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When you next consider how or why your team is under-performing in a match, or some one tries to tell you that players and teams are inconsistent nowadays – take a deep breath and consider a few facts.
When they tell you it’s all mental, tell them so is everything else in life – so what’s new about this?
But here is something else to tell them. Sometimes the body affects the mind rather than the reverse. Why do we all feel sick sometimes?
>>Read more from Brian Smith on Smithy Speaks.
While it’s not noticeable in some spheres of endeavour, it’s obviously so when we require near optimal physical and mental and emotional performance.
Take for example the performances of two pretty good NRL sides throughout 2015 so far. No surprise in suggesting the Roosters being one of those – nor so the surprise packet of the season so far for me the Dragons.
What a tough and torrid match that Monday night footy match between the two of them was just over a week ago now. For intensity it was right up there. It was a gripping encounter that went right down to the wire, exhausting all players even in the final seconds.
So how did they perform after that shorter than normal turnaround from Monday night?
On Saturday night the Roosters struggled to reach any where near their best but managed a close win over a depleted Titans team. The handling errors by the Roosters caused those in the commentary box to inquire on a number of occasions.
Execution was way below par. The fine motor skills of catching and passing normally performed so well by the 2013 premiers was eluding them too often.
Meanwhile, the Dragons slid to well below their best in losing to an Eels outfit that has played merely OK in recent weeks. I didn’t think it was through lack of effort or enthusiasm – I thought a feature of the match was the lack of handling and ball control by the Dragons.
Even the rejuvenated and motivated Benji was guilty of some inaccurate passes – some not under a great deal of pressure, much the same as those errant attempts at transferring the ball of the Roosters crew.
These are just a couple of examples of the Monday night curse.
I don’t believe it’s a myth. It certainly doesn’t offer an opportunity for players or coaches to blame something external for performing poorly. It’s real.
Anyone who thinks coaches don’t push even harder to find a way to get their team to meet these extra challenging matches doesn’t understand how coaches’ minds work.
And yet Monday proves to score heavily in the L column for successful teams. The disruption caused by the long wait has been offered as a reason for the record of many teams post Monday night.
But in the end, it’s just bloody difficult to recover and perform well from a tough fixture anytime in fiercely contested matches in a super competitive sport. Short turnarounds take small percentages away from a full recovery. That’s often enough in NRL footy to get you an L.
But before you go away feeling sorry for those poor NRL teams subjected to more Monday night fixtures, then hear this.
My Wakefield Wildcats face Hull on Wednesday night in a mid-week feature at our place and then again on Sunday at their home ground. Yes, that’s right – playing each other with just three days break.
Crazy? You ain’t heard the half of it yet.
Hull have just completed a similar double. Having played competition leaders Leeds Rhinos in a Challenge Cup game last Friday night – a team whom they had already met the previous Sunday away at Leeds in a Super League match.
Four matches in just fourteen days!
Now that’s a challenge of the physical and mental capacity for any footy player and for any club. Could I politely ask that no player, coach or fan set that crazy schedule of matches? If we want to see our stars performing at their best, we need to make sure they have time to rest between games.
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