Tyrrell: Summer round robins have completely altered the dynamic of the league

Kilkenny great Jackie Tyrrell says the provincial round robin format and the re-structured calendar has completely "changed the dynamic" of the league since his era as a player.

The Allianz Hurling League begins this weekend, with several analysts positing that the hurling league, in stark contrast to the football league which has risen in prominence in the modern era, has been neutered and stripped of what cache it had since the championship embraced the provincial round robin model before the memorable 2018 championship.

Arguably, the stakes have been lowered further since the shape of Division 1 was tweaked in 2019, with 1A and 1B now no longer streamed on a quality basis and with just three identifiable yo-yo teams at serious risk of relegation every spring.

Tyrrell won six league titles during his career and operated under a regime, the Brian Cody one, where winning every game possible was the objective, regardless of the competition at issue.

"I think Brian's attitude was pretty clear. It was foot to the floor, every game was hugely, hugely competitive," Tyrrell told the RTÉ GAA podcast this week.

"It was an opportunity to develop, it was an opportunity to build a team, and if you personally had a jersey, you had to hold onto it.

"He followed that through that if you performed in the league, you played in the championship.

"But the nature of the championship has completely changed since then. Back then, when the league was finished, you went back to your club for a month. Then you went back into Kilkenny for a couple of weeks. There was a six-week gap altogether between the end of the league and the championship.

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