Most World Champions have an unmatched level of confidence that most opponents struggle to overcome. Yet, despite Team Vitality’s resounding success at the RLCS Season 7 finals, the French team’s coach, Mike ‘Gregan’ Ellis, reveals he’s “never felt confident” going into any tournament.

The coach, who helped Victor ‘Fairy Peak’ Locquet, Kyle ‘Scrub Killa’ Robertson, and Alexandre ‘Kaydop’ Courant to victory in June, spoke about the team and their ambition going into the current tumultuous eighth season on the OMEN Esports Report last night.

“I’ll tell you now I’ve never felt confident because I see the highs and lows of the team,” Gregan says after being asked about RLCS Season 8. “You obviously have to try and go in with the intention of doing your best. But for example on day two of Worlds, which we won, I was moping in my hotel room thinking we haven’t done enough, and we need to do more, because you always can see what you can do better. But obviously we did have enough on that occasion.

“I believe in the team – as long as they play their best, we are probably the best team on paper in any game but every team is now raising their level, so we just have to keep being more and more consistent, and that’s tough.”

Aside from recalling the joy he felt of being crowned World Champions, Gregan also talks about the “crazy” and “chaotic” new season that’s just begun, which he attributes to the large pool of players that have worked their way through the ranks.

“Rocket League is a very new concept in terms of esports,” he says. “You can’t transition a FPS shooter into Rocket League because the skills are so different. Now we’re seeing a huge amount of players who have got that skill set, so there’s loads of shuffling going on, players who are staying around a bit too long.”

With the fifth week of the new season rapidly approaching, only time will tell if Team Vitality will be the first Rocket League team to win back-to-back RLCS titles.