GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail has urged counties to give the association the opportunity to fully explain their proposals to restructure the championship before casting judgement.
Back in August, director General Páraic Duffy announced proposals to shake up the inter-county competitions, among them the abandoning of replays and the playing of the provincial competitions over a shorter period.
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Cork and Tipperary have both opposed the new proposals, but Ó Fearghail reiterated his faith in the blueprint, and highlighted the GAA's desire to ease the burden on club players.
“The GAA is in a good place and things will progress regardless of different views," he told RTÉ Sport.
"I clearly want to see an improved inter-county schedule that will ease the burden on the club player, so that the club player isn’t idle as long as they currently are, in some counties.
The Association does want to keep the provincial championships, but they have also said that they feel that it’s too long, that there’s no need for it to be as long.
"Most counties do it very well and continue with club competitions, so best practice and education has a role to play here also. But this proposed document will improve things.
"It will give us a more exciting conclusion to our championship; it also keeps the provincial championships, which the Association wants.
"We spent last year discussing and debating. The Association does want to keep the provincial championships, but they have also said that they feel that it’s too long, that there’s no need for it to be as long.
"If we can only shave maybe one or two weeks of it in one province, maybe a week in a different province, all of that will contribute enormously."
Ó Fearghail urged counties to give the GAA the opportunity to fully explain the workings of their proposed format before forming an opinion on it.
He underlined the desire to improve the club calendar while also running the inter-county competitions with more efficiency and said any rejection of the plans before they were properly presented would be "strange".
"[GAA director general] Paraic [Duffy] has worked extremely hard on this," said Ó Fearghail.
"He has a championship calendar, a fixtures calendar, clearly laid out for the counties.
"We didn’t get an opportunity to issue it to counties, that’s why I’d be disappointed if they made decisions without seeing the document, which would be strange.
"I wouldn’t approve of it if it didn't improve club players. I’m absolutely committed to it. I think when counties have it explained to them they will see the improvements it can make.
"It will condense the provincial championships, it would play the All-Ireland final earlier and it would play the All-Ireland semi-finals over one weekend, and we do propose not having replays except in finals, only after extra-time. All of that is to benefit clubs."
Watch the draw for next year's provincial championships live tonight on RTÉ2, from 9.30pm
