Dean Rock has shrugged off talk of crisis in the Dublin camp.
The seven-time All-Ireland winner says the volume of experience in their team means there is no sense of panic in their squad.
And Rock believes that being exposed to adversity will stand to the 14 new players in the Dublin squad.
Dessie Farrell’s men lost their opening two Division One games, falling to Armagh at Croke Park and Kerry in Tralee.
It was the first time the capital side lost back-to-back League games in almost a decade and has added to the growing sense that Dublin are on the wane following last year’s extra-time All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Mayo.
With just two of their eight-time All-Ireland winners left — James McCarthy and Michael Fitzsimons — it could well be the end of an era.
McCarthy, Fitzsimons, Jonny Cooper, Paddy Small and Con O’Callaghan haven’t played any part in the two League games to date either.
Dublin also lost Eoin Murchan and Cormac Costello for the Kerry game, so Farrell has almost half of his first team to return to action again in the coming weeks.
Rock is taking it all in his stride as Dublin struggle to put it all together. “It comes with the territory of being a Dublin footballer,” he says.
“You’re under the microscope. The team has achieved so much in the last few years, so any sort of dip is going to be commented on.
“That’s the nature of it. But there’s too much experience in the group to be going down the road of panic.
“We know where we’re at and what we want to achieve and where we want to go. That’s the most important thing.”
Rock has been on the receiving end himself in his early days with plenty telling him he wasn’t good enough for inter-county football with Dublin.
“I’ll share my experiences with them (younger players),” he says. “I got my fair share of criticism growing up, people saying I’d never make it or whatever.
“There will always be noise out there and people who doubt you personally and doubt the team.
“You have to stay true to yourself, know exactly who you are as a footballer. Who you are exactly as a team.
“And just try and showcase that identity every time you go out to train and every time you go to play on the pitch.
“That’s what you’ve got to do. There’s lots of experience in the group, lots of conversations being had.
“It’s about feeding those younger guys with as much confidence as they possibly can.
“They’re all good footballers in their own right. But everyone needs an arm around the shoulder to tell them they’re doing well.
“There’s no sense of panic among the group at all. We’ve been here before. We’ve done it before. And just to continue to go after the improvements every day, on and off the pitch.”
Rock, who turns 32 at the end of his month, doesn’t shy away from the quality they’ve lost over the past two years in the shape of Stephen Cluxton, Paul Mannion, Jack McCaffrey, Michael Darragh Macauley, Kevin McManamon, Cian O’Sullivan and Philly McMahon.
He continued: “You’ve lost so many key guys and squad members over the last number of seasons.
“There’s 14 new players on the panel at the moment. Then there’s lots of injuries. There’s guys who are just out at the moment.
“So there’s lots of moving parts. That’s where we’re at. A lot of new guys are getting great exposure.
“They’re going to Croke Park and getting used to tough games in Tralee. That’s all a massive part of their development and experience as a Dublin footballer.
“Obviously, you want them to experience wins and wins early on in their careers. But a bit of adversity does no harm for those guys. It builds up their mental strength for the season ahead.”
Saying all that, Rock is acutely aware of the standards Dublin set as they claimed eight All-Ireland titles in a decade and six-in-a-row.
“That’s the benchmark,” says the Ballymun Kickhams man.
“That’s what we measure ourselves against.
“The nature of inter-county football is if you switch off at any stage and go through a sloppy 10 or 15-minute period, you’re going to be punished.
“We as a group know that as well as anyone else. All the new guys are experiencing that.
“We, as senior players, are experiencing that. I just think (we are a) little bit disappointed with the start of the League and the results aspect of it.
“But we’re working on things in training and trying to put it all together and hopefully we can this Saturday.”
There’s a sense in some quarters that Kerry went to twist the knife on Dublin as they hit 1-9 without reply in the second quarter in Tralee after the visitors went down to 14 men.
Mayo may be of a similar mind, as they look to back-up last year’s Championship victory.
“Every team has an agenda going into a game,” says Rock. “That’s fine. We would have been in that position over the years as well. Any team, when they get a sniff to go after another team, they’ll do it. That’s what the best teams do.
“Kerry sniffed an opportunity with the black card in the second quarter and took full advantage of it and fair play to them.
“For us, it was just about trying to reflect on that second quarter and see how we could manage that period a bit better for the next time.
“It’s just trying to take the learnings from the first two League games.
“The break last week was good, just to have conversations about our game plans. Hopefully we can start to implement those changes on Saturday.”
Last year’s Tyrone/Mayo All-Ireland final was the first one Rock and Dublin weren’t involved in since 2014.
“I was in Ibiza with Niamh (McEvoy),” he says. “We had a different experience.
“We, as a group, knew that success wasn’t going to last forever, as much as the noise outside was saying it would.
“You hope that day doesn’t come when you’re there as a player. But it did and of course it hurt not to be involved.
“But sometimes that will bring you back stronger the following season and ignite a bit more fire in guys and hopefully that’s the case this year.”
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