Party animals must 'suck it up'
Australia's infamous party animals, dubbed the 'Dublin Six' by the media, have been told to "suck it up".
The Wallabies are still reeling from the suspensions (of six players) and warnings (to nine others) over last week's drinking session in Dublin – ahead of their 32-15 win over Ireland.
However, according to The Courier-Mail newspaper they were told by coach Ewen McKenzie, at a meeting on Wednesday in the build-up to this coming Saturday's showdown with Scotland, to "suck it up".
The revelations of their booze binge in some of Dublin's most famous night spots have been deeply embarrassing for the players, once the news was splashed across newspapers in Australia.
It also affected their families.
"There's pressures that come to bear, everyone reads the newspapers, everyone has got a story, it is what it is," McKenzie told The Courier-Mail.
"I did talk to the playing group about [how] nothing is going to change, so you've just got to suck it up and get going.
"It's not going to suddenly change in three days' time, but what can change is how we function as a group, we'll just pull together, circle the wagons and get on with it.
"Because things had evolved, and for the playing group, by the time it hits the papers and there is the reaction from back home from family and friends, at that point in time it is stressful.
"So in the context of that, what can you do? Everyone can run off and look after themselves, or you can get together as a group and get on with it."
McKenzie remained unapologetic for his tough stance, saying his players needed to learn how to be elite sportsmen 24-7.
"It doesn't matter about the alcohol, it's about as a high-performance athlete, getting your best day in day out so we can play our best game on the weekend," McKenzie said.
"In the end we wouldn't have got to where we've got to if we didn't feel we needed to change direction to get a better outcome.
"There's plenty of people doing the right thing, almost all the time.
"But if you're going to be elite, you can't just be elite 95 per cent of the time, because all you're doing is missing that five per cent.
"And when you're involved in elite sport, five per cent is a big margin.
"We want to try to get that as close to 100 per cent as possible.
"We've got to make sure all the behaviours line up, all the technical things line up, so the personnel we've got can get us the best outcome."
Source: The Courier-Mail
