With the start of the inter-county season comes the annual discussion about the commitment levels required of players. Pre-season competitions and whether or not they are necessary, the demands on younger players at this time of year with the added obligation of third-level competitions are all well-discussed points.
"It is all gone crazy, any person that tells you otherwise is lying or they're afraid to say it, or I don't know," said Limerick hurler Shane Dowling on RTÉ's GAA podcast regarding expectations.
We all do what we do for the love of our county and that might sound like a cliche but it's the reality because if we didn't, why would we be doing it? We get nothing out of it, essentially. It is gone crazy, the demands have gone crazy.
Believing that Limerick have a chance of winning this year's All-Ireland - he's certainly not the only one in that regard - makes committing easier for Dowling. He knows it is not the case with every side.
"I firmly believe that I can win an All-Ireland with Limerick. I'm coming into my seventh or eighth year now, I wouldn't be giving it everything that I can give if I didn't believe it.
"There have to be players out there with counties and clubs that know they have no chance of winning or getting where they want to get. It's definitely difficult."
The weekend before last, Dowling returned from a troublesome knee injury to make an immediate impact for Na Piarsaigh in the All-Ireland club hurling semi-final against Slaughtneil.
That victory means the All-Ireland campaign with his club will extend until St. Patrick's Day when Na Piarsaigh face Cuala. Na Piarsaigh players and Limerick manager John Kiely face a dilemma regarding time off.
"If we win or lose the next day, after the effort that we're after giving to Na Piarsaigh, you'd probably deserve two, three, four weeks off of whatever you want to do; whether it's a week of celebrating or the opposite.
"The reality is we'll finish up on March 17th, we're back with our clubs at the start of April - we've two games.
"If John Kiely gave us two or three weeks off that means he won't see us until May 1st which is two or three weeks before the first round of the championship. He's going to want to get us as soon as possible after March 17th. We're going to want the break. We can see his point and he can see our point.
"We all want to be winners together but it's not fair on both levels. What the answer is, I'm not too sure."
Over the weekend, much was made of Corofin players Kieran Molloy and Liam Silke being forced to choose between the All-Ireland club football semi-final and the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final.
Molloy is an NUIG student and Silke a UCD student. Both prioritised the club semi-final with Molloy taking a Garda car trip from Tullamore to Santry to enter the action as a second half sub for NUIG in the Sigerson decider.
Dowling never pursued a college education and so could not speak from experience regarding that added commitment. He did, however, have an anecdote about a player who found himself in a difficult predicament.
"To be honest, there was one particular lad last week who didn't play with his college because he was three days out from playing an All-Ireland club semi-final.
"If people heard the threat the college threw at him, it might open more people's eyes."
