FORMER Dublin defender Johnny Magee hopes Jim Gavin can devise a recipe that puts some flavour back into Gaelic football.
An update from the Football Review Committee chaired by Gavin is due to be made public at Croke Park today.
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And Magee told SunSport: “Crowds are down and part of the reason for that is the way the game is being played.
“Because there’s no jeopardy in the games as well, it’s just not enjoyable at the moment.
“There are a lot of ingredients in the pot and when they’re all cooked together, it doesn’t taste great.
“What we have now is a situation where the product needs to change and you’d just be hoping that something comes out of that committee with Jim Gavin.”
Delegates at last Saturday’s Central Council meeting agreed to put a revamped All-Ireland SFC format on the table at Annual Congress in February.
But with no possibility of change until 2026, Magee expressed disappointment over the retention of the much-maligned group-stage system for next season.
He said: “It means another year of so many nothing games with no jeopardy involved.
“With the way things are, you’re far more likely to stay in the Championship than to be knocked out of it, which shouldn’t really be the case.
“The group format is not really the issue — it’s the fact that there just isn’t much jeopardy attached to the games.
“After having two years of it already, I can’t see anything being different.
“There are more games so I understand why they wanted to try it, but it just hasn’t worked.
“The third year probably isn’t going to change that.”
The GAA fell short of hitting attendance targets for the 2024 season, which included a Leinster SFC final win for Dublin over Louth that drew just 23,113 spectators to Croke Park.
Magee said: “There was a college American football game in Dublin a couple of weeks ago and there seemed to be a lot of pre-match stuff attached to it to make it more of an event.
“We should be looking at things like that in terms of enticing people not just to come and watch a match, but to enjoy the whole occasion.
“I’m a Liverpool fan all my life and I went to Anfield recently.
“There was so much else involved around it, like bands playing and former players going around giving autographs and taking pictures.
“It just seems like we could be doing a lot more but we’re missing out.”
Currently working as Games Promotion Officer for the Geraldines P Moran club, Magee admits to being disheartened by the current state of Gaelic football.
The former Wicklow boss said: “If you look at the game at the moment, where it’s 14 men behind the ball and everything else, it should probably be called Gaelic handpassing instead of Gaelic football. It’s just so repetitive.
“A lot of football at the moment, both at county and club level, is based on caution.
“Players are not taking a man on or taking any risks. They’re being micro-managed and over-coached.
“They’re not able to see a pass or an opportunity and instincts are being coached out of players.
“If you look at the All-Ireland winners for the past ten, 15 years, it’s no coincidence that it was mainly Dublin and Kerry because of the way they played.
ORCHARD INJECTION
“Obviously Armagh were a breath of fresh air at times this year with some of the football they played and they were able to strike a right balance.
“Based on the teams who have been winning All-Irelands, they’re the ones who have been able to mix between an offensive and a defensive game. Balance is the key.
“As a game you’d want to play and watch, the hurling final this year was unbelievable.
“And when you’ve got two of the top football teams involved, it can still produce a really good game.
“But the reality of where we are at the moment is that it’s just not enjoyable to watch anymore.”
