Vintage Val’s highlights reel helps find winning mindset

Dragons star Valentine Holmes has revealed how watching some of his old highlights reels helped him find the joy in competing again.

Holmes, who was overlooked for Queensland selection in Origin I after 17 consecutive appearances for the Maroons, turned the clock back in St George Illawarra's breakthrough 30-26 win over the Broncos.

In a match-turning performance, Holmes scored two tries - one an individual effort where he continued to compete until the ref's whistle - and kicked five goals as well as running for 158 metres in the Red V's first win in 295 days.

Admitting to being down on form and confidence for much of this season, Holmes said seeing what worked for him in the past had inspired him to play freely.

“I kind of changed things up at the start of the week and just really honed back to what worked for me in 2022 when I first came to centre and I was just doing all the little things right," Holmes said. 

“Then, I was just backing myself whenever I got the ball and I was always trying to be hard to tackle.

“I kind of just rewatched a few of my older highlights, to be honest, back when I was at the Cowboys in 2022 … they just came up on YouTube.

“I just looked at it - and it's probably not something I'm proud of saying - but I just was happy, I was playing with a smile on my face and really just running freely out there.

“I was enjoying my footy, I was talking well with my inside men, my halves, and telling them how I wanted the ball and if I wanted to be dropped under and if I can skip back across.

“I was just really in the game, where I think I was probably in the game at the start of the year for the first couple of games, but then I probably just mellowed out and probably wasn't myself.

“So, it was good to get back to what I know I can do and all the boys obviously are really happy for me and calling me 'old vintage Val's back', so hopefully I can keep it up and I don't want to do a one-off game like that."

After the tough start to the season, Holmes said he understood why Maroons coach Billy Slater decided to go in a different direction for last week's opening Origin and found himself in the unfamiliar territory of watching as a fan.

“Cookie [Damien Cook] asked me, ‘what are you going to do, where are you going to watch the game’, and I was like, 'I actually don't know', because the last time I watched it was 2016," Holmes said.

“I ended up getting a projector, and I just put it on the wall in the kids' room, so it was like a massive screen.

“It was me and my wife and my young fella, he loves it and gets amongst it all wearing maroon and cheering, so it was actually quite fun.

“Obviously, the first half was fun, you kind of want those games where it's a nail biter, you don't want it to be a boring 50. I mean, I'm a Queenslander, I would like that - but it was a fun game to watch.”

However, Holmes - who plans to play for Cook Islands at the upcoming World Cup after playing 21 Tests for Australia - hasn't given up hope of earning an Origin recall from Slater.

“When Bill first came into Origin, he's always said this jersey's earned, you have got to earn it to wear the Maroon jersey," Holmes said. 

"No matter what you've done in the past and what I've done for Queensland in the past, it's about that past year, and we all know I haven't been playing up to that standard and it's fair play.

“I don't expect him to just pick me because of what I've done in the past few years, so it's unfair for people playing well.

“Jojo’s been playing well and Selwyn Cobbo’s been playing well, so it gives opportunities for guys like that, and it makes me want play better to try and get back in there.

“I thought they played pretty well in Game One. The result didn't go the way they would have liked, considering KP [Kalyn Ponga] got sent off, but they still had chances to win it, and I think they would gain a lot of confidence from that."

Despite the difficult start to the season, Holmes said the Dragons players and coaching staff believed they had been building towards a win after tough battles against the top two teams, Penrith and the Warriors. 

“I thought we played kind of well against Penrith in the first half, and then who knows what happens after that if Cookie scores that try," he said.

“There were periods against Warriors where I felt like we could have done something there and then to obviously win against the Broncos when they got Payne [Haas] coming back and a couple of boys come back from Origin as well.

"There's a lot of great things going on outside of (the win) as well, obviously with the signings in the next year …

"Obviously the players that you're here with now, you don’t want to let them down. Cookie’s going away, we want to see him off on a high and he wants to play well.

“There's a lot to play for this year and obviously the Red V, it's a massive club and there's obviously a lot of fans … there's a lot of fans everywhere in Australia that really support, which I notice every day.

“A lot of people come up and say ‘I'm a massive Dragons fan, just thinking that you're doing great’, and it's things like that as well that really help my confidence."