Sydney Roosters and NSW State of Origin pair Boyd Cordner and James Tedesco say they've never been asked to self-censor their press conferences because of the 'Coach Whisperer', Bradley Charles Stubbs.
Stubbs has dominated headlines and the build up to next week's State of Origin game one after Queensland coach Kevin Walters sought his guidance earlier this year.
Maroons players have been told by team hierarchy not to mention or reference "NSW" or "the Blues" during their media commitments as part of Stubbs' message to Walters.
Stubbs was unavailable for comment this week but in December, he told AAP that as part of his Expect to Win program, he taught that certain words, such as "hope", "want" and "like", influence the subconscious mind and can affect performance.
And while his techniques have been pilloried and questioned, he has produced success everywhere he has worked in sport.
He worked with then Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire and Trent Robinson during the years they won NRL premierships in 2014 and 2018 respectively.
Stubbs also helped Michael Cheika guide the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup final, he mentored Graham Arnold in 2016-17 when Sydney FC lost just one game during their A-League title-winning campaign and was also hired by Eddie Jones, who then took England to a Six Nations title.
Robinson was so grateful to Stubbs, that he last year gave him a premiership ring as a token of his appreciation and he continues to work with the Sydney Roosters coach.
Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner said he had never had word bans placed on him and had never noticed Stubbs' influence on Robinson, or the side.
"No, not with us players. Ultimately that's Robbo's decision," Cordner said.
"He (Stubbs) hasn't got anything to do with the team. We just do whatever Robbo says."
Tedesco said while he knew Stubbs worked with Robinson, his teachings never filtered down to the squad and he had no knowledge of specific words being banned.
"He does a lot of stuff with Robbo personally. We haven't got any idea what that is. He mentors Robbo and we don't hear from him personally," the fullback said.
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