The players say they don’t listen to the media, but I can tell you that it is not true

It is a story that we have seen before. In 2022, Geelong faced the same criticisms for the whole season at home. They replied with a premiership, then they dined for criticism in their extravagant Wednesday celebrations – although with a sense of humor.

Responding to the control of the succession plan for coaching of his team and the poor round show, the captain of Port Adelaide Connor Rozee was adamant that his team was not listening to the media and concentrated only on himself.

It was a family refrain. But Port players would hear the chatter. To them, they replied with a better performance against Richmond.

The challenge for players is to find the right balance: how much external noise accepts and how much blocks to remain focused on internal objectives?

Sport psychology shows that external motivation can work, but only in the short term. It is fed by emotion, like the frustration of being called old and slow.

But this motivation is risky. Leads to inconsistency because it is impossible to support high levels of emotion indefinitely. The same goes to believe your clamor. It can be useful, but it can also be dangerous, making you buy in results that have not yet happened.

Take the Carlton V Richmond game in the first round. The media have widely provided for a dominant blues victory, conditioning everyone to expect that Richmond would be invaded. Adem Yze’s coaching has been questioned e Daniel – Sorry, Richmond – Goringe described the tigers as a “14 -year -old children” team.

When a narration repeats herself enough, it begins to look like a fact. Once purchased in this, you lose the ability to adapt at the moment. You have already decided what will happen, so you don’t prepare yourself for anything else.

By three quarters, Carlton’s players probably thought: “Imagine what the media will say if we lost. It was not so that it had to go” or, “I hope I don’t let it fall”.

The expectations were put in view of the game and when reality did not correspond to these expectations, the doubt insinuated itself. The doubt in football is dangerous, influencing trust, the decision -making process and execution under pressure. When the warmth is on, the doubt triggers the thoughts of self -preservation.

Sports psychology calls it a “threat mentality”: your body moves to combat or escape mode. In flight mode, the players could move away from the competition, hesitate or avoid involvement so that they do not make an error. In the end, their impact on the game suffers.

In those moments, the weight of a bad performance can obscure the album to win. Instead of trying to take control, the players focus on minimizing the damage. It is a primitive thing to do; A mistake I have made many times in my career. And it can quickly the snowball to make a team derail.

The most difficult battle for players is often inside their head. They know that they have to focus on the bases – “look at the ball”, “starts in front”, “works hard to the front of the competition”, for example – but it is easy to focus on the results they want and that can become a distraction that prevents them and their team from achieving their full potential.

Sydney’s final loss last year was an excellent example. Bringing the weight of their heavy final loss of 2022, they seemed overwhelmed again in the largest phase.

Geelong’s shocked loss in St Kilda in the loss of the second round was different. Rather than “panic”, it seemed that the excitement was missing: the mentality had to be ready to compete.

Has their dominant round won on Fremantle and the attention he attracted, has influenced the way the cats approached their next game? Do not expect it to admit it so publicly, but it will be interesting to see how they respond in the weeks to come.

If expert teams like cats can erroneously judge this aspect of preparation, we should not be too difficult with Richmond, with so many young players who continue to understand how to manage the FL hype.

Think about it: How can the 18 -year -old Sam Lalor process be compared to Dustin Martin after a single game? And above all, how can it live up to those expectations?

Football means too much for most players for media control that they don’t influence us. And with the programming and control added this year, we will see that the attention team teams, both positively and negative.

This raises important questions: are there too many opinions in the football media?; And are we taking excessive pressure on players, coaches and clubs?

With so many voices that analyze every minute detail of the game, it can become more difficult for the player to separate the precious insights from the noise. Control has the potential to place non -realistic expectations and cause unnecessary stress.

Loading

Mental health is a crucial aspect of professional sport and AFL players must learn to identify what they can be trusted and what should be ignored. Those who cannot find this delicate balance risk falling into an incessant cycle of demonstrating their value for others, which will have an impact on their well -being.

The key lies in resilience, self -awareness and the ability to focus on what really matters: the process of improvement, competition and game for the right reasons with your teammates for your club. In an era in which opinions are stronger and more numerous than ever, finding clarity in the middle of the noise is a vital skill to develop for all players.

Keep updated with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.