Cody: Questions and Answers

LIAM HORAN: What are the key issues when trying to motivate a talented, but temperamental, player?

BRIAN CODY: The most important thing is to get everyone to buy into the spirit of the team. Fellows have various ways of doing things but that’s okay if they buy into the team spirit.

You don’t have to turn them into something they’re not. They don’t have to change or lose their personalities. They can still be themselves. Everybody contributes in different ways. Every players brings their own qualities, and failings. A huge part of it is to get them to bring honesty. They are doing it for themselves and their teammates, not for the manager.

That’s important too – say, at club level in particular, the players will be their close friends, and they have to see that they are doing it for those people, as well as themselves. It is part of their community. They see that it’s like the chain; you are only as strong as your weakest link.

LH: In what ways does managing a GAA team mirror the job of managing a school?

BC: There are huge similarities. You are trying to achieve the same thing, trying to help people to be the best that they can be. You are trying to bring the best out of them.

You are trying to achieve something that is good for people. You are looking to get the best results possible.

LH: In the world of manufacturing, for example, the process is king. The process must run smoothly from the first minute to the last. It often strikes me that great teams do the same (most recent example, Barcelona against Chelsea.) Your teams seem to have that capacity. How do you manage to keep your players doing the right thing, when they are tired/emotionally threatened by the occasion/angry at referee’s decision, etc?

BC: Yes, it is a process. It asks questions of players and management. First of all, there must be great respect there, and that respect must go in various directions. There must be respect for each other, and belief in each other. Everybody must realise that you are trying to achieve the best possible results.

In terms of doing the right thing when crisis arises, I think it is all about going back to basics. The principles don’t change, if you lose a man in the middle of a match, or in the first two minutes, or the other team loses a man – you just give it everything all of the time.

Something that happens in the first minute can have a huge impact on a match. You have to be totally honest with yourself all of the time, from start to finish. There has to be total involvement in the process and it has to be honest.

Training is where everything is built up. There has to be honesty when you come together, whether for a talk or to do some physical work. That’s where it is built up.

LH: Rate the following attributes in a player in order of importance: skill, intelligence, strength, mobility, and enthusiasm.

BC: I would put skill and enthusiasm together at the top. If you’ve enthusiasm, there’s no end to you. Enthusiasm is innate in you. Hurling is a game of skill, so that’s very important too. Strength and mobility, you can improve them.

With intelligence, there are two types – what we’ll call academic intelligence, and sporting intelligence. I wouldn’t be checking out their IQs! I know that Kevin Heffernan, the Dublin manager of the 1970s, talked about having players who were ambitious off the field.

That’s something that goes hand in hand with their sporting life – if they are driven to become the very best they can be. There will be people consumed with passion for sport, but maybe they are not gifted academically or whatever, but that doesn’t really matter to me.

LH: What one triumph of sporting management do you wish you had to your name (from any sport)?

BC: I haven’t ever thought about that. I suppose when any underdog comes along and wins, when you see somebody winning against the odds.

LH: How do you offer constructive criticism to a player without reinforcing a negative feeling in his mind (e.g. a free-taker has had a bad day, how do you ‘work’ on him for the next game so that he doesn’t end up up-tight and worried)?

BC: Very often, I would try to remind players of what made them great in the first place and get them to go back to what made them great.

I try to remind them they became the players they are because of qualities they have.

LH: How do you maintain the edge – how do you keep yourself sharp so that you continue to bring valuable difference to your teams? Do you have to motivate yourself to avoid becoming staid?

BC: I don’t really. I just have a real love of hurling and sport. I enjoy just going to matches, watching primary schools matches, seeing young players develop their games, all that kind of thing.

I don’t feel any pressure in it at all. Genuinely, I don’t. I find it very, very enjoyable. There are challenges, but I enjoy them. I don’t see it as a sacrifice. I enjoy it and the challenges keep me going.

LH: Before a match, can you ever know they’re flying? (eg did you know before the All-Ireland final against Waterford?)

BC: I knew we were ready. I always feel sure we will go out there and play with great honesty and great determination. I have a huge belief in the panel of players, in their honesty. I never feel we are going to flop.

As regards knowing if they are flying, it’s a thin line. When they are buzzing, that’s often the time to stop training. That’s when you want the match to start and you wish you didn’t have to wait another week.

That’s the time to be careful, and the expertise of physical trainers is important. They can say it’s time to pull back.

LH: If a hurler and a footballer went to fight in three foot of water, who would win?

BC: If the hurler could bring the hurley…

LH: What one programme would you Sky Plus each week?

BC: I see very little television. The Sunday Game, I suppose, or something sporting. I’ve seen the Dragon’s Den a few times; it’s an interesting programme.

LH: Sunshine holiday or the Inca Trail?

BC: My holidays in recent years have tended to be with the team. We have had terrific holidays. We have been very fortunate to get to lots of great places. I suppose it would be a mixture: somewhere warm with interesting places to visit too.

LH: When was the first time you signed an autograph?

BC: A long time ago! I can’t be sure, probably when I first started playing with Kilkenny seniors.

LH: How do you feel about Pat Spillane swapping sofas this year?

BC: I have no problem with it. I am looking forward to it. It will be interesting!