Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has revealed their added motivation behind wrapping up the DStv Premiership title early, before the final stretch had kicked in.
Sundowns won their sixth consecutive league title this past season with seven games to spare and could therefore prioritise other competitions, such as the CAF Champions League.
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The Brazilians made it to the semi-finals of the Africa's premier club tournament for the first time since 2019 but Mokwena says that's not the main motivation behind winning the league early.
The young tactician says it's a mentality that has been built over the years at the club and that he can't take credit for it.
"Look, we want to win every game, especially in the beginning of the season, you want to try to win matches and get points in the bag because you don't want to leave it for too late," Mokwena said on The Pitchside Podcast.
"And I cannot take credit for that because that's the mentality I found here, it's a mentality instilled by your generation (Teko Modise, Hlompho Kekana and Tiyani Mabunda involved in the podcast).
"So, it's something that has brought a lot of success. Actually, the success of this club is built around it. You cannot speak about what we're trying to do, the level that the players are performing at, if you don't speak about the previous generations at Sundowns," he said.
The Soweto native mentor continued and revealed that the players have pressure to leave the jersey in a better place than they found it and that the new "star system" recognition announced by the PSL to award stars to clubs that win the league title for at least three times and above, will add to the motivation.
"So, the players know and they try their level best to leave the jersey better than you found it. When their cycle comes to an end, they need to make sure that the jersey is in a better condition than they found it," he went on.
"And that's tough, because they found a jersey that has a star. They found a jersey that now has the possibility, with the new PSL recognition to receive additional stars because of the success.
"So, it's difficult for us to say we don't get, as a plan or as an objective not to win the league early," he added.
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