Not once in Wayne Bennett's 44-year top-flight coaching career has he employed the bizarre tactics that Queensland boss Kevin Walters is using in State of Origin camp.
Walters has banned his troops from uttering the words "New South Wales" or "Blues" in the lead-up to next Wednesday's Origin opener.
It's led to some comical moments in media conferences, with the Maroons players even refusing to answer what colour the sky is.
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The ploy is the brainchild of Bradley Charles Stubbs – dubbed the "coach whisperer" – who Walters reportedly hired for a $5500 session in preparation to win back the shield from New South Wales.
While seven-time premiership-winner Bennett said he's never gone to such odd lengths in an attempt to improve performance, he didn't ridicule his ex-Broncos assistant's method.
“Well, we all need a bit of help I suppose," said the Rabbitohs mentor and former Queensland coach.
"I’ve used different people in my life that gave me some good advice but they weren’t mind coaches.
“They were men who had coached and were very good at what they did and I’ve always valued that information."
However, Bennett did joke that Walters' plan could backfire when kick-off comes about.
“I just hope they don’t get scared when they run on and see all the Blue jerseys and realise what they’ve got themselves into," he said.
“I’m not here to judge somebody else on that stuff, I’ll let you guys [media] do all that.
“I’ve never done that. I’ve done a lot of things in coaching and I’ve used a lot of different ways to get them to be their best.
"But at the end of the day, I’ve never not referred to the opposition or anything like that. But if they think it’s going to work for them, good luck to them.”
Bennett himself has come under fire for lying about James Roberts signing with South Sydney.
Last month he denied the centre would be released from Brisbane to join the Rabbitohs. On Wednesday, Roberts arrived at Redfern and Bennett conceded he told porkies.
The 69-year-old alluded to the situation as an example that coaches sometimes need to resort to the weird and wacky to achieve the desired outcome.
“I did see the [Queensland] interviews and I’ve seen a couple of things and as I said, we’re all different,” he said.
“We were just talking about James and we all do things that we think will work for us and help us.”