The first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about New South Wales…
As the media froths at the mouth over the Queensland Maroons employing a “coaching whisperer” for $5,000 a day ask yourself this. Is employing a mind coach to improve a State Of Origin teams performance any weirder than thinking that going horse riding will help your team play better footy?
What works and doesn’t work to bring a team together and get the best out of them is extremely subjective. Some teams like to go into a game with a siege mentality. Its us against the world. Nobody likes us. Nobody believes in us. Nobody wants us to win. Get narky with the media. Cancel public appearances. Shut out the outside world and just build up to the game.
Sometimes it works. Other times it doesn’t.
We have seen the complete opposite as well. Embrace the fans, get out in public. Talk up the game, be positive, praise your opponents and be relaxed around the media.
Sometimes it works. Other times it doesn’t.
Building a preparation around sending off a champion player with one last win has been done just as many times as building a preparation around a young group of players you want to see start their careers off with a win.
Bring in former players to talk to the team. Bring in champions from other sports. It happens every single game, in every single season.
With all of this in mind, if Queensland think the best way to win Wednesday nights first State Of Origin game is to not mention New South Wales…good luck to them!
If folding 1,000,000 paper cranes gave a State Of Origin team a 1% better chance to win a game then they’d be shipping in reams of paper into both camps.
At the end of the day the most talented team wins the vast majority of State Of Origin series. Sure we see upsets from time to time, but for the most part if you have the better players you’re more than likely to win the game.
If you can get an advantage over your opponent in any area, you’ve got to exploit it. If that means their name doesn’t pass your lips for ten days, so be it.
