It’s the latest craze sweeping Australian coaching sports psychology. Forget about patting your players on the back, tossing them some brightly-coloured electrolytes and mumbling your way through some poorly translated motivational quote.
Instead, after a poor performance, just find the nearest microphone, take a big deep breath … and spray.
Former Norths hooker Tony Rae started the trend a couple of weeks ago, unleashing the inner Bad News Bear in a spray of his Brumbies rugby union side. It was ten times more impressive than what they’ve been able to cough up this season.
On Saturday night Tim Sheens went one better than Rae, sticking the ugg boot into his winning Tigers side at the post-match press conference. Brian Smith should be so lucky.
As a coaching tool, the spray is as old as Ray Warren’s knock-knock jokes, and there have been some great sprayers in the game over the years. Bob Fulton, John Lang, Des ‘the Doorman’ Hasler…all these blokes could spray refs, players and administrators like Terry Hill calling the Melbourne Cup if provoked.
The spraying of your own players post-match seems a low-percentage play though, particularly in these days of increased player power within football clubs. Whilst Sheens may feel the right to job security through a new multi-year contract deal, is it really wise for the Commander in Chief to be bagging the blokes on the front line?
For mine this public post-match spray is a smokescreen, less about the coach revving up the players and more about them trying to get the fans onside by distancing themselves from a team’s poor play.
In the day of the angry internet nerd, any coach whose name doesn’t start with ‘W’ and end with ‘ayne Bennett’ can be the next Murray Hurst pretty easily, with a few quick rumours and irate emails.
This has lead to a new level of the coach pandering to the fan.
Granted, no NRL coach has felt the need to hold a community session with a PowerPoint presentation and some watered down cordial like some other sports teams, but it does seem that that the modern coach has a requirement to be a lot more open, friendly and ‘accessible’ to Peter Pie-eater on the Hill.
Perhaps the fan appreciates all this attention, feels more involved and dreams of the day where he can text Sheens directly (MLTZEN ISNT A CTR TS! :/) to help choose his side.
In contrast to this there’s the other coaching school of thought on this, the one along the lines of ‘If you keep listening to the bloke on the hill, pretty soon you’ll be out there sitting with him.’
The man who said this is a successful coach, rare sprayer, and probably the least accessible NRL coach to the fans and media.
I’ll give you a hint. His name starts with ‘W’…
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Just listening to this again. He clearly starts off meaning to remain calm, and he even says that he's not goint to rant and rave, and then he unleashes the mother of all rants! One funny line is where he tells the players not to open up their cans of solo, but to stick 'en up your f__ a__.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Anyone who watches Before the Bounce or After the Bounce, will be familiar with a regular feature called Spud's coach killers (Danny "Spud" Frawley, ex-Richmond coach). The feature always starts with a shot of him in the coach's box going beserk with the phone, smashing the desk, then opening up the window and hurling abuse at someone (probably a spectator). Anyway, there is a tape on YouTube doing the rounds that is supposedly of Danny Frawley giving a post-match spray to his team where they were in front by 70 points at half time and lost by 3 points (which,admittedly, would test any coach). Warning - the language is quite extreme. On the one hand, it does sound like Spud, on the other, it's so over the top that it could easily be a parody. You be the judge! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qKIwsTWOFk
The Cattery
Roar Guru
It was such a stupid question that you have to wonder whether it was deliberately asked to stir him up.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
I have no problem with a spray. It's one of the few old-school tactics which can be used without crossing the line (as opposed to former VFL/AFL coach Robert Walls having one players box against his teammates), and as it's not overused, it can be quite effective.
Rob McLean
Guest
Blight also made Shaun Rehn wash his car during that period, if I recall. Love watching the spray Scott gave his player on the weekend but thought the funniest thing to come out of that game was the journo asking him in the after match, "is it any consolation that your old team broke its drought". The look on his face and stinging, "is that a serious question" was priceless. I reckon that reporter will be covering Brisbane lawn bowls this week. Funnily enough, I got sent a coach's spray today. A mate is in a development role and was seeking refences for someone seeking a job. What he got back was a recorded spray where he harangued a bunch of school kids, prolifically using the Fs and Cs of spray language. The kids were in the middle high school years. I won't comment on his prospects of getting the job.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Terrific topic Vic, we've only scratched the surface, a topic like this has legs, believe me. I guess it's the fact that we take a certain vicarious pleasure at someone else's humiliation (thanking our lucky stars that it's not us at the receiving end). I only have intimate knowledge of AFL sprays (witnessed, received or given by me), but I'd love to hear about all the codes, I suspect there are plenty of common elements! Legend has it that Alex Ferguson once kicked a boot into Becks' face, which I find easy to believe. One of the worst public humiliations I've seen, and it involved zero chat, was when Gary van Egmond put on a rookie for his debut game off the subs bench (for the Jets in the A-League), and then dragged him after barely 10 minutes, not even acknowledging him as he came off - tough love. In AFL, the cameras are sometimes more on the coach's box, and the chaos within, as opposed to the chaos out on the field, so there is a veritable treasure trove of material there (which is hard to track down on Youtube, unfortunately) I can recall one excellent example from Malcolm Blight, in 1997, when he referred to his own ruckman (Pittman) as "the most pathetic ruckman I have ever seen". The experts thought that he had done his dash and lost the team forever, but they won consecutive premierships! Here are some other AFL examples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmlVMnLZhRM – one of the all time great AFL sprays, typical Barass, my favourite bit is when he accuses a player: “ you don’t even know what I’m talking about, do you?!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLf_CPU7uw&feature=related – Choco Williams giving it to the Port players, short, unfortunately, no sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULoQ_y1wu14&feature=related – local footy, we’ve all been there, done that - all that you would expect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk9TMwUHM90&feature=related H/T address, a skit – very funny! (partly because it's so close to the bone)
Chris Chard
Roar Guru
BM, Caught that one on Sports Sunday-it was a beauty. Ken Sutcliffe and Slats should really put together a proper spray Montage for the fans at home, would be great to see some sprays from the years gone by. Cheers, VIc
Chris Chard
Roar Guru
Hi MLK, Agree with you that watching the AFL coaches throw their 1980's style corded phones (or more recently their helicopter pilot headsets) around the coaches box is something that I enjoy as much as the next man. Apart from those angry blokes I think soccer coaches love a good spray, particularly when they get down on the sideline, as do the basketball coaches who run up and down the side of the court like escaped mental patients trying to hail a taxi. Agree with you about the cricket, maybe CA could hire Allan Border just for this role alone! Cheers, Vic
Brett McKay
Guest
Vic, I'm sure you would have enjoyed Brad Scott's "WHAT THE F--K WAS THAT?!?" down the phone on Saturday night, that was as good an in-game spray as I can remember. The answer to your question, for me, is "to spray". Always to spray...
M1tch
Roar Guru
NHL coaches enjoy giving their players a good spray
Hoy
Roar Guru
I think some honesty in this day and age is a breath of fresh air. That is exactly what I would support. I can't stand the media driven waffle that players and coaches come up with these days. "The boys put in all game, and we came away with the poitns" "We dug deep" Blah blah blah...
My Left Knee
Guest
Which sport do you think delivers the best spray or sprayers Vic? I'm voting for AFL. Whether its a cultural/coaching thing or there are just more televised images of coaches delivering sprays AFL puts league to shame. Some great sprayers there. Also there should be more sprays in cricket from either the coach or captain. When Mitchell Johnson decides to bowl meat pies i want to see either punter/clarke/nielsen do thier best Rodney Eade impersonation to fire him up. Also marcus north deserved to be sprayed by the whole team whenever he got back to the dressing room after hitting 8 of 56 balls. That would be quality viewing and a worthy spray in which the Australian public would truly appreciate.