OWEN Mulligan believes a new wave of attacking talent can help Tyrone rival Dublin's devastatingly effective use of impact subs to kill off games.
New managers Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have assembled a serious array of forwards with the help of new recruits, comebacks and recovery from injury.
With as many as a dozen men battling for six positions, they're facing some very welcome selection problems.
But former Red Hand star Mulligan feels they can maximise the impact of the collective through clever use of individuals.
"Just look at Dublin. In the last 20 minutes against Mayo, they brought on some of their key forwards.
"That's what we want. We want to be saying – look who's coming off the bench now," said the former All-Star attacker.
"It puts the fear right up into the opposition, that Tyrone have reinforcements coming in."
All-Star full forward Cathal McShane is set to return from injury to renew his partnership with Mattie Donnelly, while the arrival of former AFL ace Conor McKenna and youngster Darragh Canavan add to the exciting possibilities.
Connor McAliskey and Lee Brennan have returned to the panel to put pressure on Peter Harte, Darren McCurry and Mark Bradley in the battle for selection up front.
And the club championship's top scorer, Paul Donaghy of Dungannon, has joined the squad, along with Clonoe's Danny McNulty and Coalisland's Tiarnan Quinn. All three have represented the county at U21/U20 level.
"It's about who wants it the most. There's that much competition now, and you feel that you have to score and you have to perform.
"And that's the way it should be," said Mulligan, a member of a lethal full forward line along with Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill that helped Tyrone win three All-Ireland titles back in the glorious noughties.
"Okay, you had the likes of Peter Canavan and Stevie O'Neill, and the likes of these boys will never be around again – top class forwards.
"But with McShane coming back from injury and McKenna in there, it's very exciting times."
Mulligan is hoping that the new Red Hand era will switch to a more offensive strategy and exploit the attacking talent in the set-up.
"With the new management coming in with different ideas, hopefully the Tyrone forwards will be let fly this year."
"Tyrone's talent has always been there with forwards. It's just about giving them the chance.
"I thought Tyrone were very defensive over the years."
While many of the front men are specialist finishers, the versatility of others will make for an interesting deployment of resources.
"I know there's horses for courses and you can shuffle around, and Tyrone have got that variety now that they can make different changes in different positions."
But he insisted that natural finishers must be utilised in a way that best suits their strengths.
"It's all about the systems now and you have to play the systems now, and they say that if you're a good enough footballer, you can play anywhere.
"But I disagree with that. If you're in the position that you play for your club, and you're scoring freely, that's the position you play."
"I'm glad to see those boys back, McAliskey especially.
"Mickey Harte used him in a different sort of way – out the field – when he should be inside in the full forward line.
"He was Tyrone's top scorer a couple of years back, and it's like taking a duck out of water to tell him to play somewhere else.
"McCurry as well. He was used out the field. These boys are out-and-out forwards, they have the killer instinct in front of goal."
