SOME of Armagh’s All-Ireland winners have been lukewarm towards the possibility of new rules changing the face of Gaelic football – but Rory Grugan admits he can see the need for the game to become easier on the eye.
Last weekend saw the ‘rule enhancement’ proposals brought forward by the Football Review Committee trialled at a series of inter-provincial games at Croke Park, with the public afforded a first look at what the GAA dubbed ‘the future of football’.
However, the reaction was mixed, with plenty enjoying more back to front play, rather than side to side, whereas others felt it had the potential to become too chaotic.
Armagh captain Aidan Forker, Paddy Burns, Niall Grimley and Rian O’Neill were among those to face the TV cameras after Ulster outings, with Forker expressing concerns about several aspects of the new rules, while Burns was unsure about the scoring system awarding four points for a goal and two for a score outside the 45 metre arc.
Had he not been recovering from the posterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in that momentous All-Ireland final win over Galway, Grugan could have been involved with Kieran Donnelly’s side last weekend.
And the Ballymacnab playmaker believes there is an onus on everybody involved to look at the bigger picture.
“I know I’m getting older and I won’t be playing at this level forever, but I’m thinking ‘what would I like to watch in five years?’” said the 32-year-old.
“As much as I’m a bit of a GAA nerd when it comes to tactics and watching every game going, you do have to think of the long-term and what it looks like.
“That perception of us is maybe because we just won it, and we were very defensively solid, so there might be a perception that we would struggle otherwise… I’m not quite sure about that. Any good teams will adapt, and you’d have plenty of faith in good coaching.
“It’s actually quite exciting how it’ll play itself out, and what you’ll have to do differently around the coaching side of things too.”
Grugan is hoping to return in time for pre-season training, by which stage the fate of the FRC proposals will have been decided at Special Congress.
Reports have already suggested four points for a goal, and two for a 45, are likely to be scrapped – and Grugan is encouraged that former Dublin boss Jim Gavin and his committee members are “open to change”.
“I know it’s only a small sample size they’re taking it from, but they’re straightaway going off feedback from players and what they’re seeing themselves. That type of thinking is good.
“I was at a civic reception with Aidan Forker and he was saying it felt like a different product on the pitch, and there was obviously an element of a lack of competitiveness with those games – an exhibition feel where no-one’s really working quite as hard.
“All the decision-making and controlled attacks would happen more just for saving legs, because when someone like Niall Grimley’s saying that he was gassed out… he would be one of the fittest boys going, so it shows there’s a wee bit of adjusting to be done.
“To be honest I do like the idea of adjustments to the game, because there’s probably something needed, as a product. When you’re immersed in it, and all you want to do is win, that’s all you care about and you’ll do whatever.
“But when you take a step back from it, there are probably areas that need improved.”
