If anyone knows about winning under pressure, it is three-time NBA champion Luc Longley.
The Fremantle bred basketballer was part of the legendary Chicago Bulls second ‘three-peat’ championship era in the 1990s.
The side, star studded with the likes of Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman, won consecutive championships from 1996 to 1998.
The NBA play-offs are arguably among the most intense atmospheres for an athlete in any sporting arena.
Millions tune in to watch the series.
Longley was the first Australian to play in the NBA and spent 11 seasons in the world’s most elite bastketball competition.
Longley had some timely advice for Fremantle’s players heading into the 2015 Toyota AFL Finals Series.
“You have to look at it as more of a reward than a hindrance,” he said.
“The way I found success dealing with it is to focus on the things you’ve focused on all year.
“The things you can control.
“Effort, concentration, those things.
“Minimise the things you can’t control.
Longley said while it may be a final and the outcome has more consequence, it was still just a game of sport.
“It’s a game of footy or basketball,” he said.
“The goals are the same width apart.
“Most players are pretty good at shutting our crowd noise.
“I used to go into a bubble and not hear that noise.
“Focus on your craft, you’ve been perfecting and do it one more time.”
Longley has a personal connection to the current playing group.
In 2011, he took a fresh-faced group of players to Melbourne for an emerging leaders program.
Among them was Hayden Ballantyne, Michael Barlow, Nat Fyfe, Stephen Hill, Nick Suban, Alex Silvagni and Anthony Morabito.
“I have a photo of that group of guys up on a wall in my office,” he said.
“I really enjoyed it.
“Leadership is one of those things that everyone has a different way of doing.
“There is no right or wrong.
“I maintained those friendships since then, I keep in touch with Ballas, mostly because of our similarities in physique.”