KEVIN MCSTAY HAS insisted that Gaelic football still needs ‘some little adjustments and tweaks’ and has pleaded for patience with those who believe the game is fine as it is.

After an exciting Championship which yielded novel All-Ireland winners, Mayo and a series of breakthrough provincial winners – Roscommon, Westmeath and Armagh – more rules tweaks are coming.

A total of 15 games from the top tier of the Ryan Cup, the third level league, will be used as a vehicle to trial a suite of ‘rule adjustments’.

Handpass limit

A limit of three consecutive hand-passes, and increasing the value of a goal to four points, are among the major changes, with nine amendments in total.

Former Mayo player and manager McStay, head of the GAA’s Expert Advisory Group that helped develop the proposals, acknowledged that some are happy with the game and don’t favour more change following the radical work of the Football Review Committee.

But he argued that it’s still not a perfect product, claiming there’s ‘far too much hand-passing…not enough passing by foot…and too much lateral play’.

He said these can lead to a ‘frustrating watch’ at times and claimed also that with the ‘significant growth in the two-pointer…the value of the goal seems to be under threat’, hence the four-point aspect.

“We need to be patient, let them breathe,” said McStay of the trials.

“I don’t know how they’re going to pan out. I have a sense of it. The data informs me. But I’m not…any of the eight or nine (could be retained or dropped). I think maybe five or six will get through. Because it has to navigate Congress.”

Johnny Bradley of the Games Intelligence Unit. Bryan Keane Bryan Keane

While the Ryan Cup is typically ignored by media, McStay said the GAA is hoping to carry live-streaming or TV coverage from a number of matches.

The competition runs throughout October and November and when it concludes, there will be a ‘re-evaluation’ with selected rules then going forward to January’s pre-season inter-county competitions.

Changes

“I’ve to talk to the Standing Committee on Playing Rules, and I’m meeting with Jarlath (Burns) now after this, to discuss these things,” said McStay, who was speaking to the media this afternoon at Croke Park.

“We’d like to see whatever (rules) stands up going straight into the National League, and then they would be formalised at Congress. I think that’s possible.

“That would be the hope. Because if they stand up, they stand up, let’s get them out there.”

McStay said the proposal to extend the 40m arc all the way to the endline, as well as increasing substitutions from five to six, should receive support, describing the subs increase as a ‘no-brainer’ given the apparent spike in player load and associated injuries.

The other adjustments, which include a return to short kick-outs of 13 metres or more and a backcourt rule prohibiting a return to one’s own half after crossing the half way line, will generate more intense debate.

McStay said he personally would have thought the trial prohibiting hand-passed or fisted points would have captured most attention.

“That public debate is going to happen, and that’s terrific,” he said. “I understand the noise and I understand the role the managers have and the media have and I understand all of that. But I would also like to think we’re a very independent group, that we have our own ideas about it.

“Already there’s been lots of articles and opinions on the proposals, which is fine. That’s the way the world operates and managers will immediately have opinions on it, and players.

“But we have work to do as well and we have to be guided by that work. I go back to what I said in my opening remarks – we need a bit of patience. It’s interesting to see some people having very definitive views on the proposals and we haven’t even had a trial. So I would take that position.”