By Jon Wilkin
St Helens back row
I have always wondered why there should be such thing as home advantage.
In essence, you are playing the same group of players on a pitch with almost identical dimensions so the location of this pitch should matter very little to players.
But in reality home advantage in sport is a massive helping hand when it comes to performance.
The home ground and fans do not have some mystical hold over opposition players by willing them to make uncharacteristic errors and have moments of erratic behaviour.
It is all related to familiarity and a state of mental rehearsal.
For example, when Keiron Cunningham runs out at Knowsley Road, he has several hundred previous occasions to visualise and it's that feeling of familiarity and association which helps him perform so well on his home ground.
On the flipside, travelling away to places like France to play the Catalans Dragons is a relative step into the unknown and leads to a less comfortable feeling when playing rugby.
I know that I perform at my best when in familiar circumstances.
I am conditioned to avoiding the damaged guttering at the entrance to Knowsley Road and have associated the vivid scent of fish with the home dressing rooms.
It's all of these sights, smells and sounds which help you mentally prepare for a game.
Some people will actively visualise things while others will be aware of the events but not consciously!
When your brain tells you that you have been in this situation before it allows you to focus on what's important and that is rugby, not running around in a new stadium being distracted by things like unfamiliar advertising, buildings and cheerleaders.
That is my theory on home advantage, but despite all that I still think it's totally over-rated as a concept!
This week, we travel to face Les Catalans and, with us playing each other again in the Challenge Cup final in a couple of weeks time, we know will be a strange occasion.
Both sides will be trying their utmost to start the mental tussle which occurs before a big game by placing doubt and anxiety into opposing players minds- or maybe not!
"We all put it in all the time, occasionally we get it wrong but never through lack of effort"
In reality, the modern game is so fast and intense that anybody who has time to consider the final and be distracted from the game will stick out like Nick Fozzard in our gym but with his top on!!
It is a total myth that players leave something in the tank when a big game is approaching.
That is something you hear in the stands from people like my mother who say, "Oh, he's saving himself for next week" meaning he is being distinctly lazy or "There are big games ahead" meaning he's having a shocker this week but it's ok because we are in the final.
We all put it in all the time. Occasionally we get it wrong but never through lack of effort.
I would like now to let people in on a secret that rugby players have - we all wear tights on long journeys.
This is not some perverse fetish the players keep from their wives or partners, it is something which is meant to make travelling less harmful to performance.
The tights may very well reduce swelling on planes and give you a spring in your step but you come off the plane a broken man having had people stare at you like you have illicit secrets.
These tights knock your confidence and I call for them to be banned!
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~59~RS~)