Bernard Brogan says he's on a "personal journey" to feature for Dublin again at championship level.
Brogan, 35, battled back from a cruciate injury last year to take his place in the Blues' squad for their fourth All-Ireland final triumph on the spin.
But, having discussed his return with Dubs boss Jim Gavin, the veteran barely saw any game time in the league this year.
And he played no part in the matchday panel for last weekend's facile Leinster championship opener against Louth.
"Last year, the way it went, I could have easily retired," said Brogan, speaking at today's Supervalu launch of their 10 year as sponsor of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship.
"I could have gone off and I would have been fine, and no one would have questioned you.
“For me, it’s a very personal journey now and trying to see can I get back up to the level, to add value.
“Obviously I've had a lot of chats with Jim about it, a lot of chats with management, about where’s my value? Do you still believe that I can offer something to the group?
“And the answer was ‘yes’, and that was my motivation to go again.
"I still believe that I have the skill, the football and the guile and bit of experience, that I can add something different to the group that’s there.
“If I didn’t think that, I would have retired or Jim would have said, ‘Do you know what, we don’t need you any more, we’ve enough there'.
“And we had very open and honest conversations. So, for me, it’s about just trying to get back."
But Brogan did admit: "I was hoping for probably a little bit more time in the league, to try and get a bit of momentum," he admitted.
"But the way things fell, the way the league went, and the actual competitive nature of it, I just didn’t get as much game time as I would have liked.
"I got five minutes at the end of the league…that would have helped me in my own head and my own competition-wise, for the team."
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