Michael Cheika talks to players during an Australian Wallabies training session at Ballymore Stadium on June 5, 2018 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
When the Wallabies play the Springboks later this year, take note of the fact that they won’t be wearing any headphones.
The pre-match ritual is hugely popular under most professional athletes as a way of relaxing or getting psyched.
But Aussie coach Michael Cheika, a man known for radical ideas and a notoriously short temper, has banned the practice for some time now.
Allowed a platform to explain why, the 51-year-old revealed all on Players Voice.
It’s both compelling and hilarious.
“When I came back from overseas to coach the Tahs, I was watching the players during the trials. They all had the headphones on before games. I asked them why. No one said anything at first, but I pushed them. ‘Are you listening to the answer to the game? Is it a mantra? What is it?’,” wrote Cheika.
“It’s pump-up music,’ someone said. ‘Righto,’ I answered. ‘We’re going to trial brushing the headphones. I want you to talk to your teammates. I can guarantee you Cyndi Lauper won’t win you the game.’
What was supposed to be a joke went way over the players’ heads because they weren’t familiar with the famous 80s pop star.
“In any case, it’s a policy that worked and something I’ve stuck with ever since,” Cheika continued.
The Wallaby mentor is not against technology and is, in fact, a keen thinker on new methods.
But he believes in the old school values of face-to-face bonding.
“When we’re eating together, there are no phones. Everyone greets each other by shaking hands in the morning. And there are no headphones around game time.
“What I do know is this: the technology has to work for you, not the other way around. Arnie (Arnold Schwartzenegger) was right about Skynet.”
In case you didn’t get that one either – Skynet is the artificial intelligence program that represents the true villain in the Terminator movie franchise…
