Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan is excited for the potential impact that proposed new rules for Gaelic football could have on a sport he thinks is often "boring" to watch.
The Scotstown man is preparing for a county final against Clontibret on Sunday week - the club's 12th in a row - but otherwise might have been invited to take part in this weekend's interprovincial showcase of the Football Review Committee's revolutionary proposals, which include keeping three players in the opposition half at all times, and limits on goalkeepers being involved in possession.
"I'm excited about them," he tells RTÉ Sport. "Yes, there’s an impact on goalkeepers but I’m excited that it’s going to make the game a wee bit better of a spectacle.
Running the rule: Proposed changes to Gaelic football
"As a player, your main aim is to win the game. You don't care how it looks. You want to play entertaining football but sometimes you’re just not allowed to play it because of the way teams sit back.
"But when you're sitting in a stand or watching it on TV, it’s a very hard game to watch, and you understand why people give out.
"Hopefully, the new rules will make it more entertaining to watch because it is quite boring at the moment.
"I’m looking forward to seeing in Croke Park how it impacts it in a positive way and if there’s any way of making the game a more attractive proposition then we have to try it.
"But I’ll reserve my judgment until then because I’m reading the rules but I want to actually see it. I would definitely have said yes if I had been approached. But I have better things to look forward to over the next 10 days so I'll be happy enough to watch it on the couch"
As a pioneer of the 'fly goalie' role, who has scored from play on more than one occasion, will he not be disappointed to be excluded from the attack (unless he takes possession over the halfway line)?
"I think my body will be happy," he jokes. "But I'm sure the management team will find ways around it.
"I’m a big fan of the 3 v 3. Not too many people are, they don’t know how it will be policed, but if it’s policed properly I think it will make it far more attractive. I think you’ll start to see the out-and-out forwards come back into prominence a bit more.
"An 11 v 11 attack instead of 15 players attacking 14 defenders, I think you’re going to see a lot more space and a lot more kicking. Looking forward to that aspect of it.
"As a goalkeeper, a wee bit worried about high pressing, that we can’t really be involved to help get out of that, but again that’s going to make the game a lot easier to watch, because you can’t use your goalkeeper to get out of jail. But that’s next year’s problem at the minute."
The 2018 All-Star missed Monaghan's Allianz League campaign this year - which resulted in their relegation from Division 1 after a ten-year stay - while chasing the professional dream with the NFL's Player Pathway programme.
Rory Beggan, from the @officialgaa to the NFL combine! 🏈🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/kbACiD1wMa
— NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) March 4, 2024
A final trial with the Carolina Panthers was as close as he got before returning for the championship campaign last April, and Beggan insists he has now parked all thoughts of a career kicking the pigskin.
"Maybe if I was 10 years younger, I could still give it another opportunity but I think now at my age (32), there's no point looking back on it now.
"I suppose when I was away in America it really showed me how much I love the GAA and how much I missed it. Coming back in, it would be very hard to leave that again.
"People were always talking to me down throughout the years about trying it, but there was never any pathway for it. When this pathway came up, and I was approached about it, I said, 'yeah, I'll try it out'.
"I've no regrets. It isn't like I missed a full championship, I missed a National League, I can live with that. To go over, to experience the lifestyle over there, I'd never done a J1 or anything like that. So, I wanted to try something new.
"To spend six weeks in a training camp, getting ready for the combine, it was a class experience. To get the added bonus of going out to the Panthers for a weekend, to train there, it was class too. At least when I retire, whenever that is, I can sit back and say 'I tried that, and it didn't work out'. There will be no what ifs, that is the main thing."
Beggan thought he might have done enough to have earned a practice squad deal at the Panthers but experienced the harsh realities of professional sport at first hand.
"The closest I got was when I was in rookie camp in Carolina," he said. "That was the trial to earn your contract. It didn't go well.
"On the Saturday of that camp, I missed one or two but thought I had kicked well enough. I came back in and was getting changed. I had to go and do a bit of media then so I thought 'Maybe it’s not looking too bad here’.
"I came out of the media room then and I was up to the GM’s (general manager) office with three of the other lads who were on trial and was told there that they wouldn’t be taking us on. It was a ruthless, cut-throat business but at least you knew then and there, they never kept you hanging. At least when I was coming back to Ireland I had a clear focus."
Beggan was one of three Gaelic footballers who Tadhg Leader coached through the NFL's International Player Pathway earlier this year. Wicklow goalkeeper Mark Jackson also missed out on a contract but Down youngster Charlie Smyth has been signed to the New Orleans Saints on a three-year IPP deal that allows him to be included in the main squad three times over the season, without taking up a main roster spot. Derry native Jude McAtamney has the same contract with the New York Giants, having come through the US college system.
"He’s a young lad, he’s 22 years of age, it’s a whole new experience for him," said Beggan of Smyth.
"Giving him that training-squad experience for the next year or two might be the best thing for him. Priming him for when he does get in and kick.
"But you never know, that kicker could get injured and he could be in, and he might keep that spot. I hope to God he does, because he’s a good lad and NFL was his life. He was probably a bigger NFL fan than he was GAA. Delighted for him and hopefully now he gets the nod."
"Gaelic football is a big hunting ground for the NFL in the future"
Either way, Beggan expects more Irishmen to follow in his footsteps.
"Gaelic football and American football are the only two sports in the world that have a ball being struck from the ground at the posts. I know you have rugby, but that's off the tee.
"I definitely think Gaelic football is a big hunting ground for the NFL in the future. If they can get one Charlie Smyth every year or two, they'll be happy.
"I see a lot more younger players being approached in the GAA to go into colleges over there to give them that experience of college football and the American lifestyle. I think you'll see a lot more of that than going straight into the NFL."
Watch the Interprovincial Series on RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player from 5.30pm and RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7.15pm on Saturday
