Dublin legend Ciaran Whelan has conceded there is little room in modern Gaelic football for the physical style that won the towering midfielder plaudits throughout his inter-county career.
Winning a high ball has always been one of the most thrilling acts in the sport and Whelan's ability to secure possession and relentless physicality in the middle of the park made him a fearsome opponent.
But the six-time Leinster title winner believes those talents are fading from view as football continues to move away from that style of play.
Short kick-outs are being increasingly utilised by teams and have been perfected by his former Dublin team-mates in recent campaigns, with Whelan admitting he saw the writing on the wall in the shape of the new tactic.
Speaking at 2fm's Game On Live at the Aviva Stadium, Whelan said: "The role of a midfielder in Gaelic football has changed, there's no doubt about it.
"When Stephen Cluxton started it in 2009, I think, Pat Gilroy was the manager of Dublin at the time and I was in my last year.
"You used to get your sharpness in training, you often had tougher opponents in training, and I remember standing in the middle of the pitch in DCU thinking 'I'm done, I'm gone', because everything was going short.
"They're trying to bring it back in, to bring in the mark, but that's not going to work"
"Like everything, sport evolves, and Gaelic games became more about power, pace, speed, and midfielders are kind of redundant.
"They're trying to bring it back in, to bring in the mark, but that's not going to work.
"There's much less contact now, it's all about balance and skill and being lighter on your feet."
The panel, which included football pundit Eamon Dunphy and jockey Ruby Walsh, discussed the loss of toughness in football and Whelan added: "GAA has lost the run of itself as well, you give someone an accidental clip and you're black-carded and your game is over.
"It's evolved and that toughness, that playing on the edge, has kind of gone out of it, similar to soccer.
"It is creeping into it, I don't think it's epidemic yet, most fellas are fronting up.
"But what's happening in GAA now is that the yellow card and the black card rule is encouraging people to stand off a little bit more. They're not tackling as hard as they had done in the past.
"People are defending space now and waiting for the right time to tackle. The game has evolved defensively, you never see a Gaelic player now coming in with a full force shoulder, shoulder to shoulder.
"That physicality has gone out of it. Fellas are not leaving the pitch as sore as they would have done 15 or 20 years ago."
