Sun Dec 12, 2010 1:35 am
Obviously things are not well on the good ship Bluebird, a team that wins 4-0 at Leeds and then wins 1 out of 6 against some average teams
I was luckily enough to work with this guy when I lived in Oz, time for someone in the know to suggest we go the same route??
"Sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka has resumed his role with the All Blacks rugby team after a three-year absence.
Enoka helped the New Zealand players ahead of last weekend's 16-7 defeat of the Wallabies, assistant coach Steve Hansen revealed, and he arrived to aid the mental part of their preparation for Saturday night's Tri-Nations test against South Africa.
The New Zealand cricketers showered Enoka with praise for his influence on their tour of England. Captain Stephen Fleming said his sound advice helped his players get over the 0-3 test series loss to England and bounce back to win the three-nation one-day series.
Hansen said Enoka's services were used when the All Blacks squad first came together this year to help "set the scene" for the season. And now that he was back from England his psychology skills would be regularly employed in test buildups.
"Anyone that needs one-on-ones he's available for but he's more like the backboard of a basketball hoop that we can bounce ideas off and make sure the chemistry of the team's working," Hansen said.
Hansen's fellow-assistant Wayne Smith was the last All Blacks coach to call on Enoka's services, in 2001. He wasn't wanted by Smith's successor John Mitchell.
The mental state of the unbeaten All Blacks was presently one of confidence, Hansen said, but Enoka still had an important role to play.
"Winning breeds success because you get more and more confident from it. The secret is making sure that your sprigs stay in the ground and you don't leave good performances behind because you've got too over-confident," he said.
Hansen said this week was similar to after their 36-3 season opening defeat of England at Dunedin. The challenge was to get the players up to the same level of performance just a week later.
They achieved it in the second test against England, winning 36-12, but that didn't necessarily mean they would be able to peak against the Springboks at Jade Stadium."