‘Psychologists are going to need psychologists’: Wallabies sharpening mental game as World Cup build begins

Thu, Jun 1, 2023, 5:39 AM
AW
by AAP and Nathan Williamson

Once a week, Eddie Jones and his Wallabies inner-circle dial in for a Zoom meeting with one key focus - defying the odds and pinching the Rugby World Cup.

Warming to the Wallabies coach's 'smash and grab' theme, belief is growing Australia can win their first Webb Ellis Cup since 1999 and return to the top of the rugby hierarchy as they focus on the mental side of the game.

Catch every game of Super Rugby Pacific LIVE on Stan Sport. Start your Free Sport Trial Now

Jones has not yet named a captain for the showpiece event - which kicks off in Paris, France, on September 8 - but is leaning on veterans such as Michael Hooper, Allan Alaalatoa, Nic White and James Slipper to help build a team that could strike through a wide-open World Cup field.

"The leaders are getting together once a week with Eddie ... to talk about our learnings throughout Super Rugby but also about gameplay," Alaalatoa said on Thursday.

"We're continuing to get together once a week collaborating ideas, what we're feeling, what we're seeing and what we're learning.

"There's no time to waste and as leaders we're trying to make the most of every opportunity when we're not together as a team.

"We've got a lot of fathers in the crew, so they're later in the night when the kids are asleep.

"It's not something we've done in the past, so it's good to keep in touch and understand what Eddie's thinking because he's a wise man, he gets the game."

"We're talking about the learnings of Super Rugby and the differences (from the northern hemisphere), I think that's the main conversation

"There's a big difference in how Super Rugby and the Internationals are being played with the Six Nations overseas.

"As a collective, we're going to have to rely on everyone and no one person is going to be able to get us through it...everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses within that group."

Mindset will play a key role for the Wallabies, with players and coaches regularly searching for the extra mental steel to ready them for battle.

White said Jones had joked the team's psychologists were working so hard they could benefit from a session themselves.

"No stone is left unturned … it's going to take all leaders and even guys outside of that group," he said.

"It's going to have to be a squad mentality with everyone knowing their strengths and weaknesses, changing that mindset of what we can get done.

"Eddie's got three (psychologists) in there and his quote was they're working so hard that the psychologists are going to need psychologists.

"We've got the talent here, there's just something up top that hasn't quite clicked."

Looking back to April's Gold Coast training get-together, a first peek into Jones' personnel plans for the tournament which kicks off in 100 days, White said: "From that camp, everyone came out going 'gee whiz ... make sure you're part of it'.

“...I think the end of season tour started that. Going up north, we didn’t get the results but I feel like playing France and Ireland up there, we gave them a really shake and that planted the seed

“Eddie coming back that camp, everyone came out buzzing."

Alaalatoa said Jones' faith that Australia can take home the trophy was spreading to the players.

"When the boys left the camp, there was a lot of belief we can win the World Cup," he said.

"How (Eddie) speaks and how he presents himself in front of the boys in the meetings ... he's constantly ingraining that in the players' minds."

Share