Eventually, three missed frees and one that crashed off the inside of the post for a point against Kilkenny last Sunday convinced the Tipperary manager to replace Callanan with Jason Forde, who sent over 32 frees and three 65s in the county’s four Munster SHC games last summer.

Carr envisages Forde being given the duty come the summer but hopes Callanan, as captain, can look on any would-be demotion as a positive.

“Jason Forde is probably a more consistent free-taker than Seamie. I think Liam is in a bit of a bind because he has two guys who probably need frees to complement their game so what’s he going to do? Pick the guy who he feels will do the most without the frees or pick the guy who is the better free-taker so he is in a bit of a bind. He has a problem in that regard.

“You probably would put the best free-taker on the frees. Seamie is a class forward and probably doesn’t need the frees if he looks at it.

“The captain of the team is a leader and right being right Jason has proven himself to be consistent over the ball. It’s easy to sit on the sideline and pontificate but Seamie is the captain and he has the ability to do an awful lot of damage without frees. You could even use it as a push for him as if to say, ‘now go out and do it’.

“I’d expect to see it changing back to Jason but the overarching thing is can you afford to accommodate two players who are going to perform on frees and contribute a little bit? No, you can’t, not at that level.

“I genuinely don’t think either guy just wants to take the frees and are happy to do it; it’s about Liam getting the balance to get the most out of both of them. Is there room for both of them on the team? Absolutely, 100%.”

Both players seem to revel at full-forward but the fact one won’t be there shouldn’t be an issue, insists Carr.

“Two guys who want to play in the same position is irrelevant — how badly do they want to play in the team is the real question. Modern day doesn’t require the full-forward to be the full-forward all the time and you certainly could get away with the two of them in there.”

One win in nine league and Championship games leads Carr to ask “what form” Tipperary have at the moment.

“It’s the league but absolutely there are signs there that you wouldn’t like to see. We’re getting handled by teams when we shouldn’t be but we have been competitive.”

Losing to Kilkenny was hardly earth-shattering but when both teams aren’t in the upper echelon of hurling at the moment, it does give Carr cause for concern.

“The same relevance is not there because Kilkenny aren’t sitting on top of the pile as they have been for so long. It’s a game between the lesser forces at the minute.”

Aerial ability and a lack of pace are issues that exercise the mind of Carr, as they do most Tipperary supporters.

“We’ve had a long history of not being able to win our own ball and we currently have some of the same players. The lack of pace is the biggest concern because I believe that problem will only get worse as the year moves on and the weather gets better. For the six backs in particular, that lack of pace is a big worry.

“On the upside, John McGrath will get back to where he was at and he’ll make a massive difference. Niall O’Meara will get a better shout than he has in the past — he’s shown flashes of how good he is and he’s a very hard-working forward. Michael Breen is back where he should be in the middle of the park and he’ll bring another dimension so it’s not all negative.”