Club Players Association Chairman Micheal Briody says the prospect of a player being unavailable for training days before a county final because of inter-county demands is unthinkable.
But Briody fears that could well happen in the coming months unless clear parameters are laid down to managers ahead of the official return to inter-county training on 14 September.
Already, anecdotal evidence suggests that many inter-county teams either will be - or are already back in some form - in preparation before the official mid-September restart.
"What exactly is the rule from 14 September to when a club exits its championship?" Briody questioned while speaking to RTÉ Sport.
"Surely no inter-county manager can have access to a player while he is still involved with his club? If so, will this be enforced?
"That really needs to be clarified.
"For the past three months the gates and pitches have been locked. Everyone respected that. It ensured a level playing field," Briody added.
"But autonomy has been given to county boards to plan their own return and there won't be any more level fields. Some inter-county managers and boards will respect the deadline - and many won’t."
Last weekend’s 'Return to Play’ roadmap saw Croke Park give free reign to each county board to design its own championship structure and format.
An 11-week period was designated strictly for club games.
The GAA then followed up on that plan by this week issuing a reminder that any county panels who break the ban on resuming group training before 14 September will do so at their own peril, as they will not be covered by the GAA Player Injury Scheme.
This scheme, for intercounty squads, will remain suspended until 14 September.
Club games can resume from Friday, 31 July, with clubs allowed to resume training and receive full cover under the GAA Player Injury Scheme from 29 June.
Nonetheless, some county boards remain under pressure from within to clear the way for their top-level teams to quickly resume training.
And it seems that greatly condensed and compacted county championship formats, using only four, five and six weeks of the 11 available, will be adapted in some counties.
It is expected the remaining weeks will be put aside to help inter-county teams prepare.
"What’s needed now are strong chairpersons who put together a good fixtures programme - and also allows enough time for inter-county teams to prepare," Briody continued.
"But there has to be clear direction from the top on this, otherwise counties will steal a march on others.
"By the time a competition gets to county semi-final stage, it’s reasonable to assume there will be seven or eight inter-county players still involved.
"What happens two nights before an intermediate or senior county final when clubs go to train, and lads are off with the county team and not available to their club?
"For the club, this is do or die, the business end of the year. More clarity can be given."
The CPA is expected to make an announcement as early next week regarding the addition of key personnel to their top table.
Executive members will meet over the weekend and are expected to identify several points on the matter of returning to play and will ask the GAA to closely monitor the roll-out of county structures in the coming weeks.
"We were told last week that there would be 11 weeks at the height of summer put aside for club action and that was brilliant," Briody added.
"We are all realistic. Everyone expected there would be an abbreviated championship of sorts but after the past three months we were just delighted to have games to look forward to again.
"The direction was given from Croke Park but it's clear that some counties haven’t taken it in the spirit required.
"We are seeing a lot of proposals from various counties. And we would be very worried about some of them. A lot of attention is on Wexford and Waterford. They appear to be running off their championships in blitz style and it is worrying,
"By the looks of it, the footballers in those counties will have their campaign played off in hurried fashion too.
"I would expect Croke Park to look very carefully at this."
Wexford have not yet confirmed fixture dates. It is thought their senior hurling championship could be completed in four weeks with a start date of 31 July, concluding with a final on Sunday, 23 August - although this has not yet been confirmed.
The Wexford board also has a competitive football championship to complete and a significant dual-player base to contend with - as does Waterford. There are several other counties considering a similar approach.
Briody accepts, too, that many county boards will use the full 11 weeks available.
"Yes, the likes of Meath and Monaghan have put together very impressive structures in terms of giving serious space to clubs.
"But it’s worrying, this trend that’s emerging of championships appearing to be rushed off in blitz fashion, largely so players can go back to inter-county training."
The CPA Chairman also acknowledges that the GAA has its work cut off to get club and inter-county competitions concluded this year. But he feels the 2020 All-Ireland series spilling over into 2021 would not work.
"There is a lot of nonsense being talked about that," he says. "And it’s not coming from Croke Park. This idea of bringing the All-Ireland series into 2021 is madness.
"Whatever happens, we have got to finish our competitions in 2020."
