Kicked in the head
Martin Blake
The Age
April 24, 2005
AFL footballers are faster, taller and stronger than ever before. Their skills are more polished. Yet there’s still every chance they will kick it out of bounds from 30 metres out, directly in front. Why? Martin Blake investigatesGoalkicking, the most fundamental skill of the game, is a facet of Australian football that does not seem to improve, notwithstanding the professionalism of the players and the better conditions presented to them. Recent statistics support the theory.
Five years ago, AFL teams were converting 57.1 per cent of shots on
goal. In 2005 thus far, the rate is 55.4.In 2003, it was 53.3 per cent.
Anecdotally, there is evidence to suggest that players are better at their snap shots, their Daicosian dribblers from tight angles and their banana kicks from a pocket, than they used to be. But they still miss set shots from inside 50 metres more often than just about any observer would want.
It drives people like Mark Maclure mad as well. Maclure, the former Carlton premiership centre halfforward who works as an ABC commentator nowadays, finds it inexplicable that it is still a problem in the modern era.
“My thoughts are that it’s mental,” he said this week. “Plus it’s about our recruiting. We’ve brought these athletes into the game — not all of them, but a higher percentage — and their techniques are flawed.
“They’re not pure footballers, and they don’t do it naturally. When you manufacture a kicking style, it’s always going to be flawed and that will come out under pressure.”
Hudson, who bagged 727 goals for Hawthorn, including a record-equalling 150 in 1971, finds it hard to stomach. “I’m not one of these people who lives in the past,” he said.
“I think footy’s better now than it was when I played. The players are more skilful. But my big frustration is the lack of remorse we see when a player misses. They don’t seem to grasp the importance of kicking the goal.
“In footy, the one you miss is the one you never catch up on. From 25 or 30 metres, a professional footballer shouldn’t miss that. If he does, he should be going into the room of mirrors and asking himself why he missed it.”
Goalkicking will always be an imperfect science, a little like putting in golf, but it’s a matter of how much margin for error you allow. Even the greatest of them all, Tony Lockett, was only a 70 per cent conversion man.
Of the present-day forwards, Matthew Lloyd’s 69 per cent is the best, and the likes of Daniel Bradshaw, Brendan Fevola and Fraser Gehrig are outstanding as well.
Then there are the flawed ones, such as Richmond’s Matthew Richardson, who is never a certainty. When Richardson missed a set shot from 15 metres out, directly in front against Sydney at the MCG last year, there was widespread mirth in the crowd and even the good-natured“Richo” could not resist a smirk.
But Richardson at least averages 60 per cent conversion, which is better than Chris Grant (59) and Tarrant (58), examples of superb overall kicks who can tend to freeze up in front of the sticks.
“The reason people have gone on about it is that when I’ve missed, it’s tended to be a good one,” said Richardson, who has shortened his run by half this year as part of the tinkering process. “It perpetuates a bit of a myth, I reckon. But I’m well past cracking the poohs about it. If I miss, I just want to get the next one.”
Everyone practises goalkicking at training as a matter of course. Lloyd said last week he had at least 100 shots on goal in a normal week, and Richardson, who needs four goals this weekend to reach a career tally of 600, averages between 50 and 100 shots.
But there’s a problem in this. “It’s impossible to duplicate a game-day situation at training,” Richardson said. “There’s no pressure, no noise, no one mouthing off at you. That’s the problem.
“All you can do is practise your routine. And sometimes it depends how much other training you’ve done.”
Richardson extracted his routine from one of his Richmond predecessors, Michael Roach, who in turn got it from Royce Hart. It’s not groundbreaking stuff: pick a mark behind the goals and aim for it,
trying to run straight.
The Tiger cut his run-up to 13 paces this year, he said, “because I was giving myself too much time to think about it”.
Which explains much of the problem in this science. It’s all very well to practise, says Maclure, but you need to do it on the day. “The brain kicks in,” he said. “And that’s a problem for most of us.”
MOST ACCURATE GOALKICKERS OF THE MODERN ERATony Lockett (StK/Syd) 70%
Matthew Lloyd (Ess) 69
Peter Hudson (Haw) 69
Michael Roach (Rich) 66
Jason Dunstall (Haw) 66
Peter McKenna (Coll/Carl) 66
Tony Modra (Adel/Frem) 66
* Only includes players who kicked at least 400 goals.
## Statistics not available for some players.
SOME CURRENT DAY OTHERSFraser Gehrig (WC/StK) 67%
Saverio Rocca (Coll/Kang) 65
David Neitz (Melb) 62
Barry Hall (StK/Syd) 62
Matthew Richardson (Rich) 60
Warren Tredrea (Port) 59
Chris Grant (WB) 59
Chris Tarrant (Coll) 58
– information supplied by Prowess statistics
RATING THE GOALKICKERS
WHAT THE ALL-TIME GREATS SAY ABOUT SOME OF TODAY’S SPEARHEADSMATTHEW RICHARDSON (RICH)
“It’s a confidence thing with him. He hasn’t got a perfect technique because he’s got a bit of a high drop, so it comes down to how confident he is.’’
- JASON DUNSTALL
FRASER GEHRIG (ST K)
“It’s funny, he’s got this stuttery run sometimes. But he gets the job done most of the time.’’
– JASON DUNSTALL
* Peter Hudson kicked 727 goals for Hawthorn and owns the highest goal average (5.64) in league history.
Jason Dunstall kicked 1254 goals for Hawthorn, the third highest career tally in football history.
Full Article:
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/04/24/1114152375504.html
