Chris Fagan spoke with Dom and Mike on this weeks’ The Roar Deal podcast about the strategies he has recommended to players and staff for coping in isolation and believes that they can be taken with them into life after Coronavirus.
After a tough first few weeks in isolation, Fagan now believes that most players have found their rhythm and are coping with isolation well.
“In those first few weeks it was almost a grieving period, life as we know had been taken away from us” he said.
“But players are coping with it much better now than they were in the first few weeks.”
Advice from Fagan and the remaining Football Department staff at the Lions was to get into a routine as quickly as possible and once they found that routine that worked for them, they’ve been really good.
“I guess I see this whole thing as a bit of a life lesson for them” said Fagan.
“They need to find different ways to feel purposeful in life and implement strategies to help with that.”
There two main strategies that Fagan recommended to players to work on when they weren’t feeling so great about the situation they were faced with.
“Sure they’ve taken pay cuts which isn’t great but, fundamentally, their job now is to stay fit and healthy and they’re getting paid for it, and that’s pretty good in anyone’s books.” he said.
“And the second is if you wake up and you’re feeling demotivated, think about the knock-on effect that that can have on a teammate or the team.
“Sometimes it’s easier to let yourself down than it is to let someone else down.
“So I just remind them that whatever you’re doing that day, training or the like, you’re doing for the team.
“Hopefully at the end of all of this we all have a new found appreciation for what we get to do for a job every day of the week.”