Alan Brogan: It is accepted in Dublin that there has to be a rebuilding period

After the unprecedented success of eight All-Ireland titles in the space of 10 seasons, there was always going to be a drop-off for Dublin.

It is not yet clear how great that will prove to be, with many of the opinion that they are still live contenders for the Sam Maguire Cup this year.

But the mood in the capital is one of acceptance that there was always going to be a period of transition following such great success, according to Alan Brogan.

"I think there's an acceptance that there is a bit of a changing of the guard," said the Dublin great.

"Obviously the manager changed a number of years ago but I think there is an acceptance that so much experience has disappeared out the back door.

"So I think there's a level of acceptance that there has to be a bit of a rebuilding period. Every great sports team goes through cycles of where you need to rebuild and we spoke about how well Jim [Gavin] did that every year, he was bringing one or two guys through.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

"The personnel has changed, some of the guys they've lost are kind of irreplaceable on any team. In any sport, in any period of success, it's kind of cyclical like, if you look at Man United now and the struggles they're having, you can see loads of examples of that over the years in sport.

"If there's a criticism of Dessie [Farrell] it's maybe that he hasn't managed to get those guys through, whether that's his fault or it's coincidental with the players coming through from underage.

"If you look at underage, Dublin probably haven't been that successful over the last number of years so yeah, there's a sense of realism among Dublin people that we've had it so good for a number of years and just have to accept that there might be a couple of quiet years where Dessie has to rebuild the team and he'll be given the time to do that.

"Certainly within the county there's no real pressure on Dessie at the moment."

2022 championship prospects

Dublin's victories last year over Meath and Kildare were by much narrower margins than had been forecast, and many believe that the Lilywhites in particular could be primed for a first Delaney Cup success since 2000.

Brogan is expecting a tough test for Dublin if they are to win a 12th consecutive provincial title.

"In terms of the Leinster Championship, whether the gap has closed sufficiently that Meath or Kildare can beat Dublin in a big game in Croke Park, I'm not entirely sure. But it's definitely closer," Brogan opined.

"It's back to where it was maybe in 2009, 2010, 2011, that sort of time when we were having very tight games with the likes of Meath and Kildare."

Nonetheless, he feels that the Dubs will be in the mix later in the summer.

"Form hasn't been great in the National League but you'd certainly expect that this Dublin team, even with the problems they've had, would be reaching an All-Ireland semi-final, All-Ireland final," the three-time All-Star outlined.

"I think the personnel is still there. If they get the key guys fit, and if they stay fit during the championship, I would expect them to be at the business end for sure."

And the Dubs could be set for a tough start to their campaign on Saturday in Wexford Park.

"You're not going to get anything easy down there, you go to those grounds with home crowds, you need to see a bit of fight from Dublin," Brogan outlined.

"You go into Croke Park and you can play a bit more football, there's a bit more space and you can play the football you want to play.

"But down in Wexford Park, they're going to see an opportunity, they'll see it as an outside chance and will be saying, 'let's give it a good crack for 40 or 45 minutes and see if we can stay close to Dublin, maybe have them rattled for the last 15'.

"But I think Dublin are going to have to show a certain amount of grit and fight to get through it and I think that's what brings a team closer together, when you have to go into the trenches with each other and you have to dig it out.

"That's the best thing Dublin could get out of it. Like, a 20-point win for Dublin at the weekend, I don't think that would be any use for them.

"A tight enough game where Dublin have to fight hard and rely on each other to dig themselves out, that would go a lot longer and help the lads a lot more than a big win will."

Watch Monaghan vs Down in the Ulster SFC and Wexford vs Dublin in the Leinster SFC live on Sky Sports Arena from 4pm Saturday.