Forwards on fire - rule enhancements leading to scoring surges

The era of the superstar forward is back, and while the arc may be inflating the numbers to a pretty big degree, it's hard to ignore some of the tallies being put up by some attackers across the country.

For years, trudged down in the defence-heavy quagmires, ace forwards were blotted out by bodies.

Over the last 10 All-Ireland finals, on two occasions three points has been enough to be joint top-scorer (2015, 2024) with a couple of 0-05s in there too (2019, 2023).

Shooting rates may remain pretty linear, but given the sheer number of orange flags being raised, there is a growing sense that 'finishers’ are being given a greater license to take a pop from less certain areas.

It’s only a matter of time before xP (expected point) becomes a more familiar phrase in the GAA lexicon, and counties are discovering that they have the talent to exceed it.

It’s no surprise to see Shane Walsh top the Division 1 scoring charts with 0-30 in three and a half games having been handed a bench role for the first half of their opening win over Armagh.

The obvious argument is that in old money, he’d be sitting on 19 points, but the question is, how many of those shots from outside 40 metres would he have taken on if there wasn’t that added bonus of an extra point?

Across the board in Division 1, two-shot conversion rates sit at 36%, a figured that would have horrified managers in the past but with that bonus ball factored in, will be deemed acceptable.

Take a return of 0-07 from 10 shots as being par for acceptance in 2024, then that 36% is still racking up 0-07 this year too.

Throw into the mix the recent returns of Kerry’s David Clifford, Tyrone’s Darragh Canavan and Dublin’s Con O’Callaghan – just the 4-11 between them last weekend – and the GAA