It’s been described as footy’s worst interview. Dragons fullback Darius Boyd managed just 28 words in response to eight questions during a press conference to promote this Friday night’s clash against his old club the Brisbane Broncos. It’s saying something that his notoriously monosyllabic coach Wayne Bennett felt the need to chip him about it.
But since when, particularly footy players, given good interview? Most of them impart about the same amount of information as Boyd managed it just takes longer to get through all the clichés. He needs some intensive media training so that next time his reponses are more like the sort of stuff we expect from the great minds of our sporting elites.
With a little more training, next time it might go something more like this:
Q: Up against the Broncos, excited about facing your old mates?
A: Yeah can’t wait. Even though it’s not like any other game I’m going to treat it like it is because you can only play this game one game at a time. Sure, I’ll be pounding into blokes that I once stood shoulder to shoulder with but it’s just another game. Only the opposition is different from last week. What I’m really looking forward to is just getting out there and giving 110 per cent.
Q: Did you watch them play last week?
A: No I didn’t. I’m not focussed on their game, I’m only focussed on my game. I need to play my game not their game otherwise I won’t know which way to run. And I need to play it at 110 per cent.
Q: What’s the strategy going into the game?
A: We’ll decide that on Wednesday I suppose. But I think our main aim is going to be to score lots of points. Heaps of them but in particular heaps more than the other team. It’s a strategy that’s worked for us in the past but you know as well as I do in this sport you can only take it one game at time. Each game is different, although I did say before that I was going to treat this game like any other game. Whatever, our strategy is to give 110 per cent which is more than the 100 per cent the Broncos will probably give.
Q: Happy to score another try, it was a good one?
A: Yeah, it was good, eh. But getting over the line is a team effort. There’s no I in team. There’s an e and a, obviously a t and an m, but I’m pretty confident there’s no i. Right?
Q: Second one of the season, it’s taken a while, you must be keen to be coming into form at the right time of the season.
A: No it was good. I’m just trying to be the best that I can which is pretty bloody good I must say. I should have scored more tries this season but my team mates have let me down on occasion. If they tried a bit harder they could make me look even better than I actually am.
Q: What are your thoughts on the way your team is going at the moment Darius?
A: Um yeah it was pretty good eh. Well it’s the business end of the season so we really need to dig deep and give 110 per cent. At least. And if the other teams give 110 per cent then we’ve got to give more, maybe 120 per cent, 150 per cent. We’ve just got to give more per cent than the other team. But the most important thing is we take it one game at a time. The finals are a whole new ball game except the rules will most likely stay the same. But we’re not thinking about the finals. We’ve got to get there first and the only way we can do that is by leaving it all out on the field and doing that one game at a time.
Q: Are you fair dinkum?
A: Yeah. I’m 110 per cent fair dinkum.
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