Laurie Daley: New South Wales Blues Coach on NZ hosting its first State of Origin match next season
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Rugby league, some kind of role at the moment if you're following it. That broadcast deal signed the other week makes it the most valuable sport in Australia ever. You add the Warriors who are without question looking like champions and having a year for the ages. Now news that New Zealand is to host a state of origin game for the first time ever. Game two is going to be played at Eden Park. The coach of the winning side this year, the Blues, Laurie Daly, is in the country this morning and is with us. Good morning. Morning to you, Mike. How are you? Look, I'm very well indeed. Let's go back a couple of nights, shall we, to that very special night for you. What's it feel like coaching and winning?
Yeah, well, it was a special night. We played our best football when it was required. It was obviously a massive build-up. State of Origin's the three biggest sort of programs on television in Australia every year, and Origin continues to get bigger and better. But, you know, just the rivalry between the two states, you know, there's a lot at stake. We didn't perform our best in game two. So coming into that contest, there was a little bit of, well, more than a little bit of pressure, plenty of pressure on us. But we were able to put that aside and focus in on what we needed to do. And I was really proud of the guys with their performance. It was, you know, the best one we've had in a long time. And to win up there in Queensland made it extra special.
And it became a real thing, didn't it? I followed it in the media. You took a lot of heat.
How did Laurie Daley describe the significance of the recent State of Origin win?
The team took a lot of heat. How does that sort of... It's sort of the media became a thing. How does that sort of thing affect you?
Yeah, I think what we're very good at is being able to shut out the outside noise. And you have to do that as a coach. You're continually telling players to don't worry about the outside noise. Just can control... what you can, and that is your performance and how you prepare for a game. So I was no different. And I suppose, you know, being an ex-player, that's what I did throughout my career. So the outside noise didn't affect me. I don't read it. Well, I didn't read it. I didn't hear it. Obviously, people would tell you a little bit about what's going on. But at the end of the day, that wasn't my driver. My driver was to have these guys prepared as best I possibly can to make sure they played their best football.
We're always confident. our best football was good enough. And, you know, I just thought there was a total overreaction to what happened in game two. Yes, you know, we didn't play our best football and yes, we let the scoreline blow out. But in today's game, momentum is a hard thing to stop. We were winning at halftime. We felt as though we left tries out there in the first half, which would have, you know, changed the momentum of the game for us. But at the end of the day, we didn't, we copped the criticism and we responded and we responded in the best possible fashion and I think there's a lot of people that were proud of our performance.
And how much does the state of origin oscillate from year to year in terms of talent and the squad you can build or does it remain pretty consistent throughout the years?
Oh, good question. There's a lot of things that go into the squad and obviously you have current form, you have past form and people, what they've done in the jersey before, you've got tactics on how you want to play and what player best fits that team. So it can change. Like this year, for instance, we had nine debutants. So that's a fair changeover or turnover from one year to the other. Some were forced, some were on form. But yeah, it can change. But once you get into the series, you like to sort of not make too many changes, but you know at times you may have to through form or injuries or whatever. But yeah, at the end of the day, it can change depending on the circumstance.
And how much of it is a test on you as a coach, given it's sort of an artificial thing, isn't it? You grab a group of guys, three games, very short period to try and mould them, and then it's all over.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:17
2
How did Laurie Daley describe the significance of the recent State of Origin win?
1:17–4:27
3
How did Daley explain handling media criticism after the Game Two loss?
4:27–5:00
4
What coaching mindset did Daley say he uses to block outside noise?
5:00–8:56
Speakers
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