For years, I've argued that one of the biggest myths in rugby league coaching is that the coach has to be the smartest football person in the room.
Too many coaches believe every answer has to come from the whiteboard, that every adjustment has to come from the coach's box and that every tactical shift has to be made by the bloke wearing the coach's crown.
It's nonsense.
The best teams I've coached and the best coaches I've worked or with or know have all understood one simple truth.
That football IQ doesn't just sit inside the coach.
Players are often smarter than we give them credit for so at State level, they will be amongst the game-smartest in the world.
That's why I think NSW can still win State of Origin 3.
It won't be because they've suddenly found a new attacking shape or some revolutionary defensive system. I think they can win because I believe Laurie Daley appears to have done something incredibly difficult.
He's eased back.
From everything I have read and heard from people very much in the know, his approach over the last two weeks has been very different from every other time he's coached New South Wales.
Whether by choice or circumstance, Daley looks like a coach who has accepted he doesn't have to solve every problem himself. Reports this week suggest the Blues have rallied around him after the criticism following Game Two, with players determined to repay the faith they believe he's shown in them.
That also tells me something important - it suggests ownership inside the camp has shifted towards the players rather than remaining solely with the coaching staff. Yet more evidence of my theory.
And that, according to so many experts, is exactly where representative football should live.
Let's be honest.
If this is Laurie Daley's final game as NSW coach as many believe it could be - what has he really got to lose?
Sometimes the most dangerous coach is the one who stops coaching to protect his job.
The higher the level, the less coaching players actually need. The higher the level, the more decision-makers you already have on the field.
Nathan Cleary has played in more pressure football than almost anyone in the game. Given the right circumstances, we know he can lead a team to victory. He just hasn't been given the right circumstances enough to date.
Mitchell Moses controls NRL matches every weekend is like having another coach in the middle.
Cameron Murray instinctively knows when games are speeding up or slowing down.
If Daley has changed his approach to the job to connect the smartest voices, he could have pulled off a brilliant masterstroke.
Mal Meninga, Daley's former Canberra and Kangaroos team-mate, had immense success coaching Queensland. This was despite facing constant negative speculation about his ability as a coach.
The criticisms that still surround him today are that he doesn't know how to coach the intricacies of football and that he is a ‘man manager'.
Yet he's the most successful coach in Origin history!
They also said he had the greatest set of players to work with when Origin coach, in the likes of Billy Slater, Jonathan Thurston and Cameron Smith, the best of their generation if not others.
Yet James Tedesco is the best fullback and Nathan Cleary is the best halfback of this generation and they will be both wearing blue next Wednesday. Isaah Yeo is also the best lock of this generation, too.
Coaching representative football isn't club football. A coach only has a handful of training sessions.
Everyone talks about Queensland's spirit. But it doesn't magically appear because someone mentions Wally Lewis or Arthur Beetson.
Simplicity, clarity and trust amongst teammates and general team direction wins.
When players genuinely believe they're driving standards instead of simply following orders, something changes. That's exactly what Queensland have done better than NSW for most of Origin history and why they punch above their collective weight.
Yet I actually think NSW may have stumbled into exactly that position this week. Players have publicly defended their coach and they've spoken about wanting to win for him. Some people dismiss those comments as media clichés.
I don't.
I've coached long enough to know that shared adversity is often the greatest team-building exercise you'll ever experience. Nothing unites people quite like feeling the outside world has already written them off.
Queensland have built entire dynasties on that mentality.
Maybe NSW have finally found their own version. If NSW lift the Shield on Wednesday night, don't just analyse the bench rotation or the game plan. Look deeper.
You might just be watching one of the oldest lessons in coaching.
The smartest coach in the room isn't always the one talking the most.
Sometimes it's the one who knows when to step aside and let his players lead.
