NFL 2012/1, Dubs v Kerry, Croke Pk 04/02/2012: Referee - Maurice Deegan (Laois)

[dcr22B]

Donaghy played FF in 2006 bigp

[bart]

Flynner is vital.

I agree. the reality is the job description at 10 and 12 has changed. Gilroy had the balls to go with the prototype 10 and 12 for the modern game and we won the all-ireland. It was a critical change in my view. If your 10 and 12 cant tackle- they cant play- simple as. We can all go back and wish we could play 6 scoring forwards- in the modern game you cant. You either cut your cloth to suit the way the game is played or you get a repeat of 2009.

 i'd be more inclined to start Sweeney in the corner to start his county career and see after that. He is the one guy I want to see start a couple of league games over all others.

[big P]

Donaghy played FF in 2006 bigp

Yep, I remembered it was against Longford in Kerry in the qualifiers, just wasn`t sure which year, but there is no doubt in my mind that the switch made in that particular game was a turning point in Kerry`s quest to win the All Ireland that year. Is Sweeny even training with them Bart?

[URoy]

I agree. the reality is the job description at 10 and 12 has changed. Gilroy had the balls to go with the prototype 10 and 12 for the modern game and we won the all-ireland. It was a critical change in my view. If your 10 and 12 cant tackle- they cant play- simple as. We can all go back and wish we could play 6 scoring forwards- in the modern game you cant. You either cut your cloth to suit the way the game is played or you get a repeat of 2009.

 i'd be more inclined to start Sweeney in the corner to start his county career and see after that. He is the one guy I want to see start a couple of league games over all others.

I'd disagree that Cullen and Flynn are similar types of players. Flynn undoubtedly is in the 'modern half forward' role but with Cullen I think they started with a natural scoring half forward and moulded him into adding the 'ugly stuff' to his game (I was in the camp that never thought Centre Back was his best position). The advantage with this type of player is that while they do all the tracking back and tackling, they still have the composure to take or set up the score when the chance arises (off either foot in Cullen's case). Flynn hit 1-4 in the Championship which on the face of it isn't bad but he missed at least twice that from scorable positions. And let's be honest, some of his attempts at kicking points from distance were laughable (plus he got pretty lucky with the goal against Kildare). He'd still walk into my starting 15 but I'd rather see him deployed in a position where there's less of a reliance on him to score and leave that to those better equipped. Sweeney and Rock work much harder than they're given credit for and Rock virtually played a Cullen role in that Under 21 All Ireland winning team while still racking up some big scores along the way. I agree there's no going back to having a pure scoring forward at half forward but I'd like to see us use the league to try fashion a worker/tackler out of the lads we have that we know can take a score. Because two of this type of player is better than one, even if it means the new guy becomes Cullen's replacement off the bench this summer. If it doesn't work out, we can always go back to the tried and trusted for the Championship.

FWIW I think Sweeney's greatest threat lies in picking up the ball deep and running at defences a la Alan Brogan - he frightens the shite out of defences and I'm convinced he could do the same at Senior level.

On a more general note, leaving aside the matter of motivation, I believe that if we go with exactly the same plan as last year we'll regress, as other teams will have studied what we did. We'll need to give them something different to worry about just to stand still IMO.

[Ricoh]

I'm a card-carrying Flynnite of long standing but he is not what you could call a scoring forward - while his averages don't look bad he failed to score in 3 of our Championship games. He also frequently takes the wrong options when we're counterattacking - Cullen on the other wing is so much less wasteful in this regard. I'd like to see us develop somebody there who can do the hard work but for whom scoring points and picking the best pass comes more naturally. Maybe Kev Mc could step up while from the younger guns Dean Rock and Gary Sweeney look the most likely (granted Sweeney mightn't scrap as much but his creativity would more than compensate IMO). Flynn's good at half forward but I genuinely believe we can still improve there.

Russell Cleere from Syls was the best underage wing forward in years IMO. Think he's been unlucky with injury/illness, but is still only around 23/24. With the right training think he could be a very good Dublin player- when it comes to natural ability he has it in buckets.

[Mr.Purple]

None of the Cleeres ever really made the step up to senior county level, not saying Rus wouldn't but let's say I wasn't surprised he didn't push on. He is a fine club footballer though, I probably haven't seen enough of him to say for definite, but I would doubt he has the full package to be a county standard footballer.

Just my tuppence worth. For what it's worth!

[Ricoh]

None of the Cleeres ever really made the step up to senior county level, not saying Rus wouldn't but let's say I wasn't surprised he didn't push on. He is a fine club footballer though, I probably haven't seen enough of him to say for definite, but I would doubt he has the full package to be a county standard footballer.

Just my tuppence worth. For what it's worth!

Russell was the most talented of them. Nicky and Airy still playing in the FB line for Syls seniors- think pace was the only thing holding them back from the step up as they both read the game very well and have good footballing skills- Airy in particular.

Think Russell is still young enough that with the right training he could be of IC standard- and a high standard at that.