What with Joe Brolly's war on the mental gurus that have set up camp in recent times, the entire area of sports psychology has been on the chopping block over the past couple of weeks and months. Those who go in for the Enda McNulty school of self reflection, swear by it. Those who criticise it are unlikely to be the kind that can be swayed by other side. And so, it goes around in circles.
At the end of the day, a lot of it comes down to confidence and self belief. Brolly is a perfect example of a persona which, at least appears, to need no massaging. Not everyone in the public eye is the same boat. Brian O'Driscoll has long been an advocate for sports psychology.
Speaking to Jarlath Regan's Irishman Abroad podcast, we've already heard how the former Ireland captain went on a bit of a YouTube binge, watching himself in an effort to get a bit of his mojo back. The reason for that was entirely to do with confidence, or lack thereof. Particularly interesting in relation to Brolly's recent columns, O'Driscoll summed things up rather nicely.
Any sportsman who says he lives without doubt isn't even deluded, he's a liar. That's all sports people. Some people might trick themselves into thinking they're more confident than they are but it's impossible to maintain.
There's a certain UFC featherweight champion in the public eye at the moment that might have something to say about that and Regan duly asked O'Driscoll if Conor McGregor falls into that category.
Obviously enough, the difference between top level rugby and top level MMA is vast but the pressure of having to perform at the highest level is universal and O'Driscoll had some rather interesting things to say about what may be going on behind the bravado. Or, at the very least, what may soon be about to appear behind the bravado.
I think it's still early on in Conor McGregor's career. I don't know how long a UFC career will go but if you go for 10 or 15 years, as the likes of Messi, Ronan O'Gara or I have done, I think over that period of time it is very very hard to maintain a really high standard of lack of self-doubt. It's different in the fight game where it has to be all bravado.
You have to be all front. No one knows the true inner thoughts of Conor McGregor. Only Conor McGregor does. I'd say John Kavanagh his coach, doesn't even know that. And fair play to him if he believes everything that he's saying.
But I am sure at times, in his quieter moments, everyone has that element of self doubt as to whether they're able to still do it. And it tends to come in the later years of your career when the body starts to ale slightly on you.
As O'Driscoll said, it's impossible to know anyone's inner truths. Maybe he's wrong with the sweeping statement that 'any sportsman who says he lives without doubt isn't even deluded, he's a liar'. However, you'd have to think there's a lot to that. Even McGregor must go home and let the mask slip every know and then.
Not that that's a criticism by any stretch of the imagination. It's about how you deal with that doubt and the featherweight champ is doing one hell of a job in that regard at the moment.
You can catch 'An Irishman Abroad' on iTunes and Soundcloud if you want to listen to O'Driscoll's interview in full, which is due to be released on Sunday.
