LAST Sunday I missed one of the best betting opportunities of the year.

At lunchtime I had a trip to York Racecourse to see the launch of the Inner circle Thoroughbreds syndicate and my desire to stay for the sticky toffee pudding meant I’d arrived home late so I turned on Sky to watch Super League to see St Helens 24-0 up on Leeds.

I hadn’t intended to back Saints however if I’d have seen the pink hair of the Rhino’s players before the game I’d have had my biggest bet of the year on the manager less Saints to take the points.

Now I’m all for charity and raising money for good causes in fact sport relief raised an incredible £50million plus, which is hugely commendable, but the pink hair was just a step to far.

It wasn’t necessarily unprofessional as Sky’s Rugby League pundit Stevo was saying but for the Leeds players and management to say it had no bearing on the result is total rubbish.

Top level sport is played between the ears.

Professional sportsmen and women who are at the top of their game have the physical and technical attributes needed to be the best.

However the best of the best have a mental capacity to raise their game and make the instant choices required to turn a game in their favour.

In a sport like Rugby League where the aggression levels required are huge the need to “get up” for the game is massive.

You simply can’t compete physically if mentally your preparation is wrong.

And dying your hair pink and looking like an overweight flamingo simply isn’t getting you in the right mental state.

Leeds captain Jamie Peacock tweeted saying anyone who says it had a bearing on the game is clueless. Sorry Jamie you are so wrong.

The hair probably took away from an excellent Saints performance but when you’re the best in the world as Leeds are and you turn up with what can only be described as a lack of respect for the opposition and the arrogance to think how they looked and presented themselves would have no bearing on the outcome then it’s a time for some serious self reflection.

If they’d won by 40 pts I wouldn’t be writing this article but they didn’t.

Imagine the New Zealand All Blacks doing the Haka with Pink hair. How intimidating would that be!

I don’t wish to be to critical of the Rhino’s players as fundamentally they did it for the right reasons and raised a lot of money in the process but please don’t insult our intelligence by saying it made no difference to the result on Sunday.

At the top level of sport a 1% difference can change an outcome. The top coaches get the detail right and that’s what makes them the best.

One things for sure it’ll be a long long time before we ever see the Rhino’s take a collective trip to the salon before a big game.