New rules a boon to game but calendar still a joke

We're five rounds into the league and some managers are wondering whether a league final is more hassle than it's worth, while others are beginning to sound off about the rules.

The FRC members might be a bit startled by Robbie Brennan's scathing criticism of their handiwork. Personally, I found his comments a bit bizarre, all the more so because Meath seem to be thriving under the new rules more than most.

His main point was that the game at the moment is "not Gaelic football".

A lot of people would have said that the game as it was played in 2024 wasn't Gaelic football either. Or at least not a version of Gaelic football that people were happy to watch. A time traveller from 20 years ago wouldn't have recognised it as Gaelic football anyway.

I can understand the frustration of managers at the tight time-frame in which to adapt to the rules and the instances around poor communication of the tweaks that are being made. The 20-second rule on goalkeeper kick-outs created some bad will in that regard, given that management teams didn't seem to know it was being applied in Round 3.

Like most fans, my feeling would be that the game has improved under the new rules and has so far been a much more entertaining spectacle but that some tweaks can still be made around the edges.

Ditch the needless 20-second rule, which is only causing consternation. We saw keepers pinged in the Athletic Grounds when they hadn't even taken 15 seconds.

I'd be inclined to revert the original time-keeping system, where the hooter is gone, the clock is let run and the referee applies injury-time as before. We saw the controversy caused by the hooter in the tight finale in Cusack Park.

Obviously, as I've said here before, this handing the ball back to the