James Horan is one of the many great faces of Gaelic football on Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee tasked with changing the face of the sport.
The FRC formed late last year and have spent months reviewing the perceived negativity of modern Gaelic football, with a hope of improving the entertainment value for the years ahead.
Chairperson Gavin has been joined by inter-county players and managers past and present, with Horan, Éamonn Fitzmaurice, Malachy O'Rourke and more making up the committee.
The core proposals are set to be put to the test publicly for the first time next week, when the Railway Cup is revived in Croke Park under the new rules.
Some of the more eye-catching rules include a 40-metre arc outside of which scores over the bar will count for two points, a 1v1 throw-in, and changed rules around kick-outs.
One of the most contentious suggestions was the committee's proposal to replace penalty shootouts.
The GAA's explanation of the rule change says that it would, "Be a means of determining the outcome of a game without penalties or potentially even extra time. If the game is drawn the ball is thrown in again and the game is continued until one team scores. The other team then gets one more opportunity to score. If they score and that ties the game then the ball is thrown up again and whoever scores next wins the game."
Opinion was split on the proposal when it first emerged last month, but it was since been put to the test in some of the GAA's "sandbox" challenge matches, tasked with giving the new proposals a dry run.
Speaking on the Irish Examiner's Gaelic football podcast this week, James Horan reflected on the most recent of those "sandbox" games, which took place last weekend between Cavan and Kildare.
Ex-Mayo manager Horan revealed that the sandbox game had thrown up several issues with the proposed "overtime showdown" that could see it scrapped.
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James Horan gives insight into Football Review Committee's view on overtime showdown
29 June 2024; Brian Fenton of Dublin kicks a point despite the attention of John Maher of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
One weakness of the "overtime showdown" which was put to James Horan was that it could pose an unfair advantage to teams playing with the wind at their backs.
Horan responded by saying that further issues had been exposed by the Cavan v Kildare challenge match that could see the proposal scrapped.
I'm not sure that will be going forward.
We had a seventh sand-box game on Saturday, Cavan played Kildare. It was actually a cracking game, up in Mullahoran. We had a number of experienced inter-county players playing on both sides.
The overtime showdown...it was one of those things we tried, there were lots of things we were proposing. Some of them made it through trial, some of them didn't. We're having a final review on this because, even at the weekend when we did it...it wasn't breeze-related but that is a very valid concern.
Players are tired after a game so the decision-making and your skill execution is probably down so the scoring return is down. There's too much of a variable in time, in my opinion. It went on to 78 minutes before the first shot went off because there were turnovers and there was this, that, and the other.
With that amount of variability, we have to take that aside and tease through that to see is it a valid one to propose. I'd say that's under serious discussions at the moment...I don't know if I'm meant to be announcing that! But it doesn't matter.
The hunt for a satisfying solution to the penalty shootout conundrum seems like it may have some way to go yet.
Despite that revelation, James Horan expressed his excitement for fans to get their first glimpse at the proposals for a new era of Gaelic football during next week's interprovincial series.
The question firstly that these guys do on the rules before the game - their level of understanding is top-notch - really smart players pick this up very quickly. You could see over the course of the four quarters their understanding of the game growing as the game progressed. The questions they have, they really get to an understanding very quickly, you can see it throughout the games.
I'm really looking forward to the two games up in Croker. They're going to be televised, people are going to see the new rules in action, which I think is key - top players doing it.
You can listen to the full Irish Examiner Gaelic football podcast here.
