Westmeath camp's mixed reactions as square ball rule change comes into play

Friday night's Meet the Players night in Cusack Park - hosted by Westmeath's county board ahead of the Leinster championships - gave members of the press an opportunity to get three different perspectives on one of the hottest topics in Gaelic football at the moment: changes to the square ball rule.When Westmeath take on Louth in the Leinster SFC on May 20, the rule change - which, except in the case of a set play, permits players to enter the small rectangle before the ball is played - will be in place.The change has won friends and foes across GAA circles, but it's interesting to get the differing perspectives of those involved at the coalface - managers and players.Westmeath senior football manager Pat Flanagan questions the timing of the rule change."It's surprising that things are introduced at championship level," the Clara man said. "It should have probably been brought in for the league, and tested out, letting us see what way players react before you go into the championship."It's an awkward one. Obviously, it was there a number of years ago, and I would have seen. But I think we're talking about different circumstances at the moment, and what effect it's going to have I'm not sure."The rule change has prompted some managers to consider personnel changes at key positions, and to consider putting bigger hitters into the full back and full forward positions. But Flanagan is sticking to his guns."At the end of the day, we've drawn up a plan through the league, and we're not suddenly going to try and change it just because of a rule change," he said."We have to believe in what we're doing, and we have to stick with what we believe in. We don't have that many massive, big men in the Westmeath panel at the moment, so we have to continue playing the football we're playing, and have the belief that's going to get us through."We have full faith in what we've achieved in the league, and I don't think that this rule is going to make a massive difference."We have an excellent goalkeeper, and a man that's very well built to cover anything that's coming into that area. So I have absolutely no worries in that regard."From the perspective of a forward, Tyrrellspass and Westmeath's Denis Glennon is looking forward to the new freedom he expects frontmen to enjoy."I think it's a great rule. Gary [Connaughton] would probably disagree with it, because goalies have been protected in the last number of years," he remarked."But at the same time, it's a great boost for a forward to make that opportunity to try and burst in to get a goal."It can change games. Football at the moment, the way it's gone, is negative. That's a positive thing, and it can only help the game."Westmeath skipper Connaughton, meanwhile, undoubtedly spoke for goalkeepers everywhere."I'm kind of 50/50 on it. I think in one way it's not bad after incidents that have happened over the past couple of years, but I think it's more or less a cover-up by the GAA to bring it in, because their officials and umpires were making mistakes, and they had to bring in something that would help them," the Tubberclair netminder told the Westmeath Examiner."But there's not much of an advantage in for a goalkeeper, standing there when a player can run in on top of him."There's going to have to be some kind of a rule there for a goalkeeper, where if he catches a high ball, as a mark or something like that, he can have a bit of freedom."It could cause anarchy in the square over the next couple of years, but time will tell."-- Paul Hughes