Can Brian Cody prevent this slump becoming a Kilkenny drought?

The word from Kilkenny is that all leave has been cancelled. 

As Brian Cody plots a plan for the Cats to recover from their earliest championship exit in his tenure, he has made the most of their being able to return to collective training on December 1 and players have been asked to reconsider individual trips away.

The sight of Cody turning up to every SHC game following Kilkenny’s qualifier defeat to Waterford as well as the odd football match was an unusual one but as early as then he was charting a course for 2018.

As strange as this past season was, it was also the first time since 2005 that his Kilkenny have failed to land the Liam MacCarthy Cup in two successive seasons.

As we all know, what followed the ’05 All-Ireland semi-final exit was a most glorious era for the stripey men when they annexed four consecutive Liam MacCarthy Cups but few would be so brave as to forecast a similar spell of domination from next season?

Why? Well, the resources aren’t there. Not just yet anyway and an extended fixture list in a tighter timeframe will place demands on a Kilkenny squad that Cody hasn’t been keen to fully utilise in recent years.

It’s been said so often before but if he succeeds in sending Cillian Buckley up the Hogan Stand steps on September 2 it will go down as his greatest achievement yet.

So what does the great man have up his sleeve? Pardon the preposterousness of it but we’ll try and answer that question now as well as address some of the points of interest regarding the team heading into 2018.

Using the league

Cody might seethe at the idea that Kilkenny aren’t best placed to win the competition but without army-tied Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly, Kieran Joyce and Shane Prendergast having retired, Michael Fennelly recuperating and the need to ensure chronic back injury victim Richie Hogan doesn’t overdo it too early, there will be an understanding from the stands in Nowlan Park that Kilkenny have to blood new players. The likes of TJ Reid, Walter Walsh and Cillian Buckley will be there to hold hands but it’s vital that Richie Leahy and Liam Blanchfield are given extended game-time. Cody, in explaining why he hasn’t used his bench as much in recent years, said he prefers to give fringe players starts rather than substitute appearances. Well, there is no time like the present.

Plans for Michael Fennelly

The Ballyhale Shamrocks man is unlikely to see a lot of action in the Allianz League or at least he shouldn’t given how claustrophobic that competition will be - to reach the final Kilkenny must play eight games over nine weeks. Instead, he and the physical department of the backroom team will be teeing him up for Leinster where he could be a vital player even if it is in a bit-part role against Galway, Wexford and Dublin.

Need for firestarters, not firemen

An indication of Kilkenny’s struggles last season was the number of players whose positions were rejigged. Had they been winning games, it might have been described as a version of total hurling but instead of making fires the likes of Pádraic Walsh and Conor Fogarty were being assigned to put them out.

To add to that, you had situations where sweepers and three-man midfields were deployed, a clearly unfit Pádraic Walsh was pushed into centre-forward against Wexford while Michael Fennelly was sent into the full-forward line, a move which still has currency if he is unable to bring his natural marauding game to midfield in 2018.

The time for Kilkenny to experiment will be in January, February and March and nobody is expecting that Reid or Hogan will stay in the same position for the entire season. But part of what made Kilkenny so special was how their established players were known by their roles.

This is a new Kilkenny but a return to that would be true to their traditions.

Emptying the bench

It will be out of necessity rather than design that Cody brings on more players during games this forthcoming season.

As he recently admitted: “Players want matches but their resilience will be tested. Freedom from injury will be important.

“Managing all the things so that players are physically ready to go again.”

That’s a game-changer for Cody who, as we mentioned earlier, doesn’t call on his bench much these days but he has no other choice now.

Building from the back

Even with Colin Fennelly away, Kilkenny should have enough attacking options during the spring to make life difficult for most teams. There’s the youth of Blanchfield and Leahy, the class of Hogan and Reid, Walter Walsh who continue to figuratively grow in stature and Ger Aylward, who will undoubtedly be sharper now that he’s a season further on from his cruciate operation. Jonjo Farrell and Kevin Kelly are also options.

It’s in the back-line where Kilkenny have had most problems. Joyce and Prendergast leave voids while Joey Holden has clearly lost confidence. This year’s U21s Jason Cleere and Conor Delaney will be given strong consideration as will Joe Lyng and Paddy Deegan may also be tried out in the half-back line. Lester Ryan showed coming off the bench this year that he is still an asset.

Stability in the backroom

What surprised many both in and outside of Kilkenny was that Cody chose to stick with the same management team as before – long-standing physical trainer Mick Dempsey and selectors Derek Lyng and James McGarry. After losing to Galway in 2001, Ger Henderson stepped away and Noel Skehan came on board. After the defeat to Cork in 2004, Skehan and Johnny Walsh were replaced by Dempsey and Martin Fogarty. After Cork beat them in 2013, Fogarty parted company to be replaced by Lyng and McGarry. Clearly, Cody doesn’t see them as being the problem but it is a change from previous fallow times for Kilkenny.

The 2018 Kilkenny team – call it

So which Kilkenny 15 will start against Dublin in Parnell Park on May 13? E. Murphy; P. Murphy, P. Walsh, J. Holden; C. Fogarty, J. Lyng, C. Buckley; P. Deegan, TJ Reid; W. Walsh, R. Hogan, R. Leahy; G. Aylward, C. Fennelly, L. Blanchfield.