“It would be great for this tour to be talked about in terms of being a celebration of rugby. And I know that ‘Faz’ (Farrell) is of the same mind, and so hopefully it can be a really positive celebration of rugby. “Because for us, it’s a massive window. We don’t get another window like that. Even the World Cup is fractured in that there’s a lot of focus on other teams as well. When you become the sole focus, I think we’ve got to try to make it as positive as we can.” The Lions tour was less than a day old this week, however, when the coaches’ ambition for off-field positivity took a shot to the ribs, via Lions chief executive Ben Calveley issuing an unnecessarily punchy reminder to Schmidt and RA that the tour agreement requires them to release Wallabies to state sides. As a genuine point of tension, it was more molehill than mountain. But Schmidt’s robust retort to Calveley’s comments - when raised minutes later in this same interview - indicated a positivity push doesn’t mean being a pushover. Among Australian media, Schmidt is jokingly referred to as “Genial Joe”, and the nickname shocked some who knew the Kiwi coach in Ireland, when he was notoriously - even punishingly - intense and calculated. They don’t quite know what to make the new smiling version. Former Brumbies coach David Nucifora, who worked closely with Schmidt as the IRFU’s head of high performance, is now on the Lions staff as general manager. He said in a recent interview he would be poring over every word Schmidt utters over the next month. “There’s an enormous amount of respect for Joe,” Nucifora says. “We all understand he’s a very sharp mind, a deep thinker about the game. Sometimes, if you think too deeply, you’ll confuse yourself. So hopefully he gets confused overthinking things. “I enjoy listening to interviews to try to get a feel for what’s he saying, what’s he thinking. Is he giving anything away here? So I would keep a close eye on that sort of stuff as well. You try to read into it. “I’m sure that lots of mind games will go on around ... it’s a bit of a mental spar.” Nucifora’s comments came after Schmidt had stirred up headlines in the UK by describing the Lions’ centre partnership for their clash against Argentina - Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu - as “southern hemisphere centre partnership”. Intended or not, the phrase struck a raw nerve, after criticism in the UK about Farrell picking eight Lions who were raised in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Schmidt insists it was not deliberate. “Bundee is one of the players I’ve so enjoyed coaching, and I’d have so much respect for that fella, that wasn’t supposed to be a swipe or a jibe at all,” he said. “In fact, it was sloppy from me because someone had just been talking to me and described it as that, and then I used their words, and I should have just stuck to my own words and said, ‘hey, there’s a lot of respect in Australia for Sione’.” But seriously now, Joe - are you a clandestine pot-stirrer? Are you one of those coaches who artfully strategises their public comments? “No,” Schmidt says. “It’s easy to get distracted by things that aren’t going to contribute to a better performance. I am putting my energy into a player’s individual progress, or getting the team to better understand an aspect of our play or that sort of thing, because in the end, that’s all I can affect. I’m a big believer in the values of the game, so is Faz. “I’ve never seen Faz stirring the pot. His energy goes into the team, not into stirring the pot. “I know what you’re talking about. There are coaches who certainly do it, and they even talk to their team through the media sometimes. But if I’ve got something to say to a player, I’d rather say it to them, than fire a barrel through the media. I know that a lift-out quote or a phrase can be a headline and inevitably, even after 20-plus years of doing this job, I’ll get it wrong. “If I’ve got something to say to a player, I’d rather say it to them, than fire a barrel through the media.”Joe Schmidt “I’m conscious of it and I’m conscious that other coaches do it, but I don’t anticipate it happening in this Lions tour. ‘Faz’ and I have had a few conversations about how we’d like the narrative of the tour to be a celebration of rugby. I think for Australian rugby, we need that.” And with that Schmidt is whisked away. There are more photos to take and meetings to meet, and only so many minutes left in the day. There’s a Lions series to be won. But despite the plans for good vibe city, the reality is only one team - and one group of fans - will be celebrating on August 2. Years of work have already gone into being in the dressing room where you get to pop champagne corks. It’s a Lions tour, after all. What sort of wild drama may unfold over the next five weeks, well, that’s hard to plan for.