So much going on now in those crucial midfield scrambles - Donegal boss Jim McGuinness

Jim McGuinness explains that there is so much going on around the middle third now as teams look to stamp their authority on that crucial sector. 

Primary possession and breaking ball can help swing the direction of games and there is no doubt that under the new rules, you boss midfield, you give yourself a huge chance of taking the victory. 

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But to get to grips with all of that, there is also so much other stuff going on. It’s not exactly the dark arts, but it probably does border on cynical as players look to get the edge.  

“There is a lot going on there around the middle,” he said. “A bit like Dublin and Kerry when they were getting them away, they were running out the middle and then deciding were they going to go left or right. 

“They were trying to create an overload so they could leave players on the weak side of the zone. 

“There is a lot going on in the pod as well. You can see that with all the games. There is a lot of blocking going on, it’s very difficult to get off the ground.  

“There could be four or five guys in one area and then one guy comes and fetches as the way has been cleared. 

“That’s a trend that is there now. People are understanding that blocking out and stepping across guys has become very important to try to secure primary possession on kickoouts”.