ALLIANZ NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Kerry defender Tommy Griffin, who says the county's opening two league games ended in defeat because of injuries and fatigue. But things will improve.

TWO ROUNDS into the Allianz National Football League and both Kerry and Tyrone – who between them have won the last seven All-Ireland football titles – are still without a win. A case of decline and fall, or couldn’t really be bothered yet?

Kerry defender Tommy Griffin isn’t jumping to any conclusions but admits there was always going to be an unstable period for the current All-Ireland champions with so many new players being tried out.

It may well be that Kerry end up in a relegation battle, given the experimental period is likely to continue – but with a three-week break before the third round on March 6th/7th, Griffin also expects there will be a slightly more familiar looking Kerry team come the next game against Derry.

“There is a bit of a battle ahead, and it will make things interesting now,” says Griffin. “Ideally you would have liked to get off to a good start, especially with a home game at first. But we met two good, very fit teams, in Dublin and Cork. We’ll be looking to pick up points after this now, especially from our home games and ensure we survive. Hopefully we’ll have a few bodies back after the league break, lads who are injured and lads who are on an extended break.

“We were trying to win those matches, but as a result of so many lads missing, you are giving these guys the opportunity to stake their claim for the year. We’re giving game time to younger lads and we’re trying to work on from that for the rest of the year.”

It’s a necessary process. No pain without gain. With the retirement of goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy, the exiling of Tadgh Kennelly and Tommy Walsh, and a generally aging panel, Kerry need to find young blood, even if that means surrendering league points.

“There are a lot of guys with miles on the clock who are taking a break,” adds Griffin. “Theyre taking it easy for the first couple of months and will probably be back in March again. A few lads had operations before Christmas and are only coming back. Some of our fringe players have got injuries and we’ve had to bring in a lot of new players, who haven’t had a lot of game time or training done. And I suppose the results are suffering. But that’s more of the reason why these young guys are going to have to step up to the plate.”

One of the best Kerry players likely to be missing for round three is Paul Galvin, who was red-carded against Cork against on Saturday night – although Griffin believes it is a case of Galvin’s reputation preceding him.

“I think so. Any day Paul goes out now, there seems to be some bit of controversy afterwards. Through no fault of his own, I think, most of the time. In fairness the two Cork lads that were sent off the last day were unlucky as well. I thought it was fairly innocuous. Everyone who was at the game and saw it afterwards thought it was minor incidents. That isn’t great or ideal as guys are looking at suspensions. Hopefully it’s not going to kick off like this for the year. It’s not the way we want to progress.”