Jack McCaffrey admits he got Bernard Brogan all wrong when he first came into the Dublin squad.
Brogan was already a huge star when youngster McCaffrey burst onto the scene in 2013, winning his first All-Ireland.
The 2015 Player of the Year and 2019 nominee thought Brogan was a totemic figure who would demand possession.
McCaffrey said: “Initially when I was coming into the squad and was 19, I would have thought, ‘he’s a strong character, all the ball has to go through him’ and that kind of stuff.
“I was wrong and just to see the kind of team-mate he’s been, the kind of friend he’s been, it’s been amazing.
“Like, he has twins, he’s married, he works in business, he’s in a very different stage in his life than I would be, but the time he takes with everybody, from the youngest member of the panel to the oldest, he’s just a fantastic man, full stop. That’s probably the most important thing about him.”
Brogan’s departure follows the mid-season retirement of Paul Flynn, while several more including Eoghan O’Gara, Michael Darragh Macauley, Darren Daly and Cian O’Sullivan may be considering their futures.
McCaffrey said: “A fair few of us have been on the road for a while but nothing has been said by anyone yet.
“It is a big decision for anyone to make so there is no sense rushing it in an off season. We are only in October.
“I’m sure there will be a couple more guys to maybe finish and I’d imagine they’ll be reaching that decision in the near future but for the minute there’s no more word.”
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