Joanne Cantwell grilled Peter Canavan on Sunday’s edition of League Sunday. Now a committee member of the FRC, the body set up to amend Gaelic Football’s rules and turn it back into a watchable sport, Tyrone legend Canavan was asked to address a number of flaws that everyone in the country wants the answers to. Namely why … 1: No rulebook with the new rules was in place for round one of the League 2: A number of counties were given a different set of rules to the ones issued to refs 3: In week two of the League, the rulebook had errors in it, according to refs 4: New guidelines were given on kick-outs but were they adequately communicated to the managers and players? No one can quibble with Cantwell’s observations nor with the idea that perfection has been achieved with the rule changes. For sure, flaws remain. But here are five main reasons why they work. STATS THE WAY TO DO IT Here is the evidence. Make your own minds up after reading it. Across the first three rounds of last year’s football fixtures in Division 1, only two teams had scored more than 20 points in 12 games. This year already, there have been 11 occasions when sides have passed the 20-point mark. In Division 2, it’s even more stark. Last year the average number of points scored per game was 25.8 - or 12.9 per team. This season it has nearly doubled to an average of 23.45 points per team, 46.91 points per game. Last year, the first 12 games of Division 2 brought about 16 goals. This year, the opening three rounds of fixtures in the second tier have seen 33 goals scored, just over double the amount scored last year. Division 1 tells a slightly different story where there have actually been fewer goals scored in the first three rounds of games - 17 compared to 21 last year. But scoring has certainly increased, games now averaging 36.8 points per game compared to an average of 29.16 per game in the first three rounds of fixtures last year. Those are the facts. You can’t argue with them. BLANKET DEFENCE GONE Darragh McMullen’s goal for Armagh on Sunday would never have been scored against the original Donegal team that Jim McGuinness put together from 2011-14. Nor, in all probability, would McMullen have been able to grasp a chance like that last year, prior to the change in rules. What is different now is you don’t get 15 players behind the ball. In fact you rarely even get 12 players inside your own 45, as teams have realised the advantages that exist from trying the two-point option. That’s why McMullen’s goal chance opened up in Ballybofey. Ethan Rafferty started the move in a central position outside the arc but because of the threat of a two-point score, Donegal were forced to move players into that area of the field, far away from their goal. By the time Rafferty moved the ball leftwards, where Jarly og Burns was waiting, space had opened up inside the 45. The question then was whether Armagh could exploit it. And the answer was yes. They did their business effectively and swiftly and while Donegal still managed to get five defenders back within 12 yards of the goal by the time McMullen was lining up to shoot, it hardly mattered. The chance had opened up, the goal clinically taken. And why? Because the new rules have forced Gaelic football coaches to play a form of whack a mole. If they position 12 outfielders deep around the goal area, they can be fairly confident to avoid coughing up three points. Yet by doing so, they are vulnerable to their opponent raising an orange flag and getting two. This time last year, there was no two-point rule. Nor was there a rule dictating that three of your players had to remain in the opposing team’s half. The game has changed … and for the better. INDIAN SUMMER IN DONEGAL Michael Murphy was finished. Everyone assumed Paul Geaney was too. Far from it. On Sunday Michael Murphy received the most rapturous welcome on a Donegal stage since Daniel O’Donnell played in front of the blue rinse brigade at Arnold’s Hotel in Dunfanaghy. In 26 minutes of his comeback game, Murphy got three points, a head butt into his chest and a red card for Aidan Forker. Down in Kerry, Paul Geaney cannot stop scoring. He got 2-0 against Derry, 1-1 against Dublin and looks far from finished. You can say the same for Paul Conroy, Galway’s veteran. New rules have translated into a new lease of life. COMEBACK KINGS Comebacks aren’t confined to Michael Murphy. Derry were nine points down against Galway at the weekend yet managed a draw; Dublin trailed Kerry by 11 but got a win; Roscommon came from five down to defeat Monaghan. And the new rules make a significant difference, two-pointers offering a quick way back for a team chasing a deficit. “Ten point leads aren’t safe anymore,” said Kerry boss Jack O’Connor after Saturday night. STOPPING THE STOPPERS Once upon a time a goalkeeper’s job was to kick the ball out, watch it go over the bar or make the occasional save. Now the best teams have a keeper who can end the day as top scorer - which is what Niall Morgan managed against Mayo - and who must be capable of joining the attack. It is the Gaelic football equivalent of the rugby full back entering the line. That knowledge of knowing when to appear in the right place at the right time is vital. And it is why Ethan Rafferty has replaced a highly competent goalkeeper who won the All Ireland with Armagh last year. Blaine Hughes is a keeper in the traditional mould, Rafferty a converted forward. Stephen Cluxton, the original goalkeeping revolutionary, now looks finished under these new rules. That isn’t a good thing, obviously, given his massive contribution to the sport over the last quarter of a century. But the innovative tactics that can come from a team’s goalkeeper turning into a quarterback type figure will be fascinating to watch. To keep up to date with all the latest GAA news, sign-up to our GAA newsletter here.