Mayo's Sam Callinan interested in what new rules could bring to football

Mayo defender Sam Callinan says he is looking forward to seeing how the new rules will change football.

Callinan was speaking as he part of the Sigerson Cup set-up at UCD, where he helped them reach the final last year, only to come up just short against Ulster University.

While the colleges' competition is the final time we see the current rules in place, the Mayo man has been getting used to the new rules with his county, as the National League will mark the introduction of the changes by the Football Review Committee.

Having been involved in a challenge match with Mayo at the weekend, where the rules were in place, the Ballina Stephenites defender is interested in how they will improve the game.

"In fairness to our management, from the day they were ratified, we've been implementing those walk-throughs and training sessions," he said at the launch of the Electric Ireland Higher Education Sigerson Cup.

"Sometimes it's at the cost of a hard running session. We do a hard session on the Tuesday and then a tactical workshop at the weekend.

"We're doing a lot of work, and a lot of it is player-based. There are far better footballing minds than myself among the player base who have really good ideas and are innovative about how things could play out.

"It's a lot of discussion going back and forth at the moment, and it's showing in the training. There are different drills and modifications, and we're seeing what could happen here and there.

"But it is hard. In the heat of the league, we'll see how things really play out then."

As a defender, Callinan is most interested in the three-v-three rule, which requires each team to keep three outfield players in the opposition half at all times.

"From what I'm seeing, the main