America's Cup 2017: Opinion - Peter Burling's adept at operating alongside the Jimmy Spithill sideshow

OPINION: Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill knows how to grab the headlines and he loves nothing more than raising a Kiwi's hackles - but don't let that detract from Peter Burling's performance under the curly questions.

It seems the 26 year old is just as comfortable with playing some mind games of his own - and that's something the Oracle camp might not have expected.

Reason being - usually it's the job of the team skipper to participate in press conferences 'pressers'.

If that rule had held through to this America's Cup that job would have gone to Glenn Ashby in the New Zealand team.

Now if you think you've seen good banter at a press conference - you haven't seen nothing until you've seen Ashby and Spithill up against each other.

I was at one in Portsmouth, England for the America's Cup World Series when Ashby jokingly presented Spithill with a king post - a boat part that Oracle was found to have illegally modified in the 2012-13 series.

It's very rare to see Spithill outdone in the banter stakes and for him, this was dangerously close to that line.

One way to avoid sitting next to Ashby at the press conferences was to change the rule so that the helmsman would have to do the press conference instead of the skipper - meaning Peter Burling would go up against Spithill (who is both skipper and helmsman).

Of course, it's not clear why Oracle changed the rule and whether the Ashby incident had anything to do with it - but whatever the thinking - Peter Burling has stepped up to the plate.

When asked today whether it mattered that Oracle go into the Cup racing with a bonus point - Burling fired his own shot at psychological warfare referring to the two points Oracle was docked in the last America's Cup as punishment for their previous illegal modifications.

"It didn't seem to matter who went into last cup a couple of points down, don't think it will matter this time around. It's all about who wins the last race and not the first one," said Burling.

And when most questions were being sent Spithill's way - Burling replied when it finally came his turn "Oh, it's good to get a question in."

There will be lots more questions as the racing finally gets underway this weekend - and how they handle themselves off the water might be just as important to the psyche of the team as what they do on the water.

Melissa Davies is Newshub's America's Cup correspondent in Bermuda