It was one of the most stirring individual and team performances in a final. Collingwood great Paul Licuria tells Ben Collins how he overcame mental demons to produce a 40-possession effort in a critical tagging role to inspire the Pies' upset win over Port Adelaide in the 2002 qualifying final in Adelaide.

By his own admission, Paul Licuria wasn't the most gifted footballer. The former Magpie agrees with the common view that he lacked pace and skill, and was predominantly a one-sided player who used his right foot merely for balance.

That Licuria forged a substantial AFL career, and an ongoing legacy at his beloved Collingwood, was testament to his mental strength.

It's a quality that largely defines his life.

Such fortitude helped him overcome reconstructions on both knees by the age of 17, and cope so well with ongoing knee issues thereafter that he became the Pies' most durable player in his nine seasons at the club.

It drove Licuria to rebound from a failed stint with the Sydney Swans that netted just 10 games in three years.

It pushed him become one of the AFL's hardest trainers, fittest players and best stoppers.

It enabled Licuria to belie his limitations to win back-to-back club best and fairests, and upstage superstar skipper Nathan Buckley.

It also lifted him to a career-best performance and pilot the Pies to one of the greatest finals boil-overs of the modern era.

So Licuria sounds like he's being typically humble when he tells the AFL Record he wasn't as naturally strong-minded as people think.

That's until he reveals publicly for the first time that for the past 12 years – encompassing the last seven seasons of his AFL career – he has received professional psychological help.

And this help proved critical to Licuria overcoming his mental demons before the 2002 qualifying final against Port Adelaide.

The counselling started before the 2001 season. An Aaron Hamill knee had smashed Licuria's cheekbone in a pre-season game, leaving him just four weeks to be ready for round one.

Around that time, the then 23-year-old met psychologist Dean Murphy and became fascinated with his work.

Murphy, who didn’t have any connection to the Pies, suggested he might be able to help Licuria's recovery.

Licuria did a session with Murphy, and liked the effect it had on his state of mind. So he returned for more.

Though he can't be sure of it, Licuria believes the positive energy accelerated his recovery. In any case, he made it back onto the field in time, on his way to his first best and fairest.

The routine became set in stone. An hour-long appointment every Thursday.

Licuria would often enter the session with negative thoughts about his upcoming game but, after some positive visualisation exercises, would leave with a more confident outlook.

"It's like hypnosis – you get in a bit of a trance," he says. "I'd walk out feeling great.

"It doesn’t work for everybody. I shared it with a lot of teammates, and some took it up but it wasn't for them. But it became a major part of my footy career.

"This is the first time I've spoken about it. I would never have admitted it back then because people would think, 'If you’re seeing a psych, you must have issues.' People seem more open to it now.

"I just saw it as part of my personal high-performance program. "

Read the full version of this story in the AFL Record.