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4th March 2016
09:55am GMT

"It nearly has to go down the route of rugby where, if you are good enough to go into a county squad you step away from your club and if you're not good enough for your county team any more you step back down again. "There is far too much and not enough structure for club and county managers talking to each other.
"It's all about load management and how often players are on their feet. How often they training? What intensity do they train at?
"It's crazy stuff what's going on and what's being asked of lads."
Having earned a masters in sports performance from University of Limerick, Lacey chose to take a year out of his career in 2015 to focus on his football. It ended for Donegal with quarter-final defeat to Mayo and Lacey is yet to return to Rory Gallagher's panel this year.
It is his job to know his own body and he knew he needed a rest. Donegal head to Kerry on Sunday looking for their first win in the Kingdom since 1988.
He is currently focused on his new job lecturing in strength and conditioning and performance analysis in Blanchardstown IT, while also coordinating a new partnership between Letterkenny IT and Donegal GAA.
A recent trip to the Arsenal academy, where he worked as part of his masters, highlighted for him what he sees as the unsustainable demands placed on GAA players.
"You can have a player out every night for two hours. Bodies can't go through that, bodies break down and managers don't see that.
"They might be manager for a team for two years and all he wants is to get the most out of that team for those two years. Where that player is in four years' time is irrelevant to him. That's the eye of the coach."You need somebody that's looking at the actual players themselves, making sure that player when he is 21 years of age, that when he is 27 or 28, that he is peaking.
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