Shane McGrath said the Wexford players should look in the mirror if they are want to find a reason for their current woes.
They go in to this weekend's Leinster Hurling Championship clash with Kilkenny in serious danger of relegation to the Joe McDonagh Cup. It comes following a second half capitulation against Westmeath at the weekend. Despite trailing by 17 points late in the first half, Westmeath came back to beat Wexford by two.
"Darragh [Egan] is a very good friend of mine. He's the manager," former Tipperary hurler McGrath, who won an All-Ireland with the Wexford boss in 2010, told the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"I'm sure he will put his hand up and say 'We got it wrong here as well', but it can't always be the managers.
"The managers are coming and going down there but sometimes you have to look internally.
"As someone said to me before, if you want the answer to your problem go down to your local hardware shop and buy a full length mirror and I guarantee you you'll find the answer to your problem. Maybe that needs to be done as well in ways.
"What happened [on Sunday] is one of the biggest turnarounds in championship hurling. To be outscored 4-13 to 0-07 points in the second half, regardless of who you're playing, that's a sort of down tools thing for me.
"How many times are you going to keep watching them lob in the ball, and have them keep winning it? Just win one ball. They even won a penalty and Jack O'Connor... it was a very poorly struck penalty. If they [scored] that penalty, it could have killed the game, mentally, but they missed, Westmeath drive on."
21 May 2023; Jack O'Connor of Wexford takes a penalty, which he missed, during the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 4 match between Wexford and Westmeath at Chadwicks Wexford Park in Wexford. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
McGrath added that major changes are needed in Wexford.
"It's a long time since they won minors, U20s, their school teams being competitive," he said.
"It's not just now at senior level. This is all the steps of the ladder, the whole way down. There needs to be a massive meeting, a committee set up, whatever it needs to be.
"They do good work in the schools, and they do great stuff on social media about it, but are the right things being done with development squads and with the minor teams?
"The other side of it is, is the talent not there at the moment? Even if you look at where Limerick are at now, it took a long time - five, six, seven years - for them to see minor teams being competitive, U21s winning All-Irelands, and obviously their golden generation now being a product of that stuff.
"This could take time, if the right structure is put in. Should they go to the likes of a Limerick and see 'What did ye do? What were the big changes that ye made?' Go down to Kilkenny, go Clare."
See Also: 'Spineless' Wexford Slammed For Second Half Capitulation To Westmeath
