How have the Enhancements been for you?

IN ALL FAIRNESS

With five of the seven rounds played in the Allianz National Football League, there is now a fair sample size of the Rule Enhancements, and which will ultimately be retained or rejected.

While the scoring rates are up across the divisions, which suggests the 3-up and the 2-point arc have been the most impactful in an attacking sense, the biggest single impact to date also includes the arc, but in a kick-out sense. With goalkeepers now having to kick restarts beyond the 40-metre arc, it has done a number of things. That they are now unable to take a return pass, it means opposition teams can push up on the receiver as they won’t have an extra player to play the ball to. Also, with going beyond the forty-metre arc, there is a greater risk of a kick-out not being as accurate with the vast majority of restarts now going long, leading to more high fielding in midfield, which had almost become an extinct feature of the game in recent years.

There are few greater sights in Gaelic Football than a player leaping into the air and catching the ball at its highest point. Brian Fenton is widely regarded as the greatest midfielder of the modern generation prior to his retirement, but we rarely saw him execute the high catch skill in his career, because it was largely made redundant due to the dominance of the short kick-out in terms of retaining possession.

With teams now largely forced to go long with their kickouts, it allows teams with momentum to sustain it for longer periods which leads to wild scoring sea-changes, such as Armagh scoring 1-9 without reply at the start of their game with Dublin last Saturday, largely because they dominated the kickout in that time, where previously Dublin would have worked a short kickout to secure possession and stall the momentum before it could start.

I would think the 2-point arc will stay but aspects that need to be altered is the ability for goalkeepers to become an extra attacker, this can lead to more lateral play for teams in possession in the attacking third if they know they have an extra man. Allow the goalkeeper to play to the centre-field line but no further.

Last weekend saw the first negative impact of the new clock/hooter. I have had my reservations of this working, particularly if there is only one clock in the ground and one team might not be aware of how much time is left. Then there is also the possibility of teams playing keep-ball and running down the clock towards the end, just like basketball. The proposal was designed to take one element of responsibility away from referees, but I suggest it puts more pressure on them. There is something exciting about a close game, where no one knows when the match will end until the referee blows the final whistle. That suspense is taken away with the countdown clock, unless they bring in a regulation such as in rugby whereby the game continues beyond the hooter until the ball goes dead, bar a free is conceded for the team in possession.