Early GIU data reveals kickout shift but handpassing static

Data gathered by the GAA's games intelligence unit over the first three rounds of the Allianz Football League has revealed significant changes in how teams are approaching kickouts while the new rule enhancements have thus far failed to turn the needle on shooting stats.

The number of handpasses to kickpasses hasn’t significantly changed either, although fouls given away for dissent are essentially non-existent with Division 1 still waiting for its first.

In the first report from phase 1, which will run for the entire 2025 season, of their statistical analysis to assist the Football Review Committee, the GIU analysed 47 games examining over 1,000 events per game.

It has found that while kickouts were split almost exactly between long and short in the 2023 and ’24 championships, the story is much different this year with long kickouts sitting steady at 79% across the first three rounds compared to 21% short.

Contested kickouts have also witnessed a significant rise from 36% in 2023 and 26% in 2024 to over 60% in the league to day. That figure has risen in each round, from 61% on opening weekend to 68% in round 3 with Division 1 seeing the lowest numbers across the four tiers.

One area of little change though is the number of handpasses compared to kickpasses in football.

In 2023 the handpass-kickpass ratio was 3.2 and 3.4 the following season, and it hasn’t diverged from those numbers in 2025 with 3.2, 3.4 and 3.2 recorded over the first three rounds.

While scorelines have risen significantly with the introduction of the two-point arc, total scores and shots have actually remained linear.

In 2023, an average of 54.2 shots led to 30.9 scores, not much change from last weekend’s action that saw 55.4 shots leading to 29.8 scores.

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