Declan Bonner hasn’t been spending too much time going over the GAA’s experimental rules with his Donegal squad – as he expects them to be dumped after the Dr McKenna Cup.
There were few talking points from the experiment.
The rule limiting consecutive hand passes to three was a big feature, while the ‘advance mark’ didn’t show up until the closing stages. Players had little trouble with the sideline kicks, which must now be played forward.
The rules will be trialled in the pre-season competitions, including the Dr McKenna Cup, but Bonner doesn’t expect them to still be in place by the time his side heads to Ennis to take on Clare in their Allianz League opener at the end of January.
“All they’re doing is slowing the game down,” Bonner said.
“You have three hand passes and all of a sudden you turn and go back again.
“ I didn’t agree with them from the start. The more I look at it, I just wonder how somebody let those come in.
“I’m just glad they’re only being trialled in the McKenna Cup and hopefully that will be the end of them. The top teams now are all playing expansive football and the football had definitely lifted in recent years.”
Donegal have been back in collective training since the start of this month, but Bonner says they’ve not been too concerned by rehearsing the new rules.
He said: “I don’t believe they’re there to stay so we haven’t spent too much time on them. We touch on it and speak about it but we just want the squad to be at a level where we can compete with the top teams”.
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