Who will be the "most innovative"

There is no doubt that the new rules will unearth lots of new ideas and opportunities for coaches over the next 12 months. To quote a famous marketeer, you will have the innovators, the early adopters, the early majority , the late majority , and the laggards.

I remember around 1998/99, I got a job with Dublin GAA during the summer. Part of the remit was coaching their development squad teams for the odd session. While I don't think it was intentional, one thing that stands out to me was how much emphasis there was on 1 v 1. Every evasion skill was coached ( probably poorly) in 1v1 situations. It was a time when the coaches favourite phrase was " Take Him On, Take Him On".....

Now that the game has been rejigged, the battle to be the "most innovative" has already begun among the coaches.  Some have continued to focus on kickouts obsessively, some have introduced what look like zonal defences, some have set their attacks up in what appears to be strange formations, and then you have throw up line-outs...... and it's evolving week by week..........Perhaps the "most innovative" coach will be the one who goes back to 1999, and  hammers the 1 v1 skills, along with the game sense that needs to accompany them. If you are attacking with 12 players who can all win their own ball, and beat a man, or defending with 11 players who are good at denying possession, and are hard to get past, everything else can flow from there.

Innovation for the sake of innovation can often lead to creating things that don't add value.