Liam Rushe feels media scrutiny has fuelled notions of crisis that surround the Dublin senior hurlers.
The team's recent struggles and the future of manager Ger Cunningham have been the subject of speculation which intensified after the Dubs lost to Galway in the Leinster Hurling Quarter Finals on May 28th.
But speaking to Off The Ball's Dave McIntyre, Rushe admitted that the panel were disappointed by the 2-28 to 1-17 loss to Galway but that the context needs to be highlighted.
"There was bitter disappointment there all last week as you'd expect," he said.
"I think, to be honest, a lot of it was brought on by media commentary and a lot of, I suppose, unfair criticism in the week after the game. Galway were obviously better than us on the day. Galway are a really strong team and we lost a player with 30 minutes to go. You might get away with 10 minutes, 15 minutes but that's a long time to play against such a team. Up until that I think we were still in the mix.
"I think the obituaries were nearly written for the team last week and it obviously took its toll but we'd five weeks to get ourselves back together and that's what we're focused on."
Since the high point for Dublin inter-county hurling between 2010 and 2013, the panel has experienced a very significant turnover in personnel.
"There's no doubt a lot of lads have pulled out. There's no sugar coating that," he said.
"People have just left for different reasons the past couple of years and Schutte has walked there surprisingly a couple of weeks ago. Look, everyone makes their decisions and they've opted out and we just get on with it. There's just been negative commentary all round about the players still on the team, the players off the team, the management... there's a good team there and they're happy with the management in place and we're getting on with it."
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