Dean Rock's contribution to Dublin's recent historic era of success was "off the charts", according to Paul Flynn.On Tuesday, the eight-time All-Ireland winner brought the curtain down on his inter-county career, which saw him score a litany of vital scores for the Dubs from 2012 to last year's Sam Maguire win.RTÉ GAA analyst and fellow former All-Ireland winner Flynn played alongside Rock during many of those high notes and paid tribute to his former team-mate on RTÉ's Game On."He's had such a career.
You look back at what he's achieved," said Flynn."From that period in 2015 to 2020 - and I got a chance to play with him for a majority of that - he was just off the charts in relation to his scoring ratios."Over that five-year period, on average he's scoring 86 points a season.
That's what he contributed to the overall team. It is off the charts."And it wasn't just points, it wasn't just frees. If you look across from '15 to '20, he was scoring three goals a season and with five goals in 2020."So he was an outright finisher, an outright scorer and there was a lot more to him than that as well in general play."Flynn also touched on Rock's mentality as a 'clutch' player who had a habit of showing nerves of steel when standing over crucial kicks."When you actually play with him, he's such a confident player.
He's so assured of his own ability," he said."And the reason he is is because he knows that he's banked the work. He's a really, really tough worker."His frees were a ridiculous ratio with the percentages there and he would put in the work.