Take the personal out of it, for a second.
Were Wests Tigers fans. We have hurt enough.
That said, "anxiety is real". Yes people are paid stupid money, but that doesn't help.
I may feel Anxious disarming a bomb. You paying me $10 Million dollars more to disarm the bomb, is not going to make me less Anxious.
You telling me the bomb is fake, will make me feel less Anxious.
We are seeing in Cronulla the same thing. Nicho Hynes is Anxious and it's effecting his onfield performance. Craig F is doing the right thing, not making changes during the finals run and keeping Nicho focused on football.
To understand Motivation: Watch this youtube from Prof: Daniel Pink. Increasing money, for complex tasks actually reduces performance. If you are shoveling dirt a pay bonus may make you work a little harder. A halfback or any complex mental task, using pay as a motivator will make it worse.