With the Four Nations on our doorstep, Australia are staring down the barrel of their toughest challenge yet. A squad hammered by injury means there are going to be guys who need to step up.
So I thought you guys may enjoy a small insight into what going from club football to the big stage is really about. Rep footy is a different animal, that’s for sure.
Is it harder? Yes and no. It sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.
Playing in the NRL is bloody intense. In my opinion, the NRL is the toughest competition on the entire planet.
Name another sport where you have to run hard and fast into other athletes from a distance, then after a serious collision, wrestle one another to the ground or attempt to wrestle your opponent off, only to repeat the process. For 80 minutes. With little to bugger all rest. Every week.
Not to mention that this disgusting behaviour has to be repeated and practiced regularly at training too!
Now for me, and many others who won’t admit it, that’s an ongoing weekly mental and physical nightmare.
On top of that, more often than not, you’re carrying some sort of annoying niggling injury that plays on your mind. No matter how tough you are or pretend to be.
Add to all that boiling hot or freezing cold conditions… Yuck. There I said it. It’s just yuck. What isn’t yuck is the feeling you get when you’ve been through all of that and you win. It’s indescribable.
For the next couple of days, you’re walking/limping around buzzing like you’ve got your own tank of happy gas, and you remember why you chose this career.
It’s the best. You got through the niggling injury, the recovery, the training, the brutal contact of the game, and walked out on the other side a winner.
One of the toughest away trips you can go on, is a middle of winter ‘Helliday’ down to our nation’s capital… Canberra.
It’s freezing. It’s windy. It’s wet. It’s horrendous. In the past, Canberra have thrived on out enthusing their not-too-keen opponents on these sort of nights.
In my opinion, these type of club games are harder to get excited about than any rep game or semi/grand final. But you do it.
When you get chosen for rep footy, it is simply another level of “feel good”. You feel like one of the elite and that you have achieved a sense of football maturity, and you’re desperate to prove to the other elite that you more than deserve to be there.
This is why, in my opinion, it’s mentally easier to play well in the bigger games. When the pressure’s on, the stakes are high and there’s a sold out stadium and millions of viewers watching at home, it’s not exactly hard to find the enthusiasm required run with that kind of adrenalin pumping through your blood.
Not only that, you’re surrounded by the best of the best. There’s more opportunities because the players inside/outside of you, present you with more opportunities.
But in saying all this, representative games are significantly faster and more intense, it’s just that the hype and environment you’re in helps you to excel, but you’re the one who has to step up and play well.
I always made a point to put in a special performance for my club after a rep game. I knew how tough it was mentally, so I wanted to beat the demons in my head telling me I was too tired or injured to play well.
Backing up for your club after a rep game was perhaps the toughest test of all. You’re physically and mentally exhausted, but your club teammates expect you to be there for them despite this. So they should. You wouldn’t have been picked without the help of not only them, but the club staff as well. You owe them and being enthusiastic at club level after rep footy breeds like wildfire. It’s a responsibility.
What I love about the Four Nations, is that there’s no comp games to have to back up for. All focus is on the Four Nations alone.
The exclusion of some of Australia’s biggest rugby league names means that there are a bunch of young Aussies who will need to make the step up. This also brings the other three nations in to play.
The Kiwi’s are serious favourites in my opinion.
What’s exciting is the chance Australia has to blood some future Kangaroo greats, but they’ll need to take a massive step up to get the job done.
Help is a click away
We’ve all faced setbacks that were tough to overcome. Problem gambling can feel like that. It feels like that to thousands of Australians every day.
But we’re all stronger than we think and help is just a mouse-click away.
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