Dublin hurlers' joint captain Peter Kelly says the players are taking on more responsibility under new manager Ger Cunningham as they adapt to life without Anthony Daly.
Daly, who won a Leinster title in his six years at the helm, was a renowned man-motivator but Kelly says the team have embraced Cunningham's different philosophical approach ahead of their Leinster Championship quarter-final with Galway on Sunday week.
“They're different in so many ways," Kelly, who shares the captaincy with Liam Rushe, told RTÉ Sport. "Daly would have been constantly talking in the dressing room. He would have generated an atmosphere in the dressing room whereas Ger would leave that to the players.
“We lost Anthony, we lost [former captain] Stephen Hiney. They were two big voices and there was a void left. Ger recognised that when he came in and he really encouraged leadership in the dressing-room and a player-driven environment.
“I think that has been implemented quite well and there have been a lot of players standing up to be counted. Hopefully that will happen on the 31st.
"At the start it was strange not having that driving one voice in the dressing room. It took the players a while to get used to it but I think we have now. We definitely enjoy the player-driven environment.
"We can see that, the performances have been a lot more consistent this year.
“The players are the ones on the pitch so we have a strong voice in the dressing room. We know when it's going well, we know when it's going bad. We know how to fix it.
"We don't always rely on the management to do that, we can fix it in games if needs be."
Dublin have often had to deal with doubts over their ability to compete with hurling's traditional strongholds; Sunday Game pundit Ger Loughnane recently questioned the side's skill levels and composure after their Allianz Hurling League semi-final defeat to Cork.
Kelly firmly rejects any suggestion that Dublin hurlers are any less skilled than their opponents.
"We know what we have in Dublin," said the Lucan Sarsfields man. "We train with them five or six times a week. I think sometimes pundits like to ripple the waters a bit and see can it shake things. I don't think it ever got into our dressing room at all.
"We know how technically gifted the Dublin hurlers are. We've proved it time and time again so I don't think it's a big deal to be honest.
"Compared to previous times we're a very successful Dublin hurling team. When a big loss comes there has to be a reason why, so it's just a stab in the dark really."
Kelly is confident the team have recovered from letting a 10-point slip late on in that loss to the Rebels and believes that their league win over Galway when the pressure was on is proof that they are mentally resilient.
“We addressed it the week after the game, where we went wrong," he said. "We recognise that we did a hell of a lot right in that game. Just in the last ten minutes was where we lost our shape a bit and a few things didn’t go our way.
“We needed a bit of a break in the game and we didn’t get it. They got the goal and it drove on from there. There are a lot of positives to take from it and we’re just focusing on them, rather than the negatives and hopefully, we’ll see the results on 31 May.
“When we lost the Cork game it wasn't a hurling reason, it was more of a mental reason. We just switched off and couldn't switch it back on again, and Cork got red-hot at the right moment for them.
"It's something that we have been focusing on but, again, we have closed out games in the past. Galway in the league was a pivotal game for us this year.
"We were facing down the barrel of a gun in terms of going down to Nowlan Park for a relegation match [if they lost] so that was a must-win game for us, probably our biggest one to date, and we put in a great second-half performance. Getting confidence from the wins and learning from the losses is the key."
