Western Force coach Simon Cron put his own spin on the ABC mantra of "Assume nothing. Believe nobody. Challenge everything," as he prepared the team for Saturday's once-in-a-lifetime clash against the British and Irish Lions at Optus Stadium.
Cron adopted his own maxim: "Assume some things. Believe nothing. Confirm on field."
He said players were laser-focused after telling them to walk towards the challenge against some of the best in the world, adding he would "load the gun and let them go at it."
"It's challenging. It is a different beast," Cron told reporters on Thursday. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime for a lot of these guys.
"We sat as a group and had a bit of a yarn about how old were you 12 years ago, how old will you be 12 years from now.
"That's the importance of this game and the special type of game that it is. They are under no illusion around that."
Cron said combatting the Lions would come down to basics and mindset.
"A lot of it comes down to fundamentals," he said.
"You've got to be able to carry clean, you've got to be able to do all the things that are going to help us play the game we want to play.
"It doesn't get too complicated. Then there's a mindset. We've got a couple of guys that are pretty strong mentally.
"My expectation is they will lead the boys into it and the other boys will follow.
"That's what leadership is. Biggest players stepping forward on the biggest movement."
Not many Force players have played in front of a crowd expected to be more than 45,000 and Cron said: "That sound, that noise and that crowd, there's only a few of them that would have experienced anything like it before.
"If they can get out on the middle of that field and say 'I love this, let's go at it' we'll be happy.
"It's exciting, they should be excited by it, and if they are excited and they love what they do and they love being on that field they will play the type of game we want to play.
"The biggest thing for us is to put a performance on that field that the State can be proud of."
Force playmaker Ben Donaldson has joined the squad from Wallabies camp after Kurtley Beale injured a hamstring under high ball practice on Tuesday.
Beale is expected to be ready to play in two weeks with Cron saying it would have been "detrimental" if they had pushed him into Saturday's match.
"He was keen but there are other opportunities moving forward for him so it would be selfish for us to push him," he said.
"He was bitterly disappointed. He loves the big games, he's a big game player but he's also smart, educated."
Donaldson will train in Friday's captain's run at Optus Stadium, having flown back from Sydney on Thursday.
"It's just him coming back home. It's not him coming from anywhere else," Cron said.
"He's a smart enough rugby player to handle it."
Donaldson will start at full-back, with the inexperienced Alex Harford at fly-half, but Cron was confident he would handle the pressure.
"He's a calm, collected no.10 who kicks well," he said.
Cron said cohesion and timing was crucial for the backline and he wanted to give Donaldson time to play his way into the game.
"The way we play, 10 and 15 are relatively similar, and we expect Dono to be able to go forward into that spot, potentially later in the game," he said.
"That's why we'll put Dono at 15, give him a little more time, and he'll work his way back in.
"We've also got Max Burey (on the bench) who's outstanding, adds a lot of spark into our game and brings energy onto the field."
Game details
Western Force vs British & Irish Lions
Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Series tour game
Saturday 28 June, 5:45pm WST
Optus Stadium, Perth
Tickets via Ticketmaster
Live on Stan Sport
