All-Ireland winning managers Mickey Harte and Pete McGrath have slammed the GAA's new rule regarding the naming of teams prior to championship matches.

Under the terms of the new rule (Motion 29), which was passed at Congress on Saturday, 26-man strong senior intercounty panels must be registered by 9am on the Thursday morning prior to a match and no players can be added thereafter. Counties who do not comply face fines of up to €1,000 and / or a possible sideline ban for the manager.

Harte and McGrath, who have won five senior All-Irelands between them, are not happy with the change:

"I just feel that's ridiculous," Tyrone boss Harte told The Belfast Telegraph. "I have often seen players who are named on a Thursday night and between then and the weekend they might have went over on their ankle. These things can happen and it's not really practical to make those pragmatic decisions. I think if as long as you have people named to a number on the programme, I can't see the problem with that."

Down legend and current Fermanagh manager McGrath agrees with his fellow Ulster man:

"I think it's very inflexible. What if a guy contracts food poisoning? These things can happen. The presentation of games are important, but I think there is a human element, things can happen that we can't legislate for and there should be some wriggle room in exceptional circumstances that we can get over this."

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