Andy Comerford has called for an end to development squads in Kilkenny, claiming they are outdated.

As the once-mighty Cats continue to come to terms with their early Championship exit, he also claims some young players become ‘untrainable’ after being involved with the county set-up.

“Development squads, they've gone by their sell-by date now. I'm after ringing 15 or 16 lads there to know what their opinion is on development squads. It's just not working,” the former All-Ireland SHC winning Kilkenny captain told CRKC’s TC Tyres World of Gaelic Games.

“Let these lads go back to their clubs at 14 years of age. Put in a team, enter a team in Tony Forristal (tournament). By all means, enter a team but release them to a manager five days prior to that.

“Lads are getting browned off. Players are getting sick of it. Mentors are getting sick of it. I've heard they're receiving 29, 30 phone-calls from parents. ‘Why isn't my young lad on a development squad?’ ‘Why isn't he on this?’ ‘Why isn't he on that?’ It has to stop. End of story.”

He added: “Players are getting ragged off of hurling. You need to look forward to going to training. Not dragging your legs into going to training.

“Players are coming back with egos, back into their clubs, and they're untrainable. I’ve often heard players are coming back after being with county teams, and they're not producing the goods for their clubs.”

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