A HEAD IN THE GAME

Q

You have spoken about your work with a sports psychologist and use of vision boards, similar to what brother Maverick has done. Where did that all come from?

I used the same one that Mav (pictured) spent a lot of time with when he got delisted from the Suns and went to the Saints. He helped him a lot in that transition. It was over 2016 and 2017 I started sitting down with him. You learn a fair bit about what works for you. We tried lots of different techniques, like meditation and even scripts you listen to. They are focus areas for your game. I would picture myself on a footy field doing things I wanted to work on. So if it was a 50-50 ball we would talk through the opposition players coming and if I would put my head over the ball and go straight for the footy. The messages are ingrained in to your mind so when you’re out there it feels like you have already done it. I’ve gone away from it a bit more now because I feel like I am more relaxed and don’t need that extra meditation because I don’t get worked up in games.

Q

Are there any small cues you still use to help you get through games?

A

It’s more visualising and not needing scripts. I picture what I might come across in a game. So for this weekend I could line up against Billy Hartung and will need to prepare myself to run a lot because he is a big runner. I enjoy going to the beach and chilling out down there and visualising it all there.