Ian O'Riordan talks to Laois manager Mick O'Dwyer and Kerry trainer Pat Flanagan about the demands of playing seven league games in nine weeks.

For the 32 panels that this weekend start into the National Football League the overriding challenge is not necessarily success but survival. Seven matches over nine weekends - with the possibility of two more afterwards - is enough of an endurance test. Yet managers have to rotate players for various reasons, while also keeping one eye firmly fixed on the championship. All this when their panels are officially cut back to 24.

Laois are a prime example. This Sunday they start out against Limerick without several of their best players who are club-tied with Portlaoise and a few more because of injury (Brian McDonald and Joe Higgins being the most obvious) while also burdened with the highest level of expectation. Manager Mick O'Dwyer believes the best way to deal with that situation is to embrace it.

"Down the years I know I've stated that I didn't always like the league and didn't always want to win it," he says. "That's all changed now. Teams like Tyrone and Kerry have proved that if you do well in the league you will do well in the championship. And I think the league is a great competition now.

"I'm building a team at the moment, but we're going to try to win everything that's available to us. We've a good panel now, and I think with the new rules counties need to have that. But I think the cutting down of panels to 24 is totally out of order, and I'd like to see that reverted to 30 players. It's essential now with the new yellow-card rule."

How teams balance their training with their actual performance is ultimately the key to their survival and success - both short and long term. Kerry managed to balance that act last season by winning both the league and championship, and their physical trainer Pat Flanagan admits the league brings a special set of demands.

"Essentially you have to decide if you're going to go out and play well, or train right through it," says Flanagan. "That's the manager's call, although most teams fall somewhere in between. And I think last year Jack O'Connor identified the league as very important to Kerry, so we had to tailor our training to suit that. Everything worked out nicely, but the league is very competitive so you can't be going into games straight off of hard training.

"Years ago teams would have more or less ignored the league and trained right through. But now they are paying far more attention to the league. Still, you can't really be training too hard if you're playing seven games in nine weeks. Although the league being more compact is a good thing."

Through his involvement with college and underage teams Flanagan also knows the constant danger of player burnout, yet he feels that frequent matches is in fact good prevention: "I think it's the training that causes burnout more than the matches.

Players enjoy the matches, and that can keep them fresh. The one problem about having so many matches together is the travel. But this year Kerry are lucky to have more home games.

"I know the younger players do end up playing more matches with their college or club as well, but the problem there is overdoing the training. In some cases players have so many games that they're not able to do the proper training or recovery, but that's at the far end of the scale. But the games have become so much more competitive now because I think everyone is training harder and harder."

Kerry made no secret of their significant increase in gym work last season, with many players sticking to the task right up to the All-Ireland final. Flanagan believes gym work is important all the time, though it may become a priority for the time being: "We're definitely well behind where we would have been at this stage last year. But sure it's a long year ahead. Hopefully as long as last year."

Both Laois and Kerry have been hit with their share of pre-season injuries. Again though O'Dwyer is just getting on with it: "I think we've something like 17 injured at the moment. There is a nice panel of young players there now, and we certainly hope some of the injured players will start coming back.

"You'll always have your ups and down in football, and last year was a bad year for Laois after the great year in 2003. But we did have a lot of problems last year, which I think we have sorted out."