It's been said of David Clifford that he is a generational talent.
Tony Griffin, the former Clare hurler and now performance coach with the Kerry senior footballers, stated that Clifford knows that he is not the complete player but he also knows that he is complete beyond that of others.
The two-time player of the year is always looking to improve, but doesn't drill too deeply in trying to seek such improvement.
"I don't think of it too actively really as I suppose you're always trying to improve and get better," Clifford outlined at the launch of SuperValu's sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland SFC and this year's #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign.
"It's still football no matter how much preparation you've done and there are still so many other factors. It's not like darts or snooker where you're playing at the same target.
"You have a defender marking you, you've different defensive structures. So, look, it's hard to know. I don't exactly focus on anything too deeply because you have to try to switch off from it in one sense. I just try to improve and try to always get better and reach for consistency, that's the thing."
In expanding on theme of not over complicating things, the Fossa clubman added: "You can totally overthink it, we're all guilty of that. That's why you need to try to be well settled off the field and have plenty going on off the field to try and be able to move away from it because it's very easy to start thinking about it all the time. And sure then there's no real enjoyment in it then."
Kerry began their championship campaign with a three-point win over Cork on Saturday last, a victory that takes them into another Munster final and a date with Clare on 5 May.
It's the first step on the road to winning back Sam and trying to erase the memory of that loss to Dublin last July.
Summing up that day, Clifford said: "It was just a lot of disappointment and regret I suppose. It's the best place you can be when you win and probably the worst when you lose.
"So I suppose to have someone like Tony [Griffin] and to have such close friends in the team you're lucky because you've survived through the bad days together.
"Look, you must try to move on from it as well because your life can be lived by whether you win or lose a game. Because it's going to be a long auld career for you then really because you're going to have more losses than wins.
"So, as disappointing as it was, you must just plough on and get on with it."
Despite the narrow win over Cork in Killarney, Clifford felt it was an ideal test to start the year and hailed the impact of newcomer Cillian Burke from the Milltown/Castlemaine club.
"Cork had finished the league very strongly," he said. "They kicked 2-16 against Armagh in their last game which was an eye-opening result. So we were really expecting a tough challenge and that's exactly what we got. We were satisfied to be able to control the game, especially in the second half, and come out the right side of it. Yeah, it was a fairly ideal day out.
"Your squad is going to change year to year. We're lucky in the sense that we haven't had any major retirements and we've been able to bring in a couple of young lads so we're happy with where we're at. If you can have as much competition in training as you can then that's only going to make you stronger.
"Cillian is very solid. Obviously he broke our hearts in the intermediate final last year and nearly broke our hearts in the county final with Mid Kerry. So you could see he was on the horizon. He's a very solid fella, you couldn't ask for more really. Very enjoyable fella to be around and a hard worker so can't complain.
"He came through that pathway of minor and Under-20 and it's a good pathway because you're subjected to the training level and you're well aware of what's required and you've played on some of the big days. Most fellas who come in are fairly ready to go."
A stat that may be of concern to the Kingdom is the lack of goals they've registered of late - just two green flags raised in the last six games.
Their ace marksman is confident the tally will be improved upon as the summer progresses.
"I suppose the thing is about creating goal chances. We'd be hopful that when the skills are sharpened and everyone is in a good place we'll finish the chances. It's just to create the chances. We had a few goal chances at the weekend, we probably had three or four, so you're still happy enough to be creating the goal chances. It's very simple but goals win games, yeah."
With the Football Review Committee in place and GAA president Jarlath Burns wanting to see a game where more David Cliffords are on view, what would the man himself introduce to improve the game?
He looked Down Under.
"The one thing that you see in the Aussie Rules is the 50-metre penalty," Clifford said. "A players gets a mark and if you step in front of him and try and disrupt him, basically try to slow him down, he gets a 50-metre penalty. So you could go from your own '45 to in front of the goal.
"That should speed things up a bit. Also if there is a quick counter-attack and you get fouled and then if someone tries to disrupt it or slow it down you would get a 50-metre penalty and it could be a guaranteeed score."
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