Radical reform is needed for Gaelic football to thrive

There is a danger that Gaelic football will stagnate unless it reforms itself radically, argues Dónal Óg Cusack

A few years ago at Cork training Denis Walsh set up an exercise for us. The backs were to defend against the forwards. It was a conditioned game. Only goals could be scored. The forwards would start in possession around midfield.

So I called the six backs in and said ‘okay lads, we line up with a wall of four players across in front of me and then two players in front of them. Nothing passes. Stay disciplined. If somebody gets pulled out of the line of four somebody else drops back to take their place immediately. Stay fluid. We always have bodies in front of the ball. Just suffocate them.’ The drill didn’t work out as Denis had planned. An exercise designed to improve the capacity of our forwards to make and take goal chances had turned into a look at the design flaws built into modern Gaelic football.