Back for his seventh season at Melbourne Victory, Lawrence Thomas has learned a big lesson from last year’s campaign.
“The biggest thing I took away from last year, and the Grand Final in particular, is how small the margins are from coming back to Melbourne and celebrating a Grand Final win,” Thomas told SEN’s World of Football.
“(Instead) what happens is coming back and reflecting on a pretty good year but coming away with nothing.”
Those small margins have made Thomas’ goals for the 2017/2018 season crystal clear.
“For myself it’s not to take any session or any recovery or gym session for granted, and put 100 percent in.
“From the experience I had in the Grand Final last year, the margins are so minute when it comes to who eventually becomes champions.”
The work Thomas puts in also includes regular yoga sessions, which is where his interview with World of Football took place.
“I’m actually in the yoga changeroom at the moment on the phone,” Thomas revealed.
“It has come into our weekly schedule, after games during the season we tend to do a bit of yoga.
“For myself physically it has the benefits of relaxing and flexibility. One of the biggest things is the mental side, I tend to be a lot clearer and a lot more direct in the mind when I do this type of stuff.”
And that’s an approach the Victory shot-stopper hopes to take on to the pitch
“In the past, my problem was I’ve come across as too relaxed and I’ve made some mistakes,” Thomas admitted.
“I’m trying to find that balance, but for me it’s slightly on the relaxed and confident side, I’m not too tense or fiery as a goalkeeper.”
Victory’s pre-season games commence on Tuesday with a friendly against Port Melbourne.
