Gilbert Enoka

And so we talk about New Zealand's counter-attack, which is the urgency to get back into a position to be able to cover off the, the counter-attack that comes from, um, you know, when- if you kick the ball or you lose the ball.

Um, you gotta practice that in training, and there's a mental aspect to all that and un- and New Zealand's obviously invested heavily with Gilbert Enoka over the years, and he's made a big difference clearly.

Um, I don't know if Australia has the same mental training going on in the background.

I've got no idea.

Um, probably about 24 hours.

Like, yeah, we traveled over to Aussie on Sunday morning and had the afternoon off here and Uh, we kept as leaders on Sunday night, and I just thought it was important for the group for the week and, um, the likes of, you know, Rins and Gilbert Enoka, both leaders as well, thought it was really important to, yeah, kind of reset and create a real steely edge that we certainly had last week, um, going into Eden Park and The Bledisloe being up for grabs.

So, um, you've gotta reset yourself and, uh, we had a pretty honest review which said about trying to right a few things we didn't get right, and also just talking about our standards and how important it is to take another step as a group this week.

So what's the psychology of this weekend then? I mean, is this a side that can beat anybody and you guys are brilliant, or is this a side that watches out for a fairly stung and hurt Australian side who'll come back with something completely different, and could it be an issue?

Like this message needs to be heard, you know, everywhere.

Um, I was reading, um, Gilbert Enoka's book, um, you know, the All Blacks mental coach, and he just came out with a book at the end of last year, and it's fantastic.

And he talked about, you know, meeting with All Blacks players, and one of the things that, that he would do is he'd sit down with them, and he'd pull up Google Earth and have them, and he'd be like, "All right, show me the first field you ever played on." And they're zooming into their hometown, and, and they find the field, and just they light up, right? Like that's when they fell in love with the game when they were a kid.

Play like that.

We've got, um, uh, Anika Moa, uh, Jenny-May Clarkson.

We got Gilbert Enoka.

Mm.

Uh, we have, uh-

... go through everyday things like the rest of us?

Yeah.

I mean, one of the fascinating ones, Gilbert Enoka, sports man- mental coach for the All Blacks.

You know, he talks about the fact that he grew up in an orphanage.

And he had three very core principles that run throughout the book.

And so what we did is we got a three-part documentary that looked at these principles, uh, also interviewed really powerful New Zealanders, like Arnie Gamoa, Jenny-May Coffin, Gilbert Enoka, Shaun Johnson.

And, um, we also put, uh, experiments throughout.

So you watch it, and you take home, uh, very key elements in terms of dealing with life's challenges.

There are moments where they're really tapping into some of the, the scars of the past, uh, and also allowing us to hear about their learnings.

You know, uh, uh, Anika Moa, uh, we've got Aisha Scott, we've got Gilbert Enoka.

We've got, um, a mixture of, uh, athletes and celebrities and experts, and what was amazing for me was how they were able to go deep.

Uh, and I think one of the, one of the things, Jim, that I decided to do when I first met them was I went to the hair and makeup room with them, and I'd spend 45 minutes just chatting away, uh, because I knew that if I could really build a rapport, then when they came on screen, we could go deep, and it worked.

That's right.

That's right.

And you know, when you think about all of the people on this amazing documentary that we interviewed, what really came through to me, whether it was Rachel Hunter or, uh, Gilbert Enoka or Ayesha Scott, uh, Bree Thomason, um, Jenny-May Coffin, what, what became clear was that they're talking to me about their trauma or their event, and they become almost this, um, amazing book that they're giving you this blueprint of how they coped.

Mm.

I mean, there's 15, 20 other guys waiting in the wings that can step in, um, in any given week and, and play fantastically well.

So I think when the All Blacks look at that tour, um, you know, I think they, as Gilbert Enoka said, they got more information out of it, um, than, than perhaps they might have otherwise.

So yeah, they didn't win all the test matches, but, um, they got, they got plenty out of the tour to take into this, uh, Bledisloe Series and beyond.

The return of Scott Barrett and Shannon Frizell into the team, what will they bring against the Wallabies that you think the All Blacks perhaps didn't have against South Africa?

Um, so I learned it wasn't about me, it was about them in the main, and how could I help them grow and them get better and them take ownership, greater ownership of the team.

And, um, and then I got together with like-minded people, like Wayne Smith and Gilbert Enoka and people like that, and, um, they had similar thoughts, so that was good.

Uh, so that was, that was the catalyst for the change.

That was the reason for the change, but I was also lucky enough to get appointed All Black coach, uh, about three years later, or two and a half years later, was it? Three years later.

Mm-hmm.

And everybody spoke, and we were in a big s- semicircle And you can do all those things and, and do them the best you can.

And, and, and you got sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka running that session, and we're all pretty down, as you can imagine.

Like, it was four years of planning out the window.