Complacency has no place in professional sport and Australian Graham Reid had clearly passed on this message to his wards the very day he took over the high-profile job of Indian men's hockey team's head coach.
As world no.5 India gears up to take on lowly Russia, ranked 22nd, in a two-match final Olympic qualifier here on Friday and Saturday, Reid's message to his wards is straight forward: "Treat every team with respect".
Against Russia, India will start as clear favourites to win both the matches and seal their place in next year's Tokyo Olympics but Reid is very well aware that one bad day in office can ruin his team's Olympic dream.
"If you look at last week's games in Olympic qualifiers, it's the first thing you would see (how complacency can cost a team)," Reid said on the eve of the first game.
"My message has been pretty much the same ever since I joined the team. Always treat everyone with respect, like you are playing the best in the world. We have prepared as well as we could have and are ready."
"Our preparation is good because this is an extremely important tournament. We are doing our best, working on fitness. We have learnt a lot from the Belgium tour."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content