Daithí Regan identified the misuse of Austin Gleeson as one of the reason's for Waterford's loss to Galway in the All-Ireland final on Sunday.
The Tribesmen ended 29 barren years as they claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup with a 0-26 to 2-17 win at Croke Park.
Regan joined Monday's Off the Ball to review the match and speaking to Adrian Barry, he said: "Galway did what they've been doing all year. They have superb players in each of six forward positions and five of them played very well yesterday.
"The two sub forwards that came on were outstanding. That's an amazing return from a forward line in an All-Ireland final. You got a really big return form the Galway forward line. They were able to mine scores from all areas of the field up front.
"With Waterforf it was so much more difficult. Ultimately I think five or six Waterford players kept them in the game.
Waterford's Austin Gleeson. Image: ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson
"Now Tommy's (Dunne) right in that they weren't a million miles off it at the end of the day. What they really needed was with the two boys in midfield - they were doing really well for long periods. They ran themselves into the ground.
"The 'Brick' Walsh ran himself into the ground...what they needed was Austin Gleeson having a stormer up the other end of the field because they just couldn't rely on 'Brick' alone and that was principally it up front.
"The two boys in midfield getting beyond the ball and getting beyond the half-back line and that was ultimately the attacking potential that Waterford had to rely on.
"I have a huge sympathy for Austin Gleeson on the basis that when you're playing a very structured role and someone of his ability centre-forward - you try to play heads-up hurling and they did play heads-up hurling. The ball out when they weren't under pressure was either crisscross 30/40 yards or straight down the lines to Bennett's wing or to 'Brick' and 'Brick' won anawful lot of hard ball that way,
"But if you're going to have someone like Austin Gleeson - where do you bring him into the game? You need him kind of off the centre-back. You need to play through him."
The full discussion can be heard here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
