Dean Rock: “We’ll just start fresh again next year and once 2018 is over those titles are almost taken away and 2019 is a new year.”
Dean Rock and his Dublin teammates had just completed the four in a row and the confetti was still being removed from the Croke Park pitch but the ‘drive for five’ talk had already begun.
Not from the Dublin players and management, but from the media and the sky blue clad supporters, it was somewhat understandable with Dublin on the cusp of a piece of history and their recent dominance of the football championship.
There are some in the media that scoff when Dublin players state that talk of records or history making is not talked about among the group.
Speaking at the AIG Skills Challenge on Monday evening Dean Rock reaffirmed that talk of completing a five in row isn’t discussed, why it’s not and how much he is looking forward to the 2019 challenge.
“It’s a nice position to be in but it’s certainly something we wouldn’t talk about as a group.”
“There’s some guys there who have been part of the group to win four in a row and some guys have just won their first one last year so consecutive All-Ireland’s isn’t something we’ve talked about as a group because it’s not fair on lads who weren’t there or who are just coming in fresh this year.
“We’ll just start fresh again next year and once 2018 is over those titles are almost taken away and 2019 is a new year.”
Hunger is a word often used in discussions ahead and during a season, some believe that hunger can be diminished and the edge taken from a team who enjoy a sustained period of success.
But the Dublin footballers haven’t shown a dip in hunger or edge to their game and Rock says it’s the feeling he and his teammates get from the accomplishment of getting over the line and the injection of new talent each year which keeps them sharp each season.
“The feeling has never changed for me and I know for the majority of the guys the feeling gets better and better each time because as the years go on you don’t know when your last game for Dublin is going to be or how many more opportunities you’re going to get, so when you do get over the line it’s a major sense of accomplishment and achievement.”
“The guys you’ve worked with for nine or 10 months they’re your best friends so a feeling like that never gets dampened in any way.”
“Every year there’s new guys that come in and older lads that go so I’m sure there’ll be lads coming into the squad who’ll want to make the same impact as the lads who have done over the last 18 months or so. That brings freshness and competition and keeps everyone on their toes.