Every sport has good players, some great players and a small handful of players that are already great and get even better on the big stage.

Some have a knack of playing out of their skin on big occasions, while some take their legendary careers to new heights on the days that matter most.

Think Dustin Martin, who won three AFL premierships with Richmond and won the Norm Smith Medal for best-on-ground in every singe one of them.

Travis Head was player of the series in a home Ashes, player of the match in a World Test Championship final and player of the match in a 50-over World Cup final in the space of 18 months just a couple of years ago.

I was lucky enough to play a lot of my netball career alongside defensive star Laura Geitz. We debuted together for the Diamonds in 2008.

In big games, I always had full confidence she would be the player that lifted when we needed her most. She was one of the world’s best goal-keepers and we always knew she would get the job done under immense pressure.

She led us to back-to-back Commonwealth Games and World Cup gold medals as national team captain.

What these type of players do better than others is control the heightened emotions that come with a big game.

Think about how nervous you get watching your favourite team on grand final day. The sweaty palms, dry mouth, racing heart.

You can feel the anxiety in the crowd while you’re out there, so think about what it’s like when your actions decide the result.

These players, like Dusty and Geitzy, were able to control the nerves, pressure, expectation and excitement at really crucial times.

This comes down to the repeatability of their skills, allowing themselves to back their own ability. Shooting a goal or taking a mark is one thing, but doing it with the eyes of the world and your teammates on you is different.

These players actively embrace the pressure, whether it’s perceived or real. They’re mentally tough and don’t allow themselves to dwell on their mistakes and the scoreboard doesn’t seem to influence how they go about it either.

It’s a coaching cliche: “pressure is a privilege”, but the best big game players really do take it on-board. They see it as a positive and when you play against the best opponents you are challenged to be at your best and it takes the game to another level.

The best way to train for the big moments is by training like it’s a grand final. Sessions need to be as hard as possible and there is real merit in telling a teammate that the shot they’re taking in an empty gymnasium is to win the club a premiership, or that the ball they’re bowling in the nets is to win a grand final.

And most of all, those players that lift to the big stage do genuinely enjoy it. Martin was one that relished the crowd, the spectacle and the drama of big matches.

Caleb Serong is another. The Fremantle star has played just nine western derbies — the biggest game of football in Western Australia — and has won the Glendinning-Allan Medal for best-on-ground three times already. It is so obvious watching him play that he lives for the heightened emotions of derby day in Perth.

His composure under pressure is like very few others in that league at the moment.

It’s all about narrowing your focus to make the right decisions at the right times, almost without the context of it all. It’s all about process.

Sometimes it takes losing on the big stage to learn how to dominate on the big stage.

When you think about the legacy of players at clubs and in competitions, their ability to stand up in big games in critical.