Benji looking to increase standards and challenges

Life at the sharp end of inter-county management can be challenging, if you’ll forgive the euphemism.

Benji Whelan of Waterford could strip away the euphemism for you.

Take the most basic challenge: finding players to line out for the Waterford senior football team.

“The guys who were good players last year are still good players this year, so I’d say we (management team) went to about 100 players this year. We’re down eight players we would have had last year, and five of those would have been nailed-on starters.

“What we want are players who want to pull on the Waterford jersey — what the supporters want, what supporters in every county want. That’s the bottom line.”

Not all the players can do that. Work, family — all the challenges of modern life can cut across a player’s willingness to commit: if a player changes job to somewhere more remote, then that can strip away an option for Whelan and his management. Distance from the spotlight doesn’t help either, of course.

“Progression from the point of view of where Waterford football is now is a matter of playing better opposition on a more regular basis,” says Whelan.

“That’s going to drive standards up.

“If we got to Division 3, then there’s an obvious improvement in the levels we’re playing, but it’d also attract better players in as well. Some of them aren’t prepared to make the sacrifices right now because of the standard of what’s on offer. Let’s be straight about that.

“Perhaps if there was more notoriety involved, a bit more exposure, and even going for a Division 3 title, or getting to Division 2 — then I could see why players’ heads would be turned. But this is what we’re facing into in terms of pushing on from last year.

“What I’d love to see is the league being played during the summer, when fellas know they might get 300 or 400 people going over to Fraher Field on a Saturday afternoon with the sun shining, people going over to see a game of ball.

“That’s obviously going to be more attractive than going out to play in the muck, in conditions where it’s very hard to produce your best form.

“The provincial championships have an importance, and there’s a nostalgia attached to them, but there has to be realism too. We have to move on. And to give the GAA credit it does move on within certain parameters, but it would also be a big step it’d also be a big help in attracting players in.”

The Fixtures Calendar Review Taskforce recently issued a report with a 4x8 provincial structure among its proposals. Something along those lines?

“Playing in the best conditions with a crowd which wants to see a game, that’s going to make it more attractive for the player.

“In Waterford, we’re in a situation where we’re finding it hard to attract out best players, and until that happens (fixture reform) it’s a situation that’ll continue.”

Before that happens there are other differences to face next season. Rule changes like the sin bin, for instance.

“The sin bin is positive, to me — particularly at inter-county level you could have guys sitting in the stand and the line is so fine when it comes to lads who start and who don’t. Effectively you could be bringing on lads as good as what started, depending on the level they hit.

“So being down a player for 10 minutes would be different, even though you could see teams maybe being a bit more defensive during that time they’re down a man. But let’s see how it goes.”

We chatted not long after Jim Gavin stepped down as Dublin manager, which set Whelan on another track: “If I sat down with him for a chat, I’d know the answer to the question I’d ask, and it’s ‘what’s the most important aspect of a player?’ Even though the athletic development I see in Dublin in the last 15 years is incredible, it comes down to the ball skills.

“I’d regard the Kerry players’ ball skills as by far and away the best in the country, but Dublin are fast catching up, to me. The comfort they have on the ball, carrying it, holding it, and that’s something I’ve learned since taking roles like this.

“From the point of view of resources, and what Dublin have available to them — there are so many hours in the day, and there’s so much information available that can be gleaned from every game, from every training session, the key thing is to prioritise — what’s the important stuff to act on, and what’s nice to know. You can have too much information, too.”

Back to Kerry, though. Waterford face Limerick tonight in the McGrath Cup, then Clare on Sunday, but Whelan feels Kerry ask different questions of teams, particularly of defenders. He’s seen sides from the Kingdom up close and personal in the Munster club championship: is that higher level of skill immediately noticeable when facing Kerry sides?

“When you play against CIT or UCC and you have inside forwards playing against you from Kerry, then your inside backs are going to be challenged far beyond what they’d normally see.

“It’s fantastic to play those teams, because players like that stand out as having grown up with a football.

In a challenge match we had recently we were up against Kerry forwards and we were seeing stars for the first ten minutes; then we got to grips with it and we ended up losing the game by a point or two in the end, which wasn’t too bad.

“The next day we play it mightn’t be at that level, though, and we’d need to be hitting those levels regularly to get better, but that kind of ten-minute period, when they’re looking around to try to figure things out — that forces their hand, because they have to try to solve the problem between them out on the pitch.”

Problem-solving. Facing challenges. Inter-county managers everywhere can sympathise.

Limerick (v Waterford): D O’Sullivan (Monaleen); D O’Doherty (Newcastlewest), G Noonan (Drom/Broadford), M Donovan (Galbally); T McCarthy (Kildimo/Pallaskenry), I Corbett (Newcastlewest), R Childs (Galtee Gaels); J Ryan (Oola), A Enright (Fr Caseys), R Glynn (Bruff), J Lee (Newcastlewest), G Stack (Gerald Griffins); P Scanlan (Glin), D Neville (Ballysteen), K Daly (Na Piarsaigh).