You just won’t get by anymore.
Any GAA player who’s taking the game half seriously at the moment will have some sort of gym programme on the go.
Most panels re-convene nowadays in the winter months and they start off by attempting to pair themselves into shape, or to add that necessary bulk in the early stages of the season.
The programmes are dished out to players. Some follow them, some don’t and it’s easy enough to find out who’s getting the work in and who’s barely lifting a finger, never mind a dumbbell.
There’s proof in the pudding as they say. The lads who have been ordered to shed a few pounds will still look, well, pudding-like, and the skinny lads just aren’t putting on the size.
There’s a big difference between a skinny player and a plump player but they’ll both be similarly found out with a shoulder on match day.
The big lad who’s not lean will drop just as quick as the skinny lad. It’s all about your efficiency and your ability to use your own weight and to throw it around effectively. That’s the key.
Everyone is at it nowadays so if you’re cutting corners and not getting your programme done you will be found out. And quickly.
The gym, Strength and Conditioning or Athletic Development and Performance culture – whatever you like to call it – has become such a central part of even club GAA nowadays, so you can only imagine what it’s like on the inter-county scene, where it really is survival of the fittest and the skilful.
Inter-county players at the highest level are finely tuned beasts.
Luke Connolly was always a skilful player. The Nemo prodigy was earmarked from a young age down south as he ascended through the Rebel underage ranks, but his progress onto the senior scene took a while.
That, he admitted on Monday’s GAA Hour Show was because he didn’t really pay much attention to this physical side of the game. Skill alone got him by on a successful underage career but the transition to senior level really is a different ball game.
It’s not something that can be changed overnight, but a good few years of hard work is now really paying off for him.
“The flair part was there but the others parts weren’t. It’s taken me a good few years to develop those other parts of my game, the hard work, the tackling, the base strength – and that was something that I was always missing.
“I was always the tall skinny guy who could kick the ball far – but then it was really important that I worked on that side of my game as well (the strength.)
Indeed, the 25-year-old feels that even the most skilful players in the game won’t get by unless they have that base strength.
“It’s something that has developed massively in the GAA in recent years, that physical and core strength. You can’t really get by on skill alone anymore, the likes of Gooch, who probably had the skill to lose the corner back, that doesn’t really cut it anymore. You do need that pace or that strength to lose a fella.”
You can’t kick weights over the bar but you’ll need to have the work done to set up the chances.
You can listen to the Connolly interview and much more from Thursday’s GAA Hour Show here.
