Football and hurling bubbled up from the subconsciousness of pre-season tournaments over the weekend with the opening round of the National Leagues.
For many players, their preparations for 2018's league and championship campaigns began in late 2017.
Speaking on Second Captains on Monday, former Kerry footballer Mike Quirke questioned the logic of this approach. Quirke suggested it is the result of coaches, paid by inter-county teams, who are using their roles as a money-spinner.
"I'm just fascinated by that whole thought process about teams being back four or five nights a week. I just think the whole thing is to generate money for guys who are coming in there and coaching or have physical development roles with different counties," said Quirke.
There's no player putting up his hand saying, 'I want to train five nights a week in November and December there lads because it's serious craic'. And, you know, 'I can mind myself over Christmas and I'll be ready to go for the O'Byrne Cup in January'. No player is thinking like that.
Oisin McConville, who was also on the podcast, suggested that Tyrone players are now too big, in terms of muscle, for football. This was an opinion with which Quirke agreed.
"Tyrone seem to be more affected than anybody in terms of their body shape along. I think that a pile of it is down to guys coming in and maybe not giving the best advice in terms of physical conditioning for that they're doing."
Some guys are using this as a huge cash cow and are making big bucks coming in here and spinning a falsehood about guys needing to be in the gym five nights a week and need to put on so much size.
There's no one in Gaelic football who needs to be the size of some of the guys in terms of their upper body strength. Everybody now in Gaelic football, if anything it's about trying to work on your posterior chain, on your legs, on your ability to run well, basically. Obviously, build up your upper body, but not to the extent of being a rugby league player.
"I understand and I appreciate that teams are trying to push the boundaries and see how much more they can do but really the gym isn't the place to do it. Putting on more size so your jersey looks a little bit tighter isn't the best way to go about it."
Picture credit: Sportsfile
