There's an air of stagnation emanating from the Roscommon set-up despite their promotion to Division 1, according to Dessie Dolan.
Davy Burke's side were promoted back to the top tier at the first time of asking, though with less swagger than had been expected at the outset, winning only one of their last five games ahead of the championship.
Following their loss at home to Cavan in the penultimate round of games, Burke declared that they'd "no business being in a league final", comments that provoked some bemusement given that their fate was still in their hands ahead of the final league game against Westmeath.
The Roscommon manager admitted in a later interview that his post-match remarks were borne of frustration at the performance.
They subsequently became the only team to fail to take maximum points off Westmeath - who admittedly were highly unlucky over the course of the league - but the draw proved sufficient to squeeze them into the promotion spots, thanks to losses for Cavan and Meath on the same day.
On Saturday, they were dispatched by 10 points by Monaghan in the decider, the first time Roscommon had failed to win Division 2 in five attempts, and Dolan senses a "funny" mood around the county, not helped by the manager's recent comments.
"I think Davy says an awful lot and I don't know is it helping the team at the minute," Dolan said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"It's funny where they're at the minute, because they got promoted, they're in Division 1 next year.
"But there's a bit of lull around the place in terms of where they're at. Because I think there was a feeling that Roscommon should be pushing on, getting to Division 1 and staying there for a prolonged period of time.
"The vibes that are coming out of it (the county) are not unbelievably positive for a team that's after getting promoted.
"I think their style of play is not getting the best out of their players at the minute. And defensively, they do struggle to hold teams when it's man to man and it's pretty much man to man at the minute."
It's represents a shift in mood from the opening rounds of the league, when they racked up huge scores in wins over Down and Monaghan. Then there was talk of their high-powered forward line, with Ciaran Murtagh re-joining the panel and Ben O'Carroll returning after an injury-hit 2024, while Daire Cregg had starred in the Sigerson Cup.
While the older Roscommon cohort boast two Connacht titles from 2017 and 2019, with Enda Smith collecting an All-Star in 2023, Dolan wonders whether they've under-achieved given they were previously more than a match for the current All-Ireland champions.
"Roscommon would have competed with Armagh in years gone by, would have beaten Armagh in years gone by. And then you look at where they've (Armagh) gone to and where Roscommon are.
"They're a bit stagnant. And it's a worry for Davy Burke. I know he has great energy and knows a lot about the game but it's a difficult job to reinvigorate lads halfway through a season.
"They have a golden generation. You have the Murtaghs, the Smiths, all of the players going past that 30 mark.
"I suppose the question is - have they got the best out of themselves considering the ability that they have?"
Dolan allows that the absence of highly regarded full-back Brian Stack may have impacted them in recent weeks, though argues that their defensive frailties have often been exposed in the top tier.
"He's (Stack) a player that goes toe-to-toe with the best and generally holds his own. He's a massive loss.
"Everybody is aware of their forwards and their ability, offensively. They can score plenty. There's no issue there.
"But have they fixed that defensive problem? Because really the defensive problem was there three or four years ago.
"Everyone knew they had the forwards but can they manage in Division 1, blocking out teams and not conceding too much? And I just don't think they've found a solution for that yet."
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