What to make of the advanced mark?
Introduced across the board at the start of 2020 to encourage more kick-passing and fielding, it's a rule that has, inevitably, been manipulated. Get it right and it's an easy score - one clean catch and a raised arm inside the 45-metre line can earn in a scoreable free.
It's a rule that proved divisive.
"This shouldn't have been brought in," Tomás Ó Sé said on The Sunday Game back in May.
"There is more kicking in the game, there's no doubt about that, but I think the rule completely dilutes it. We have marks in defence, we have marks in midfield, we have marks in the forwards. I think it's completely and utterly not our game. I think it's a total cop-out."
Jim McGuinness labelled the advanced mark "a disaster"; Down defender Darren O'Hagan said "it needs to be taken away from the game"; while former inter-county referee Pat McEnaney aired his view that the GAA had "over-complicated" things.
But it's here and going nowhere; not in the near future anyway. The advantage and cynical foul rules have caused lots of debate too and, while games are hardly being hugely distorted by a deluge of 'mark' scores, those three rule changes together have definitely altered the overall dynamic.
So what do the players think?
"At the beginning it was like, 'Jesus, as an inside forward this could work'," Tipperary's Conor Sweeney said at the AIB's All-Ireland SFC launch this week.
"It was brought in to encourage kick-passing and high fielding. Are we getting more of that? Are we seeing a whole pile of marks? You don't really. What's annoying is the little punt pass, the kick-pass that goes 20 metres but it's not a proper mark. You're rewarding a simple little kick-pass and then all of a sudden a man is getting a free shot. That's the worst part of it.
"Okay if you deliver a long ball and you're catching it over your head or it's a good clean catch well then fair enough. There's a couple of grey areas."
Ryan O'Donoghue has assumed free-taking duties for Mayo in Cillian O'Connor's injury enforced absence.
Rather than fighting the rule changes, the Belmullet man is going with the flow - and making sure he's ready to capitalise on any chances the advanced mark presents.
"Personally, I like it. It's encouraging the long kick pass. Some people don't seem to like it, but personally, I think it's good.
"Since the mark came into the game, every player has to practice their marks because they can get one at any stage. I think Stephen Coen got a mark in the All-Ireland final, and he put it over the bar.
"I've always been practising them. In sport, injuries are going to happen. I was always mentally prepared that some day I might have to take them. I've always been ready. I've taken them at club level and minor level. I was always mentally and physically prepared if the opportunity ever arose."
Kildare's Daniel Flynn is on a similar wave length. "The advanced mark is fine," he said.
"I think if teams are able to utilise it, great. I'm very indifferent towards it. I didn't think there was any need to bring it in. I'm a bit lost on the advantage rule to be honest. I'm not sure what's going on, why the refs are giving it or not. There's some games where the advantage is being played and others where frees are being blow up.
"The sin bin for the penalty I think is a good idea. If there's a goal and you're stopped cynically, yeah, great. I think it takes that element out of the game."
Paul Donaghy is preparing for his first senior championship having made a stunning impact with Tyrpone in the league. The merits of the advanced mark, he argues, are in the eye of the beholder.
"As a forward I like it because all it means is you have to catch the ball. Especially with the free-taking background I have, it's grand.
"Just catch the ball and you get a free kick. Personally I like it but I guess if for example a Donegal guy got a handy mark against one of our defenders, you don't think it's a great rule. It just depends on how well it's working out for your team."
Cavan All Star Padraig Faulkner meanwhile has sympathy with the men at the back who are desperately trying to adapt to the new ways.
"It's very hard to defend. Gone are the days where you're trying to beat your man. Speed is now playing a factor. If you can get that five yards out in front all you have to do is catch the ball and stop.
"It is stopping the play more. Sometimes I find it can stop the flow of play a lot, but it's a very handy score for a forward to take. I don't mind it. You can look at it, is there actually that many that's scored in a game? You might have three or four... I haven't seen a game that's had much more than that. As a defender it's quite tough to mark."
The debate will no doubt rumble on through the summer but Sweeney perhaps puts things into greater perspective when he considers the overall lay of the land.
"I don't get these rule changes to be honest with you," he adds. "I think the bigger problem is that there's too much of gap between the best teams and the lower teams.
"Changing rules and tweaking rules isn't going to make Dublin any worse. It's not going to improve the teams in Division 4. There's bigger problems to think of."
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