Players need to ‘stand up’

EVERY Saturday the team talks about the big issues in sport locally, nationally and internationally. Today the boys are talking about cricketer Aaron Finch. The Aussie bat suggested players will one day have a greater say over whether they are mentally fit enough to play. “I think going forward there will be times where players say, ‘Look, you can pick me if you like,’” Finch said to media. “Your heart’s still in it, your head’s still in it but you’re physically and mentally five per cent off or 10 per cent off.”

Jason Gibbs: I’m a big advocate for mental health but I can’t get behind this call from Finch.

If you’re not fit to play mentally or physically don’t play.

No-one can be at peak level performance every game, but if you really think your health is going to significantly impact your performance don’t play.

Stand up and say I’m not unavailable – make the call and be honest when you do.

If you’re mentally fatigued say so – take the break and come back fit and refreshed – and in doing so you’ll gain the respect of your peers and fans.

These comments from Finch don’t have that feel about them though.

This feels like a player loading up an excuse just in case he under-performs.

My question to this would be “what happens if the player tells selectors about his fatigue and fails?”

Does the player then come out post-game in the dressing room or at the press-conference and say “I told you so”?

And then there is the question of who excepts blame.

Playing for your country is simple – heck playing any sport is simple – or at least it should be.

As a kid I was always told one thing when I laced up my boots – give 100% of yourself.

Do that and you will earn everyone’s respect.

Sean Teuma: Could you imagine using that line in the workplace: “You can ask me to do this, but I mightn’t do a great job of it.” You’d be searching on seek.com.au before you had time to pack up your belongings.

I get the point he is making, particularly with a fairly crowded calendar on their hands as is.

But is that really the attitude you take when you’re being asked to represent your country?

I would think someone like Finch, who failed to impress at all during the test series against India, would be jumping at the opportunity to don the baggy green.

Obviously that only applies if it fits in with his schedule. Give me a break.

And to suggest that someone’s “heart wouldn’t be in it” when playing for their country could be the most blasphemous thing I’ve heard in a long time.

While Finch stunk it up in the centre over the summer, not once did it cross my mind that his heart wasn’t in it or that he wasn’t genuinely trying.

It’s a sad state of affairs if that is a mindset held by more than himself within the national

ranks. Glen McCullough: Aaron

Aaron, Aaron.

I’m sure you are a nice enough bloke, but you’ve obviously been spending too much time in the sun with think time on your hands since being punted by Test selectors.

Mate, you’d probably be much better off spending your spare time in the nets than sitting down hatching hair-brain schemes that will likely blow the minds of already bamboozled selectors.

Fair dinkum. What is the joint coming to?

Just go out there and play your guts out for Australia. The rest will look after itself. If your best is good enough it will be rewarded.

The selectors will soon let you know if it’s not.

It’s not nuclear physics. Selectors can only react to form and potential (although that mightn’t be clear to us at times).

How can they be expected to operate any other way? Talk about a can of worms. Imagine selections panels needing to keep running check lists on what players want to play when and where; who wants a break; who’s ready to come back etc and trying to piece it all together in an effort to put our best teams on the paddock.

Players play, selectors select. That’s the way it’s always been and the way it has got to stay.