Sid is staying faithful

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Now with the news of Sid staying on with us for another year, it was almost like a sigh of relief, even so early before the new championship starts. but the question is, where would he be most suited on a starting 15? personally, i dont think he has the legs for the half back line in modern day hurling. if i was selecting the team, i'd have him slotted into full back. his ability to give clearances from tight spaces is second to none, which is vital around the square. no offence to ger oakley, who has come on in recent years, still hasnt produced consistant perfomances in any championship and i do think there are better full backs in the county. do where do you think Sid would be best suited? an im not ruling out full forward!!!

[turk]

it's great that he has committed his experience to the squad.
i think if i was an opposing manager i would put a massive big ape in on sid and horse high balls onto him, for the crack.

is sid guaranteed his place though? do you pencil him in first into some position and fill out the rest of the team or just pick him on his merits against other candidates for each position?

[The Biff]

Sid's one famous outing at Full Forward could be deemed successful, dont you think? So what about him following the example of Brian Corcoran and trying it out again?

[Lone Shark]

I'd love to see him as a seventh back in general, with no real marking role. We don't have a huge array of fielding half backs, so at least with Sid floating round we'd be fancied to win a lot of breaking ball. We all know his delivery would be first class, and we'd be struggling to find five inter county standard forwards, let alone six, so it's not as if we're dropping a superstar.

[Rynaghs Biffo]

I'd love to see him as a seventh back in general

LS, if he was to the seventh defender, where would you drop a forward to balance out, two man full forward line?? we dont exactly have top class scorers to win games. i like the idea, but i dont think we can sacrifice players for an extra defender which in turn would put more pressure on our backs. last years championship showed we have a very weak full back line, while other counties strongest line would be their inside forwards. i think with sid in at full back, he can strenghten up that line.

[Lone Shark]

While I don't love the idea of two inside forwards myself, we don't have enough inside forwards to fill the line adequately, so I'd prefer to see us playing a seventh back who would do the job superbly than play a third inside forward who wouldn't. Hano and Murphy on their own inside for me, with the option of swapping Murphy and Carroll between the 45 and 21.

If you play Sid as a full back then he gets marked by Jacob against Wexford, who just drags him out the pitch and takes him on for pace. Or else they throw in Lambert and lob high ball in on top of him, and Sid's ball playing skills are completely wasted. At least by giving him a free role his reading of the game and deliveries forward are exploited to the full.

Anyway, the first thing we have to do is get back to being competitive against good teams - when Clare played an extra back aginst Kilkenny in 2004 they kept the score down and got a replay - a result that we'd be ecstatic with at the moment to be honest.

[the Untouchable]

I think the reality is that Sid doesn't have the pace to be a county defender anymore!!!

I know people will say he should be then played in the full forward line but lets be serious here....he's not going to get a huge amount of good service when we face a team like wexford, you couldn't see him winning a lot of high ball against someone like Declan Ruth & I don't think he'd have the pace to get away from his man!!!

You can't play a 7th defender....because your only inviting teams on to you....plus your making it very difficult to score yourself. The fact is that with teams like wexford & kilkenny all their forwards are all capable of scoring from outside the 45....so its hard to see what benefit it would be to have him there!!

I think if Offaly wanted to play Brian somewhere then they should look to play him round Midfield....this may seem a little bit mad since he wouldn't be considered to have ever have being a midfielder in the past but here's why I'd play him there.....firstly with the way the game of hurling is changing over the years the role of the midfielder, now there's very few midfield battles & its all about having players who can pick up breaks, can play good ball in to their forwards & can read the game well.

Midfielders wouldn't be noted for their speed....certainly a player like Adrian Fenlon doesn't strike me as being the speediest hurler in the country but he's still very effective there because he....like brian whelehan....is actually a top class hurler!!!

Even puck outs are very rarely caught clean & a player with Brian Whelehans hurling brain could pick up a huge amount of breaking ball!!!

I think the big reason to play him midfield is that we'd be giving our most talented hurler a position from where he could impose himself on the game & display his unquestionable talent....without having to try coping with a speed merchant of a forward who'll drag him all over croke park!!!

[Fit For Junior]

Its interesting to see how many different opinions there are on this. I wonder if sid will actually be on the starting 15. If he is then I would say that he will operate at wing back because I think in most games he will still hold his own there. But I would like to see the management be a bit more flexible in how they use him in games depending on how the game is panning out. I can't see him hurling at centerfield because he does'nt have the legs to hurl the 70 minutes here. I would expect an effective centerfield to cover a lot of ground over the hour and I don't think he'd be able for it.
Also hurling in the full back line is completely different to hurling in the half back line. In the full back line you don't get a chance to hurl like you do out the field, its more about keeping tight on your opponent and the spaces are more confined. While that might mean less running, a skillful hurler might not necessarily be suited to this type game.
If sid is moved, I reckon he could be effective in the forwards somewhere, possibly wing forward. It would give him a little bit of freedom to read the game and possibly get involved a bit in play around the middle of the park. He'd also be worth a couple of scores up there.

[black and red exile]

My first reaction when I heard about Sid staying with the panel for next year was ''Oh no, talk about flogging a dead horse'', but on reflection the ''Biff'' made a very valid point about Sid possibly doing a Brian Corcoran and lining out at full forward. Its obvious that now at 34 years of age Brian just does'nt cut it at any more as a defender at the top level. Only this year in Portlaoise against Clare, he was directly responsible for three of Clare's first half points alone,his general play was way too loose and even at his very peak in the mid to late nineties he was never a man marker, you could almost be certain of the opposing half forward getting 3 or 4 scores from play per game, even though Sid would still nine times out of ten play a stormer.
I honestly don't believe there is a place in the first 15 for the Millenium man, but if John McIntyre was to select him in the upcoming league and championship, then in my opinion, at least at full forward he would probably be very useful for his intelligence and great vision that he possesses, with Aidan Hanrahan and Brian Carroll playing each side of him. I got the impression that in the three and a half games he played this year for Offaly that he performed like a man that felt responsible for the team's failings, which is totally unfair for our best ever hurling legend.

[The Biff]

Interesting that the Poll is showing that as many people would put him in Full Forward as in the combined count for the 4 defence positions.

Many of us have slight reservations about his abilities and fitness to man-mark at this stage of his career, and none of us want to see him being given the run-around by some young pup who just wants to lead him on a merry dance anywhere away from his designated position.

Not wanting to be seen as copying the Brian Corcoran "experiment", I believe Whelehan has much more hurling ability than his Rebel namesake. He played that final in '98 with a heck of a Flu/Head-cold/Scarlet-Fever/Embellish-as-you-wish. If he was actually in the full of his health and as fit as he can be, think how he could use that ability now.

His long-range frees show that he has always had an eye for the posts. Maybe he could even take the short-range ones so that we dont have to carry any "passengers" like we seem to have done in the past. If he says he's up for it, then I think it's worth a shot in a couple of League or tournament games.

Incidentally, I see on HoganStand.com that Sid is said to be considering a role as Coach (not team manager) with Castlegar in Galway, while acknowledging that he still intends to play this year. Interesting.

[Rynaghs Biffo]

Looks like a lot of people are going for Sid at full forward. Suppose he would be hell of a lot better than Joe Brady at full forward. Sid would have the mind of a hurling defender, but in saying that, i'd still prefer him in defence where he's proved to be number1 for the past 15 years. He;s very versatile and we're lucky to have an option of where to put him, the thing is, where? and thats even if he make the starting 15. I'd like to see him play the league games in different positions, now that we can be tested in a proper divison! And as for a 7 man defence, thats only inviting pressure onto us.

[Kevin]

Give it a tryout in the league. Can't hurt to see what happens. He'll do everything he can and we'll know if it is a worthwhile endeavor soon enough.

[Lone Shark]

One point that's being glossed over here is that in truth the likelihood of Sid playing is not huge. One quote from John McIntyre last year was that all the fuss over his comeback deflected attention from Niall Claffey's injury, which he felt was a much more serious matter. Now I consider Claffey a good hurler but far from a guaranteed starter - likely, but not guaranteed. And if he's much more relevant than Sid in McIntyre's eyes, then there is no way Sid is seen as a starter - which makes sense really. I'd say a second half introduction as a forward or to join the backs in protecting a lead could be exactly what Mac has in mind for him.