The biggest thing for me is earning the respect of my fellow players and coaches. I think that is why I was a little bit emotional. You don't get a haka done to you from the brothers for no reason if they don't respect you.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I am so happy when I feel emotion about the way my team plays.
With my experience, I think I've earned that respect from the team and from my teammates.
I get a little bit emotional during a game!
I've always just tried to treat people with respect, build relationships with players and coaches... build a trust.
One of the things that is very important to me is how I feel about my team. And not just what their jobs are but what they mean to one another.
That's ultimately the thing that sticks out to you most, that's most important to me, is that I have the respect of my teammates.
It's always really challenging trying to go from player to player/coach. You have a kind of friendship basis of relationship with all of your teammates, and now you go to this power position where you have to make decisions that might hurt people's feelings.
When I was playing before I retired, I never really understood the appreciation and the respect that people gave me. People had treated me like a god or something, and that was very embarrassing.
I think I earned the players' respect, and that's the ultimate in life, isn't it? I didn't care if they liked me or disliked me, as long as I had their respect.
The result is an empty thing. The result is I'm happy for the next two days because I get less criticism and more time to improve my team. But what satisfies me the most in my job is to feel emotions, the way we play.