Opinion What prevents an NRL player reaching their potential?

[Baseball Furies]

Injuries, coaching and distractions outside of football.

 

[senshidog]

Too much money, Being compared to better, experienced players at an early age " he's the next" . . . Relying on natural talents and attributes instead of training harder and doing extras.
Luke Lewis would always train on Christmas day, he knew few, if any other players did that. It may have only given him a slight physical advantage.but that is the attitude,when applied to a players entire career puts them way ahead and staves off complacency.

I wonder then, if players of yesteryear (before the stardom and large pay packets), would have been more consistent than modern players?

As in in the eras they worked full time jobs and played footy on weekends (i.e doing it for the love of the game rather than the pay).

 

[D0GMATIC]

I wonder then, if players of yesteryear (before the stardom and large pay packets), would have been more consistent than modern players?

As in in the eras they worked full time jobs and played footy on weekends (i.e doing it for the love of the game rather than the pay).

Interesting point, they're obviously professional athletes ,fitter and stronger. With far more analysis and sports science now. Giving them better fitness and recovery. Which would have to improve consistency. But players from bygone eras were just footy players ,they were able to go out and run amok under the guise of team bonding without a ridiculous levels of media scrutiny. Which lead to more club loyalty, mateship and players playing together longer and having a better understanding of each other's games,which would increase consistency

 

[Cujo]

women and drugs

….and gambling!

 

[TwinTurbo]

I wonder then, if players of yesteryear (before the stardom and large pay packets), would have been more consistent than modern players?

As in in the eras they worked full time jobs and played footy on weekends (i.e doing it for the love of the game rather than the pay).

As part time players and only training 2 nights a week after work, they certainly didn't have the physical capability that full time players training 5 to 7 days a week have. Natural skills were more on display, there were 1 or 2 players in each team who could do almost magical stuff without even practising it, it just came to them and they executed.

Whilst their approach to games might have been more consistent I don't they they had the physical training to display their skills every game and even more than once or twice in a game. I think back at how good players were with such minimal time to perfect their craft, I can only imagine how sensational they would be with today's training and facilities. FMD Les Johns would be even more magical to watch, how fast would Johnny Rhodes be with sprint training, Jonathon Davies OMG he would rip teams apart and how good would Johnny Greaves be if he wasn't on duty as a policeman 6 days a week.

Can't realistically compare eras, but it's fun anyway.

Always a Bulldog

 

[Nano]

Politics sadly

 

[Grunthos]

Themselves...
Nothing and no one else.

 

[TwinTurbo]

Injuries can be career defining, take Chase Stanley for example, absolutely awesome player whose career was plagued by injuries which eventually forced us to release him after 4 seasons with only 29 games played.


Always a Bulldog

 

[senshidog]

Injuries can be career defining, take Chase Stanley for example, absolutely awesome player whose career was plagued by injuries which eventually forced us to release him after 4 seasons with only 29 games played.
Always a Bulldog

Chase and Kyle.. both players retiring before their prime.

That's a good point though. I mean take Asipeli Fine, I doubt after his dislocated hip if he'd be as good a player as he previously was. Not to mention players doubting their body after a major injury.

Tedesco is one of few players that has gotten better after having knees done.

 

[gbrussell]

Ability gets you into Elite Sport. Attitude and work ethic keep you there.

 

[racin jason]

Dean Pay......

 

[stingray]

Interesting question.

Maybe a player not putting in extra time into there own personal training out of there club training.

I think it was michael devere from the broncos he used to do shit loads of extra training in his own time

 

[isaackurdi2007]

Thought this might make a good conversational topic.

Some players are incredibly consistent in parts of their game, whilst others are hit and miss.

However, ever so often an average player will have a break out game, clearly demonstrating that the player has the ability to play really well.

So what stops a player, hitting that level of ability week in / week out? Would it be entirely psychological and getting their head in that same space? Would a player lose those abilities over time?

Interested to hear peoples thoughts.

Mental strength

 

[The DoggFather]

Believing their hype.

 

[doggieaaron]

Its the same in sport snd business grit and drive is what seperates most in my industry (real estate) has a 90% failure rate as most think because they think they have “ the gift of the gab” but its grit /drive and doing the 1 % ers most dont do .

 

[obe]

Whatever causes them to lose motivation is what causes the player not to reach their potential.

 

[Marki]

Players are human and as we all know, humans can be inconsistent due to a number of factors most notably life, We struggle with emotions and in turn causes a crisis of confidence, attitude, consistency etc

I agree with this.
From one season to another or one team to another, players go through all sorts of emotional changes that affect their desire, intensity, attitude, mental resolve etc. They have to navigate through all of this.
Very few can handle lots of changes. Thats you see the dreaded "second year syndrome". Lately, all the rule changes have had an effect also, and finally, some players play best with certain other players so if one of them moves on, their skill drops with it.

 

[SPEARTAKVIDREFS]

Theres alot to be said for perseverance.
I wouldnt call Brenko Lee a brilliant NRL player but he has a grand final ring. No way under Bellamy he finds himself being picked for that team if he wasnt putting in.

Cleary and Reynolds talk in interviews how they practice kicking hours outside of training.

 

[EXPLORER]

Thought this might make a good conversational topic.

Some players are incredibly consistent in parts of their game, whilst others are hit and miss.

However, ever so often an average player will have a break out game, clearly demonstrating that the player has the ability to play really well.

So what stops a player, hitting that level of ability week in / week out? Would it be entirely psychological and getting their head in that same space? Would a player lose those abilities over time?

Interested to hear peoples thoughts.

I think it's attitude.

Look at all the really top shelf players over the years.

John's,
Cronk,
Cam Smith,
Slater.

They worked hard at their game off and on the field.

They basically put in effort their entire career at training and thought about games and improving when not at training.
They stayed back to practice.

Now let's look at some other players on the other end of the spectrum.

Ben Roberts comes to mind.
Had skills on the field, Let's not down play this guy.
He was a top end player on his day.
But more often than not he was ordinary.
He didn't have the same attitude and work ethic as the other players I named earlier.
He just did all he needed to do to stay fit and earn an NRL contract till his luck ran out.

It's like anything in life.
You get out of things what you put into it.

The good players put in, the average players do not

They all make NRL on natural ability.
Their success after that comes from the work they put in.

 

[gbrussell]

I think it's attitude.

Look at all the really top shelf players over the years.

John's,
Cronk,
Cam Smith,
Slater.

They worked hard at their game off and on the field.

They basically put in effort their entire career at training and thought about games and improving when not at training.
They stayed back to practice.

Now let's look at some other players on the other end of the spectrum.

Ben Roberts comes to mind.
Had skills on the field, Let's not down play this guy.
He was a top end player on his day.
But more often than not he was ordinary.
He didn't have the same attitude and work ethic as the other players I named earlier.
He just did all he needed to do to stay fit and earn an NRL contract till his luck ran out.

It's like anything in life.
You get out of things what you put into it.

The good players put in, the average players do not

They all make NRL on natural ability.
Their success after that comes from the work they put in.

100% correct.