“I’d be fairly chilled out when it comes to that stuff” – A cool head the key to Rock’s success

Growing up, Jonny Wilkinson was Dean Rock’s idol.

He has lots of time for Jonhny Sexton too and has no qualms in admitting that, although a fan of Gaelic football and hurling, he watches more rugby. Rock played for six years you see. CUS of Leeson Street wouldn’t be considered as one of the heavy-hitters in the Leinster senior cup but it’s one he’s proud of that, during his six years there, the school qualified for one of its first Leinster senior cup first rounds proper.

Unsurprisingly, the dead-eyed Rock was the kicker and, even after all these years, he says that the tricks and tips learned along the way as a fly-half are still a big part of his game today. Whether it’s a round ball or an oval-ball, his dead-ball routine doesn’t differ much.

“I played a lot of rugby growing up, played for six years in CUS and I was goal kicking back then, I was kicking frees for Ballymun underage so I was naturally drawn to Jonny Wilkinson,” Rock says at the launch of the VHI Health and Well-Being fund.

“I suppose at an early age, I realised the importance of a reliable goal-kicker and free-taker, and so I just tried to learn from him really. I followed his career closely, I’d have read his coach, Dave Alred’s book and he ignited the fire for me.”

One of the most important things for a free-taker, Rock says, is to ensure that the heart-rate is down and the mind is focused. Nail the routine he says, and you won’t go too far wrong.

“It’s a long time since I kicked a rugby ball now, but I’d love to go back and implement the things I do now know now about kicking a football. From a process perspective, in terms of getting your heart-rate down and trying to execute the kick, there are a lot of similarities.”

Rock says that, at 31, recovery is just as important as practice and that’s why, outside of training sessions, he wouldn’t be going mad practicing his shooting. It’s a key part of his routine though, to kick 15 or 20 scores at the end of training, making sure that each ball is kicked ‘purposefully.’

“It depends on how the kicking is going. If it’s not going too well, you’ll put more emphasis on it, to work on it, you might do the extra session during the week. It’s pretty much before or after training, so you’re not doing extra sessions on recovery days.

“It might be just 15 or 20 kicks at the end of training, but every kick is done purposefully, as if they’re match-situations. As you get older, you prioritise recovery, rather than trying to do extra. That’s what’s most enjoyable about the summer, you get to focus on the skills then rather than the running and all of that you’d be doing in the winter.”

So a calm mind is a key to his shooting routine and it’s the key to his overall game too. Kerry’s Dan O’Donoghue got stuck into the Ballymun man down in Killarney a fortnight ago but Rock is used to that sort of treatment, and he says it doesn’t faze him or fire him up.

“No, I’d be fairly chilled out now and fairly cool when it comes to that stuff. Just let the umpires and linesmen do their job and they’ll figure it out.

“It comes with the territory, it’s always been there in the game and always will be. We wouldn’t want it any other way than to have everyone playing on the edge. I’m well used to it at this stage anyway!

He’s one of the coolest customers in the game.

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