Dean Rock plays down talk of a Dublin decline: 'It hasn't been as bad as two defeats have looked'

Commentary surrounding a Dublin football decline has been growing louder in recent weeks.

After an off-colour summer in 2021, Dessie Farrell's charges have made an underwhelming start to the National League, with successive defeats at the hands of Armagh and Kerry.

Mayo come to Croke Park on Saturday night, looking to inflict more misery on the capital side. But despite the widespread murmurs that this Dublin team is struggling, Dean Rock says there is no need for panic.

"It probably hasn't been as bad as two defeats probably have looked," said the Dubs sharpshooter.

"Obviously we'd analyse and assess the games. Break it down and we just had two poor second quarters in both of those games.

"That was probably the big learning for us. The second halves of those games we played a little bit better and won both those halves. In particular it was the second quarters that let us down, both against Armagh and Kerry. So that's just something that we have to try and address. Now we're looking forward to Mayo this weekend and hoping to right a few wrongs there."

It probably hasn't been as bad as two defeats probably have looked.

And he says the group is unconcerned about criticism of the team.

"I think there's always a decent amount of noise out there around the Dublin team, whether it's good, bad or indifferent," he outlined.

"I think that just comes with the territory of being a Dublin footballer. We know exactly where we want to get to and how we want to get there. There's been a massive influx of new players on the panel this year. There's 14 new players in the panel so trying to integrate them guys into the team and even just getting to know them, from my perspective getting to know new guys on the panel, you were so comfortable with the lads who were there.

"Obviously there's so many lads who've gone over the last number of years, your best friends and guys you could easily communicate with. So it's totally different trying to get to know new guys. There is a transition there, absolutely but we certainly still want to be very, very competitive in this year's championship and the remainder of the league.

"We're just trying to improve each and every day and training session to get there."

The next generation

The Ballymun star is impressed with the quality of talent coming through the ranks, but noted they need to be afforded time and patience.

"Just from training and a couple of the games, there is massive talent there," he said.

"The big thing is that these guys have to be given time. When I started - or James McCarthy or Con O'Callaghan - it took us time to get acclimatised to intercounty football and the demands of training day in and day out.

"Even from a tactical perspective, getting used to game plans. It's probably not that in depth at club level or U20 level. So there's a huge amount of learning for these guys to have and to do.

"They're improving week-on-week and there certainly are a lot of talented players there. I've seen it over the last couple of weeks but they probably just need a little bit more time and hopefully we'll see the best for them over the next couple of weeks in the league and obviously in the summer as well."

There are a number of big names to come back into the team, with Michael Fitzsimons, Jonny Cooper, O'Callaghan and McCarthy among the stars yet to feature in 2022.

"A huge amount of players to come back into the team and that's one massive positive," Rock added. "Then the other positive is that the newer guys are getting a lot of exposure and minutes that they might not have done if them guys were available. That's only going to be positive for the squad going forward that these lads have got minutes under their belt.

"They'll get a lot of confidence from that, just even get used to playing in Croke Park or going down to difficult venues like Tralee. It's all part of the experience moulding and shaping some future players for Dublin.

"Maybe the bigger picture is exposing these newer lads to game-time and giving them that exposure, because without that, they're not going to improve as players. It's really important for them."

But he ultimately knows that there is an expectation to deliver, as they hope to marry this transitional phase with success.

"As Dublin footballers, we expect to win and be very competitive," he said. "Nothing is going to change, even though we're in this transitional phase at the moment. We certainly know where we want to get to as a group and what we want to achieve.

"It's February, there's a long way to go in the National League, there's a long way to go until the championship."