Jim McGuinness can bring the absolute best out of Donegal again, just like he did a decade ago, according to RTÉ GAA analyst Ciarán Whelan.
The Tír Chonaill men won their last All-Ireland in 2012 before reaching the final again two years later in what would prove to be the last year of McGuinness's first stint with his native county.
Since then Donegal haven't reached the last four of the Sam Maguire Cup competition, getting as far as quarter-finals and Super 8 groups, but never managing to go further.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast two-time All-Star Whelan suggested that the quality has been there in the last decade, but that McGuinness can bring the squad on to the next level.
"They've always had quality players and they've always had a bit of depth," he said.
"In the last five or six years you could never look at a Donegal team on paper and say it's a weak team. That quality has always been there.
"It's a new team since the [first] Jim McGuinness era but they brought in quality players through the Declan Bonner era.
"He's going into a scenario where he's going to improve these guys by 20%, 30%, 40%. You can see the traits in the early games. It's similar to Derry, they're trying to find different ways to play the game.
"One of them is going to be that really high, aggressive press. You can see it's not just aggressive, it's frantic. It's a very high energy game to play.
"It's a very difficult game to play and I'd say if you're not willing to play it, you're out, and he has everybody bought into that process."
Donegal are competing in Division 2 of the Allianz League this spring, picking up wins over Cork and Cavan, with Fermanagh set to visit Letterkenny on Saturday.
Last year's All-Ireland champions Dublin also competed in the second tier last spring, and Whelan added that it's a division which is allowing squads the chance to tinker with their systems ahead of the summer.
"They've an opportunity in Division 2 to work on different stuff and not really show their hand in a huge way," Whelan continued.
"Cavan would have been very happy with their performance against them the last day but they're coming up and they're going to be in that Division 2 final, end of."
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Watch Kerry v Mayo in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 9.30pm, follow a live blog every Sunday afternoon on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Sunday Sport
