State of the game: new research shows just how possession-based Gaelic football has become

For the fourth year in a row, the average number of hand-passes per game exceeded 400 in championship while the number of turnovers per match decreased for a fourth consecutive season

UNDER PRESSURE: Tyrone’s Darren McCurry with Jason Foley and Paul Murphy of Kerry.  This year’s championship recorded the lowest goal return – 1.8 per game – in 11 years.

Rewarding risk should be considered the underpinning principle of future rule changes to Gaelic football.

Attempts to negate the conservative nature of the game is one of the conclusions of a forum who this month scrutinised a comprehensive piece of research.