SUMMIT SPECIAL
Mcnamara needed time to get Dragons in peak condition THE BIG
STEVE MCNAMARA has revealed how fears he was on thin ice at Catalans Dragons were eased in an idyllic snowy mountain retreat.
The Catalans coach leads his side to their first Super League Grand Final against St Helens on Saturday at Old Trafford.
Along with picking up this year’s League Leaders’ Shield, it is a remarkable achievement for the 15-year-old French club.
However, former England coach Mcnamara admits he used to be worried that he would not even see out his first year in charge.
He said: “We were trying to put things in place and it was happening but very slowly.”
Mcnamara took over midway through the 2017 season with the Dragons in trouble and by September they were scrapping for their lives in the Million Pound Game.
They survived that, with a nervy 26-10 win over Leigh, but the following season he looked on in dismay as they lost nine of their first 11 games.
Many owners could have panicked and swung the axe at that stage. Instead, Bernard Guasch treated him to a weekend away to Les Angles in the Pyrenees
in Southern
France. Mcnamara said: “Bernard invited me, Rob Parkinson, the physio, and Rich Hunwicks, the head of performance, up to his mountain retreat in the snow.
“We had some food and drinks and he said, ‘Boys, I know what you’re doing and I’m convinced what you’re doing is right. Relax, don’t worry about it, keep going.’
“Just that little bit of comfort and support at that stage was enough to understand that we had a pretty special owner who was understanding us all the way.”
A few months after that meeting, Catalans stunned the rugby league world by winning the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.
But it is the Million Pound Game that Mcnamara is drawing on as inspiration for this Saturday’s historic bid to become champions. And he is convinced the lessons learned from that dramatic relegation scrap indicate they can win at Old Trafford.
Mcnamara said: “The week before we had a game against Widnes and if we’d won we wouldn’t have been in the Million Pound Game. But it suffocated the players. “Against Hull KR (in last week’s semi-final) there was that level of expectation but we dealt with it well. “There was no party afterwards. It was a sense of relief and satisfaction that we got the job done.
“They are freer, there is no pressure now. It is excitement and I know when our group are like that, they are a very dangerous side.”
their brutal honesty was like a punch in the face.
Bruno’s career was ended by conclusive defeat in his rematch with Mike Tyson in 1996, but, by his own admission, the fall-out was much harder to take than Iron Mike’s thunderous blows.
He added: “It affected my family life in a big way because I wasn’t the same. When I finished with boxing, my trainer George Francis said, ‘That’s when the fight starts.’
“When you have finished with training, you’re not coming down the gym and you’re not keeping up your routine, something flips. You get very vexed or very upset very quickly and you can be a not very nice person to be around.”
In their interview, Fury acknowledges Bruno’s significance as one of the first sportsmen to confront his mental health demons in the public eye.
“I didn’t have any choice,” said Bruno.
“I remember when I lived in Essex and I got sectioned the first time, I did the 28 days and I would go down the shop for something... you could feel people were looking and thinking, ‘Here comes the local nutter.’
“Years ago, you couldn’t talk to nobody because they would be taking the p*** out of you as soon as I went out of the room. But I don’t blame boxing – boxing has saved my life, and other people’s lives. It’s a good sport.
“If I had listened to my friends years ago, I would have been robbing a bank or whatever.”
Bruno, who landed the holy grail when he beat Oliver Mccall by unanimous decision to claim the WBC heavyweight title at Wembley in 1995, is grateful he is no longer a lone voice in the fight against mental health’s dark wings.
He said: “Looking back, I probably first realised I had a problem when I was at my boarding school. I thought I was tough but there was this little ginger guy. I beat him up boxing-wise, but when we got off the bus he said, ‘We’ve done it your way’ and then he butted me, kicked me in the balls and said, ‘That’s how we do it in our school.’
“It didn’t affect my career because I was always too busy training, but sometimes you cry. You can’t suss it out.
“That’s why it’s good to chat and get it off your plate. Some people didn’t really understand about the way I felt – schizophrenic, manic, depressed. Please don’t feel bad, talk to someone.
“It’s nice that someone like Tyson Fury can speak so honestly about it.”
Tyson Fury and Frank Bruno discuss Wilder, Joshua and their respective mental health battles ahead of #Furywilder3. Watch the video on Wow Hydrate’s Youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/hrznnql1llu