Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena says their title success was made to look easy despite major challenges behind the scenes in his first season as sole head coach.
Sundowns romped to the title with seven games to spare as they went on to reach the 70-point mark, one away from the previous league record.
It marks their sixth consecutive league title, but Mokwena’s first as sole head coach as he oversaw 20 games since the appointment in October, and remained unbeaten throughout.
But that was pressure in itself to navigate replacing Manqoba Mngqithi, who was redeployed as a senior coach, while Steve Komphela became the first-team coach.
Added to the reshuffle, the reported ill-discipline of Andile Jali and Sipho Mbule caused some instability, to which the reigning PSL Midfielder of the Season has not featured for the club since.
“About Andile Jali, I don’t know to be honest, I don’t know what the latest is – the club will respond to that,” Mokwena said when asked what the latest update about the saga is.
“Sipho Mbule… I’m more than pleased, I’m more than pleased… I’ve taken it a little bit as my side project, I invest a lot of time but I guess I invest a lot of time in many players. I do a lot of work behind the scenes, in good performances.”
With Mbule returning with aplomb, and even being named in the CAF Champions League Team of the Week for his display in the 0-0 draw with Wydad in Casablanca last week, Mokwena went on to detail the journey of the 2022/23 season towards the title.
“It’s been a very difficult season, maybe more difficult than what is exposed to the general public and the eyes of the people that at the moment, make the judgment,” Mokwena said.
“I think I’ve been extremely blessed to have the type of team that I have because… without the players, I have no motivation.
“When I look into the eyes of the players, when I see their body language, when I see how they come to training, when I see their preparedness to listen and to learn, that is what stimulates me and allows me to also get the energy to give more of myself, and try to be a better coach every single day.”
Mokwena reiterated that the human factor cannot be understated or overlooked and emphasised that he feels the position of privilege to have been handed the chance to lead a well-oiled machine in the form of Masandawana at this stage of his career.
“The amount of support I receive from the club and everyone associated from senior management, the board, the Chairman, the President of this Football Club, and the technical team is enough for me to continue with my day-to-day operations,” he continued.
“And when the levels are high, the room for error is very very minimum, I know that, I understand that completely but I still try and out into that space, knowing that I deal with human beings every single day and because it’s human ability I know there’s room for error.
“I have to accept and understand that when people make mistakes, it’s making mistakes genuinely, and sometimes and hopefully most of the time it puts space for them to improve and learn from the mistakes and become better.
“I’m overcritical of myself, maybe too much of my thinking is trying to be overly perfect in terms of how I do things, a lot of the times I remind myself I’m only just human, so that’s what I would say – the only way I’ve navigated it, is because I have incredible support.
“I have a fantastic team, players who are prepared to learn, players that are prepared to improve and players that are prepared to respond to the pressure and stress they have every single day.”
Mokwena will be aiming to secure Sundowns place in the final for the first time since winning the title in 2016, when they host the champions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
