With last week's games fading off into the distance in the rear-view mirror it's obvious the interpretations of what warrants a send-off, a sin bin, a penalty or a mere "place on report" has (like everything else) fallen into the gray area of subjectivity. Which again means clubs are at the mercy of the whims and moods of who is officiating on the field and probably more important - in the bunker.
This whole week I've been loathe to read anything about our game as it all seems to be news revolving around the negatives of our game. I am, as I'm sure are many thousands of other supporters of the game -simply at breaking point with keeping interest in this constant change-a-thon. Especially when (as always) our club seems to be coping the brunt of it.
One thing I will say, is that due to the nature of the current iteration of the game the teams who are the quickest to realise that it is no longer sufficient to have 1 player on the bench as a recognised "14".
The sort of player than can play 2 or 3 positions is now the most valuable player in the game especially so if they can play both in the forwards and the backs.
The nature of the sin-bins where a team can now lose a player in any position for 10 minutes and HIAs mean players who can slot into different positions on the field at a drop of a hat will be an absolute must for teams moving forward. Furthermore, having one such player will no longer suffice. Teams may now need to have 2 or even 3 number "14s".
Some of you may not wish to hear it but players like Billy Walters who can play several positions are about to become very sought after. If we can, we should be developing players like Paix both as a half back and a dummy half. Hetherington as a lock and a dummy half is exactly what we need now.
Within a couple of years (if the rules stay as they are) teams will be looking to develop players that can play multiple roles. Player like Jonny Plath and Shaun Berrigan would be absolute gold in today's game.
