Former Mayo footballer Billy Joe Padden is intrigued to see how Mayo setup during the 2017 All Ireland Championship.
They start their Connacht Championship campaign on Sunday with a clash against Sligo in Castlebar.
One of the pre-match talking points ahead of the game is the fact that O'Shea is not in the Mayo team and Padden touched on his role first.
"I think I saw one paper describe it as sensational that he was left out and I'm not sure I'd go that far," he said on Off The Ball.
"I think Mayo are struggling to figure out what is the best way to utilise him and I have no doubt that what you saw in the last two rounds of the league, if you had the luxury of being able to bring Aidan O'Shea on for the second half or the last 25 minutes of games, there is no doubt in my mind he would have a huge influence on the game - maybe even more of an impact than he would starting a game. He's coming onto tired bodies and he's so physically dominant that he inevitably has an impact, draws defenders to him and creates havoc all round.
"At the same time, he's going to be disappointed and will want to start. So it might be no harm. It's a Sligo game, it might rev him up a bit more in terms of his preparation should they get over that for the later rounds in the championship.
"There is a perception in Mayo - I don't subscribe to it - that the Mayo players have had too much power and got too big for their boots and some people will see this as Aidan being knocked back a peg and it's up to him - I don't believe that's necessary or that's the case - but it is up to him to go out there and prove he's the leader of this team and get himself back in a position where he's leading from the front and from the start and you can only do that by putting in serious performances."
On the wider development of this Mayo team, Padden said, "I don't know what the identity of this Mayo team is under Stephen Rochford."
He feels the setup for the All Ireland final and replay for 2016 showed a good template and wants to see Kevin McLoughlin reverted back to the sweeper role, suggesting that is "the only way they can win big games in Croke Park is playing that way".
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