Conor Whelan

And then I had no boots.

So I had to go around and ask a few different lads if they had a pair of boots.

And David Collins, who was the captain, had a pair of, I actually still wear them, they're called Adidas Incursa boots.

So he gave me those boots and sure went out in the training game and I think I got 3-3 that day and I was just like, Jesus, like, in terms of preparation, probably not the best.

So I ended up buying the pair of boots off David Collins as well afterwards.

I did keep the hurl, yeah, I kept the hurl, but it was an inch short, so that phase kind of passed out as well, so, yeah.

Back to 33, yeah.

No, I don't think Anthony was in the room at the moment.

It was kind of very much like, John, there was two teams, so there was the Maroons versus the Whites.

So it was kind of, we're in our separate teams and you're just sure at that stage, you haven't got a pair of boots, so you have to put the ego behind it and ask.

I definitely think that

There is space for, obviously not that, but the unconventional or the laid-back characters as such.

I think sometimes we over-prepare or we overstate.

Say you take a panel of 35 lads, there's going to be lads who are relaxed, there's going to be people who are very rigid in their preparation.

the space for young lads coming through to be themselves i think is is something that's probably gets lost sometimes like i think that's so important that like you know each person is their unique person they've had their preparation that has led them to be selected to be on this panel so like obviously there's open the standards and making sure that they're getting to the level but how they get to that level is if that makes sense like allowing them that space to to be themselves i suppose really i think yeah

Yeah, definitely.

And I think front and center of that is the enjoyment piece, like, and I think that actually gets lost sometimes in high performance sport where, you know, I played seasons there where you're looking back afterwards and saying, like, I didn't really enjoy that, like, which is...

the direct opposite of why you started playing the game and obviously the standards are as high as they can possibly be in the training level and the games and all that but like the enjoyment piece is front and centre and like any of the best seasons I've had it's just like when I think about them it's just been pure enjoyment like and I think that's what I always say to young lads coming through is like just keep enjoying it like obviously Leinster finals, All-Ireland finals, quarter finals are big games like but

if you're in the mind where you're enjoying that, it comes a lot easier.

Whereas I think if, you know, the pressure to perform and trying to get to the level and as you were talking about the right keen and the 1% and all this, like I just think sometimes that can actually squeeze out the enjoyment out of it and it just becomes almost a chore.