What do we do with the Super 8s? It is fantastic to see more games between the top sides at the height of summer, and bringing big games around the country is always a bonus. That is the upside to the change in structure.
And yet, there is a growing sense that it's just not working.
Yesterday's games were the perfect example. The clash between Tyrone and Dublin should have been one of the biggest matches of the year, but it was a complete non-event. That farce cannot be repeated.
That is before we even mention the scheduling of games, which will see the All-Ireland semi-finalists be faced with a one week turnaround ahead of their biggest game of the year so far.
All of this had led to many GAA supporters around the country to crave another shaking up of the All-Ireland series, or at least a return to the previous format.
That was certainly the impression you got from a video package shown on last night's Sunday Game, in which a number of fans claimed the Super 8s simply isn't working in its current guise.
Despite this the Sunday Game panel, consisting of Ciaran Whelan, Tomas Ó Sé and Conor McManus, believed it was something the GAA should persist with. Ó Sé was most critical of the current format and outlined a number of changes that should be made.
'We tend to look at the negative more so than the positive. I think there's been some very good games in the Super 8s' - @ConorMcManus_15, @whelo35, and @tomas5ky ponder the successes and failures of the Super 8s #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/6ZEMwP79ul
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 4, 2019
Ó Sé: Mayo, who have played seven out of the last eight weeks, have six days to prepare for a semi-final against Dublin. I think it's outrageous, I think it's absolutely wrong.
Everybody is giving out about the Super 8s because of what happened in the Dublin-Tyrone group. There's a few changes (you could make).
Number one, in the Tyrone-Dublin group both of them won their first games. If you put them together in the second game, then Tyron have to win their last game...
I think today was an absolute farce what happened in Omagh.
If the Super 8s are to stick around, there will need to be changes. One of the best things about the championship is that every game means something, and that needs to continue to be the case. We cannot have dead rubbers, especially at the height of summer.
