Former Offaly hurler Daithi Regan has praised Davy Fitzgerald for already getting his Wexford up to Championship pace at this point of the year.
Fitzgerald's first year in charge has already seen the positive of guiding Wexford into an Allianz Hurling League semi final against reigning All Ireland champions Tipperary this weekend.
All Ireland winner Regan has tipped Wexford to test Tipp greatly this weekend.
"I think Davy Fitzgerald has done an extraordinary thing in Wexford," he said on Off The Ball.
"I think what he's done is, by bringing the players together so often over a short period of time - maybe 26 or 27 nights out of 32 - I remember Michael Bond doing the same with Offaly in '98 after Babs had left.
"And what it does is, it just creates an extraordinary bond between players where you become like a family, and a reliance on one another and a willingness not to let one another down.
"I just think that Wexford at the minute are at Championship pace. I think they have a Championship mentality, an August-September mentality already and I think it's been a strategy by Davy to get them to this cusp so early in the season.
"I think it's a wise move, I think he's thought it out and I think they're at a level that Tipperary, no matter how forewarned they are about the weekend about what they bring, Tipperary have a certain level of training over them at this stage. But they're going to come up against a team that will be able to sustain Championship pace for 70 minutes plus and I believe Wexford will exert Championship pace into this game and if they do it over a sustained period of time, there's a possibility that you might find fitness levels not to the same levels as Wexford, has actually been a telling point this weekend.
"I give Wexford a huge opportunity this weekend to be honest."
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