couple of months was probably no longer available for them.

"I get the annoyance and I get the frustration and everything else.

"But there comes a point - which is now - that it's just a case of get on with it for the rest of the year and see how the rules can work for you.

"I imagine after every match, it's probably the easiest question to throw at them from a reporter's point of view - 'well, what did you think of the rules today?'

"I think it's going to get a bit (annoying) - and we have a small bit of it with Kieran McGeeney after the match - where they're going to say, 'look lads, stop asking me about the rules, the rules are there now, it's about getting on with it.'

"It is such a topical subject, I get it. But at the same time, it is probably time for us all to look at the analysis of the game and the trends that are going on, rather than just the rules themselves.

Blaine Hughes was back in goal for Armagh on Saturday

"While it's still in the remit of the FRC and all the groups above them to recommend further changes, I'd be very surprised if that was to happen. Unless something completely untoward happened.

"It's a case now of let teams at it and let's see at the end of the season then."

While several managers had expressed misgivings about certain rule changes, Fitzmaurice says the word reaching him is that players are overwhelmingly positive.

The three-time All-Ireland winning centre-back expressed confidence that the FRC's work would allow players to express themselves and show the full gamut of their skills more than in recent seasons.

"In general, any of the feedback I've got, the players are loving it. I think they are feeling liberated.

"The players now are better conditioned and more skilful and more dedicated than they've ever been in history.

"But (because of) the constraints of the way the game was played, we didn't get to see it. We didn't get to see them express themselves.

"I think they are now, it's starting to happen and I think we'll see more of it as the season goes on."

Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Click here to read article