Cavanagh: Things could get ugly

SEÁN CAVANAGH has warned that the 2012 football season could be ugly and believes the GAA will have to combat the growing physicality and defensiveness of the game when more teams follow the lead of sides like Dublin and Donegal.

“It’s gone to the stage where everything is about power, strength, conditioning,” he said. “Gaelic football now is essentially basketball, 12 men behind the ball and a couple up front. Positions mean very little and it is more important now to be a tackler than it is to be a scorer.

“Whether that takes a bit of the beauty of the flair out of the game that inside forwards have, probably. I’m sure the GAA will maybe look at it if it is an ugly season in terms of spectator sport. The GAA will need to take a look at it and see what way they can change it.