Armagh's Oisin O'Neill: Players 'frustrated' at continuously changing rules
Oisin O'Neill says it's "frustrating" for players that the rules of the game are still changing with less than six weeks of the season remaining.
The latest alteration from Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee (FRC) comes to a new regulation they brought in themselves a few weeks ago.
In the initial tweak a player that caught a kickout cleanly for a mark and elected to play on couldn't be challenged for four metres.
The 50 metre penalty for contact in such a scenario proved draconian and often resulted in two point frees being scored - all based on a split second judgement by referees around the catch and the consequent play.
However, the FRC have acted again and the punishment for such an offence will now be a free from where the contact occurred, a major reduction in the penalty for such a breach.
This has led to fears that every time a player catches a kickout cleanly and tries to play on they will be fouled straight away.
Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney was one of those to voice reservations, citing his concerns following his side's weekend defeat by Galway.
'I think Kieran's biggest issue is that they (rules) constantly change,' said Oisin O'Neill. 'We played half the League and then they changed and now they're talking about another change this week.
'There are four rounds of the championship left. like. I think Kieran has no issue with the rules. It's more just that they keep continuously changing.
'As players, that's frustrating because you're working on one thing one week and then it might change. But look, whatever it is it is, and we'll be ready for the quarter-final in two weeks.
'At the end of Round 5 they changed it. We probably had to tweak a few things that we had been working on and change certain things that we were trying to work on.'
O'Neill, often a target for Armagh's long kickouts says the mark can work if it is officiated 'in the spirit that the rules depend on.'
'You have to allow a little bit of leeway for players to compete for the ball,' he continued.
'I think it's a reflection of how well coached they are. We were punished severely by it at the weekend and it's something that we wouldn't be happy with.'
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