State of Origin III was the same old story. It was the same horror ending; like a bad movie, NSW Blues fans have sadly seen before. When piecing together where it went wrong, former NSW coach Gus Gould offered this critique –

“We just haven’t cultivated a leadership group that we can trust to get the job done.”

Cooper Cronk leads the Queensland team. Cameron Smith may be their captain and has great influence on the outcome of the game, but it’s Cronk who directs his players like a commanding four-star army general.

Cronk believes that as long as his team displays the necessary will and desire, victory is always in sight. But the desire to win is not enough. In fact, when desire is high it can cause a decline in performance.

The Queensland playmaker is a master of his own arousal and an expert in managing the arousal of those in his control.

In the 37th minute of the game, his score was 12–0 with Queensland in the lead. Just for a moment, the normally well-disciplined Queensland team failed to play with the control that Cronk demands.

A NSW dropped ball finds Tim Glasby charging upfield only to be stopped by the desperate cover defence. On the next play, Cameron Smith bombs a certain try with the Queensland crowd surging behind him sensing the knock out blow.

Queensland then gifts NSW a penalty and the Blues are soon on the attack. The crowd rise, willing their players to stand up in defence. The panic in the crowd lifts as NSW make a half break but its instantly relieved as they drop the ball.

Relief turns into exhilaration as the Cameron Munster beats four tackles and then throws a high-risk cut out pass across his goal line. In the commentary Gould describes Queensland’s counterattack as “extraordinary”, not praising its effectiveness, but in describing its level of risk.

The pass finds Dane Gagai who busts two tackles and the crowd finds another level as he gets a quick play the ball. The collective energy of 52,000 fans has the team playing a high-risk, high-tempo game.

Cam Smith collects the ball and darts down the blind side…then stops.

Yes, he just stopped. Turned on his heel and then ran back towards the safety of the centre of the field.

Just behind the play, Cooper Cronk is flapping his hands up and down like an eagle. His orders are direct — Slow Down! Slow Down! His words have an immediate effect.

The nervous energy in the stadium is released instantaneously.

It was like he told everyone in the stadium to sit back in their seats and be quiet. Support players who were rushing to join the counter-attack filed back into formation.

Cronk’s game plan was restored.

Straight running and quick play the balls are the strategy that Cronk wants as he has limited time to set up the field goal. On the final play of the half Cronk takes the shot but misses to the right.

Now, this is the important part. Cronk and Cameron Munster, the player who made the high-risk pass, wanted the same result — to force NSW score 3 times to win.

The difference is that Cameron Munster was on debut. The crowd, the occasion, and his inexperience create a higher level of arousal that compels him to attempt the miracle play.

Cooper Cronk is the best in the world at closing out tight games because he is the master of his own arousal and can control the arousal of his players.

By slowing the play down he gave his team more time, alleviating any feelings that they must act ‘right now’, even when there is less than one minute on the clock. His team then work together to allow him to achieve all of the upside (the field goal) with the lowest amount of risk.

This is what great leaders do. They allow their team to feel safe while they achieve the right result.

Gould goes onto explain during the post-game show:

“That’s the difference between us and Queensland at the moment. They have a leadership group where […} these debut players come in and they just know when they look across the room and see Cameron Smith and see Cooper Cronk that we will be ok. We are going to be ok.”

If you are a leader and you are sitting across from an individual on their first day in your team, are they looking at you and telling themselves “we are going to be ok?”

I suggest they might not. What it will take to change their minds what’s required for you to become the leader you aspire to be.

Nutrition is like politics. Each dietary theory divides the scientific community like Labour and Liberal. Just like petty politicians each party squabbles over the microphone and are guilty of cherry-picking statistics to suit their cause. The result is similar to politics; the people they are put in charge of helping are often forgotten.

It’s easy to get caught up in the dogmatic rules of nutrition and the never-ending fight over which nutritional camp holds the high ground. Who needs or wants this?

I can end it — which diet works? They all do.

Nutrition is full of provocative statements but one that is ultimately true is:

The diet that works is the one that gets done. This may sound the opposite of my views on dumbed down media messages but stay with me. I will explain.

What food you consume matters but adherence is the far greater variable for success. When weight loss stops occurring, the overwhelming majority of the time it will be because the individual went away from what worked.

What is more interesting/challenging is when weight loss stops and adherence is high. When this occurs you need to put the stats to work. A food record is absolutely necessary to guide every decision.

This is why the dumbed down media messages serve no purpose. When adherence becomes a standardized variable it takes more than a sound bite (e.g. Eat Paleo) to recreate weight loss.

An effective coach may have to re-address the level of adherence necessary to reach the goal or they may have to look at other variables like sleep, stress, gut health, exercise, recalculate macro-nutrient targets and overcome the famine reaction.

To solve this problem requires hand-to-hand combat. Similar to how a JiuJitsu athlete must react to the offence of their opponent, a coach must react to how an athlete’s body reacts to their diet.

This is why you’ll never see me commit to a nutritional camp. It just doesn’t make sense. To think that the rigid rules of one nutritional movement are going to be the answer to every client for the rest of my life is just ridiculous.

If you are attempting to lose a significant amount of weight you can expect that you must control the amount of fat and sugar that you eat. I am here to tell you that if you eat fat or sugar you can also still lose weight.

How much fat or sugar you can eat to lose weight we can work out using a food record.

If you are looking to lose a significant amount of weight, expect the amount of fat and sugar you can eat to change. Expect that what is required of you will be different on Day 1 compared to Day 45.

Be prepared for change…and be mindful that if you ever fall down to remember that adherence is the most important variable.