Monaghan legend Dick Clerkin sees a glaring problem with Gaelic football's new proposed rules that were showcased last weekend.
The GAA put an inter-provincial tournament on, aired all of the games on TV, and let the teams demonstrate how the new game could potentially look.
Ulster eventually won the competition, beating Connacht via penalties after a thrilling final with lots of goals, highs cores, and one vs one action.
Everyone could appreciate that these games were glorified friendlies, and that we wouldn't see the full picture until the rules were tested in the white heat of championship, but it has certainly gave everyone a flavour of what to expect.
Writing in his Irish independent column, Clerkin believes that the FRC tackled the wrong problem, and that the real reason the game became difficult to watch in recent years, is because it lacks physicality.
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The absence of any real physicality and old-fashioned needle left it feeling a little underwhelming. While a proper competitive environment will be needed to fully test my theory, the extra level of penalties being proposed for 'unsportsmanlike' play could lead to a completely sanitised version of football, unrecognisable from anything that’s come before.
"Since its introduction in 2014, the black card has further disincentivised what before would have been an instinctive and legitimate intent to challenge an opponent.
"The cost of being a fraction of a second late is too much to risk. Instead, players now stand off and shadow opponents, reverse and recycle. No contact, no physicality.
"This, and not low scoring if we’re being honest, has been the real source of our frustrations in recent years."
There's no doubt that players have been coached to not engage with defenders anymore, but some would argue that that's was borne from an obsession of keeping possession, running down the clock, and not giving the ball away cheaply.
This turned the game more conservative, and in turn, much harder to watch.
