Countdown to Blackpool: Cullen keeps emotion out of final appearance (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Countdown to Blackpool: Cullen keeps emotion out of final appearance

12:02pm Thursday 9th July 2009

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More Vikings Cup Final news here

PAUL Cullen is doing everything within his means to keep emotion and atmosphere out of his team’s preparation for Sunday’s cup final.

I’ve said it many times, I don’t think Barrow will give two hoots about Widnes’ Super League aspirations or complaints of not being in it

Paul Cullen

He has been avoiding all talk of the final’s relevance to future Super League applications and emphasising that it is simply about 17 against 17.

So when he was asked at this week’s Press conference if the winners of Sunday’s game will be sending out a message to Super League, he replied: “Don’t know and don’t care.

“I’ll start this week looking at how we’re going to beat Barrow and I’ll finish with whether we achieve that or not.

“This is one game in many. Whether we win or whether we lose, there’s a long way between where we are now and where we want to be.

“I’ve got a little bit of work to do to keep everyone on an even keel and not get too carried away.

“I’ve said it many times, I don’t think Barrow will give two hoots about Widnes’ Super League aspirations or complaints of not being in it.

“This is about 17 v 17.”

Cullen has also been keen to deflect attention away from the fact that Sunday will be his first final as a coach.

“It’s Widnes against Barrow,” he said.

“If coaches, players, administrators of our club drift off on to another tangent, we might get done just like we did when we played Whitehaven, Batley and Leigh.

“It’s about 80 minutes of very tough contest and those teams don’t care about what we think, what we hope and what we complain about.

“You’ve got to front up in a game of rugby league. You have to carry the ball and tackle with every ounce of energy that you’ve got.

“The art in winning finals, or so I’ve been led to believe, is about keeping the mind on the job.

“So maybe in the past it would have been new suits and ties and flowers and hotel stays and all the rest of it, it’s a conscious, deliberate decision on our behalf to turn up ready for a fight and not for a party.

“Training this week has been absolutely the same as the new routine.

“We haven’t pulled in players for extra training sessions.

“We think we’ve been on the right track since the turnaround and the players are turning up for training sessions very fresh, very focussed and ready to go.”

More Vikings Cup Final news here

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