John Mullane is worried that Waterford will struggle to attract the next generation after the latest setback for the senior inter-county team over the weekend.
The Déise have never managed to emerge from the Munster Championship since the introduction of the round-robin format in 2018, with Saturday's defeat to Cork virtually knocking them out again.
As if to emphasise the point, in the Covid years, when the championship reverted to a more traditional straight knockout format, Waterford reached the All-Ireland final, and followed it up with a semi-final appearance.
Ahead of the game with Cork, attacker Stephen Bennett accepted that teams playing in the Leinster Championship have an easier route to the All-Ireland Championship.
"You probably can get away with it to an extent (in Leinster), you can lose a game or two," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Lose a game in Munster, you're probably in trouble straight away, or you're relying on other teams."
Speaking on RTÉ's Inside Sport, four-time Munster winner Mullane admitted that Waterford's repeated failures to get out of the province are a concern.
"There are enormous challenges down here," he said.
"I've seen it first hand, the challenges that we have competing with soccer and rugby. We're all fighting amongst one another to get as many numbers as we can.
"I'm sure Wexford are in the same boat."
Mullane says that the current situation, where not all games are broadcast, is not helping the situation.
"We need to have as many of the big games on free-to-air TV as possible. To throw it out there to these young kids, that they can see the Austin Gleesons, the Tadhg de Búrcas, the Stephen Bennetts, the Dessie Hutchinsons.
"The more they see those guys on TV, the more they will say to themselves, 'one day I want to become a Waterford hurler.'
"On the flip side of that, the players we're trying to attract to play hurling, they might come on board and start to play the game."
On Waterford's performances this year, Mullane says there's reasons to be hopeful, even if the format is so tough for nis native county.
"We're well used to it by now, it's going to be an uphill task to qualify for the All-Ireland series," he added.
"It's elimination we're looking at. We haven't played into the month of June or July since the Covid years in 2021.
"Look what we face into every year, let's be realistic. The Limerick juggernaut, the All-Ireland runners-up Cork, the 2024 All-Ireland champions Clare and Tipperary, the All-Ireland winners last year.
"We're only after picking up one draw, and we lost the other two, but they've been competitive in all three games. Going forward, they can take an enormous amount from the three games.
"The injury to Stephen Bennet is disappointing to see, it's probably going to be his summer ended. Hopefully, I'm only praying, that it's nothing serious."
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