Earlier this week the names of a number of returning and new faces who have been invited into the Mayo panel for the early stages of next year's campaign emerged into the public sphere, with the likes of Jason Gibbons, Cathal Carolan, and Shane McHale being mentioned as coming back into the fold alongside the likes of David Kenny, Shane Nally, and Caolan Crowe amongst others.
Speaking to the press earlier this month new Mayo manager Stephen Rochford said what he would be looking for from these new and returning faces saying, "It's seeing guys going on a positive trajectory. They are coming in, some may be getting their first shot at it, some may be getting a renewed shot having been there before. Can we see improvement? if were going out with a message to them, are we are seeing that coming through?
"Not everything will be perfect, we're playing in January, where pitches are softer, guys haven't played very much football in three of four months and typically those guys you're on about are those guys who have played very little football, because it won't be the Castlebar lads. You're looking at guys who have maybe gone out of the championship a little bit earlier so you have to show an element of patience but give them the opportunity and a clear message around, lets look at these one, two or three things and see can we get to this level of performance that will give us something that's measurable with them.
"If they can build on that over three four or five weeks it's something that you'll feel you'll work on. Then you're on about their own personal characteristics how much does it mean to them to play for Mayo? What sort of behaviours they'll have? Why is it important to them to be part of the 2016 Mayo panel? They are all things that feed into your perspective of what they can add to the group."
As for what he wants to see come out of the FBD League, asked if it was all about winning it or was there more than that to be taken from the January competition, Rochford said "Look, it has to be about more than that, if you're going to mount a sustained challenge during the year. You have to be in division one, so I think it's a responsibility on any manager that the team maintains division one status for the next team and when I say the next team, I mean the 2017 team.
"That has to be a short term goal around retaining your national league status. That's the first thing, so you got to win a couple of games, whether that comes in the first two games or the last three games, Mayo have shown at times before having won the first two, losing in the middle and coming strong again at the end, we won't be hitting any panic buttons if it doesn't happen in the first two, but the preference is to get off to a winning start."
The Crossmolina native when asked if he had a message for the supporters ahead of the new year, said " stick with the team, because nothing will go perfectly all the time.
"Continue to support the team, there will be some road bumps along the way, I've no doubt, but when my team goes out they'll be going out to honour the crest on the Mayo jersey, to perform to their very, very best and I believe that if we can get it consistantly into our performances, we may not win every day, but I think people will be very proud of what the team will do and that will be part of our ambition for it."
