Robbie Brennan isn’t blaming the new football rules for the four ACL injuries suffered by members of his Meath squad.

However, he suggests that the extra space and increase in one-on-one contests in the modern game may be contributory factors.

“It’s obviously not good news for us,” the Meath boss said in an interview on RTÉ Radio 1 after Ruairi Kinsella, Sean Coffey, Conor Gray and Jack Kinlough were all struck by the cruciate curse.

“We’re working with a squad of about 34 players and we’re losing four of them like that. It’s terrible, particularly for the lads it has happened to.

“It’s a long road back and a particularly lonely one. Ironically, the four of them will have one another to work with during rehab, but it’s bad news for us, for sure.”

He added: “I don’t have the answers, but there has to be something.

“It can’t be just coincidence at this stage. It’s probably quite easy to blame the new rules and say that’s what it is. I doubt it’s that; that would be my own opinion.

“There certainly is more space in the new game. There’s obviously more twisting and turning and taking guys on one-on-one. Whether that’s a contributing factor, I don’t know, but it’s something you can see.”

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