I.T.K.S. (It’s the kicking, stupid!)

[John Wren]

[Clifton Hill-Billy]

[Tannin]

Why does your vague but energetic rant get two pages of replies where my thoughtful and considered post got completely ignored?

Sigh.

[Tannin]

There is a lot of talk about our kicking today. Yep, we butchered it today. (The scoreline looked decent, but take out Darcy Moore's 5.0 and it palls a bit.) To those not-so-bright Nicksters complaining endlessly about our kicking in the post-match threads:

(1) It's not good, but not as bad as you think.

(2) Bucks has long since made it a priority and is working on it (why do you think we chased Young, just to mention one example) but we were very bad to start with so it isn't something you can fix overnight.

(3) Kicking always looks good when a side is getting clean uncontested possession and there is no pressure on the ball carrier. (When their forwards and mids don't man up, or when our mids and half-backs work them over with hard running, our kicking looks great.)

(4) Kicking always looks good when a side is getting loose men free in front of the ball carrier. (When the forwards are making space and getting free of their opponents, our wings and half-backs look like fantastic kicks.)

Note especially (3) and (4): kicking is as much a result of team performance as it is a cause of it. Field kicking is more about pressure and close checking than it is about actual kicking. This is why we go from excellent to terrible in the space of five minutes (when the opposition pulls its finger out and puts us under the hammer). This is why, on our day, we can field kick better than Hawthorn (if we put the mongrels under enough pressure - as we have done several times this last year or two, though not yet for long enough to grasp the cherries).

(5) Inability to kick set shots from inside 40 metres at 45 degree or better angles is the exception to all of the above. This has been a massive weakness of our team for more years than I care to remember. You can only do so much with coaching - though it would be nice if we at least tried a bit harder to train for it. The real answer, I think, lies with the recruiting and list management people. There needs to be a simple, no-exceptions rule. If a player can't kick straight and keeps on missing getable set shots, he either:

• (i) goes into the back line
  
• (ii) goes back to the reserves (if he is young and you think more time in the twos might help), or
  
• (iii) he's up for trade and we get someone else.
  

No exceptions. Learn to kick set shots, play in the back line (if you are good enough to tip the Langdons and the Browns out of the 22), or play for another club. This caper of hanging on grimly to failed experiments in the vague hope that they might come good by tree-fairy magic one day has got to stop.

But the key point here is that good kicking is a result of good football: a fraction of a second longer to steady 'coz you have got away from your opponent or 'coz your mate laid a good block; that crucial extra yard of separation on the lead which makes you stand out to the ball carrier so that he doesn't have to buggerise around wondering what to do with the pill, he can get-ball, kick-ball on instinct instead of clogging up his reflexes with uncertainty and doubt. A few of the very best players have an amazing ability to spot the perfect place to put the pill through heavy traffic by some sort of inner magic (Pendles, Leon Davis, Didak) but most players - 20 out of a typical 22 - kick best when they aren't caught in two minds about disposal.

(Written prior to the OP in this thread and cross-posted here, so don't get your knickers twisted up over my "not-too-bright" remark.)

[bally12]

I don't subscribe to the theory that we rush our kicks under pressure. My opinion is that it's all in the execution of the skill and the biomechanics involved, in particular the ball drop and how the ball is guided onto the foot while a player is running.

There's a couple of things to consider here. Like a golfer who takes up the game from young and develops an innate ability to swing the club effectively, that stays with him forever, he may not even know how or why he is a good at the skill. I put Bucks in this category, because he was arguably the best kick of the footy ever, however seems incapable of dissecting his own action and teaching the players how to kick. I say this because I have watched Clokey kick enough times.
Therefore, a great kick does not necessarily mean he can be a good teacher.

Leading on from this is the question: can you teach someone to be a great kick or is it a skill learnt in the formative years? There is absolutely no doubt that to compete at the highest level in most sports, learning the skills as a kid is nearly a pre-requisite. Why this is, I'll leave up to the brain researchers.

So yes, recruiting players that can kick is the best option, but how do we improve the kicking of the current list? Clearly, you need someone that firstly understands all the biomechanic aspects of kicking, in the same vein of a golf teacher.
On a technical point, I don't think it's a coincidence that the best kicks wheel around on an arc, on the side of their kicking leg. Left footers do this in a more pronounced manner, however Bucks actually did this too as a right-footer. The result is a more powerful, penetrating kick that uses hip rotation, and a ball drop that is closer to the player's centre of gravity, rather than out in front of him. You can clearly see the difference in kicking actions when Clokey wheels around onto his left from outside 50, compared to when he kicks set shots from closer in where his ball drop is high and out in front of him. The additional benefit of kicking on a slight arc is that the ball is dropped at a slight angle, enabling contact with the more fleshy part of the ball, rather than the point. Kicking it right on the point gives you smaller margin for error...the ball can skew sideways (see Clokey again).

Just to finish, probably not a lot of people would remember this guy, but one of my favourite Collingwood kicks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztEJfL6DUak

[Dangles]

[E]

[thompsoc]

Oh E, that only happens when it hits you on the head.
There seems to be a problem with sewer rats on Nicks.

[35forever]

[35forever]

PnC: Damn good idea, and one I agree with entirely! I've suggested Ryan Lonie myself as I think he was the best kick I ever saw in Black & White, well, him and that Macedonian bloke with long hair and short legs, what WAS his name? Could kick a footy though!
The only guy I'd want kicking for my life in the current side is Elliot. Especially at a set shot, if it's a field shot: Pendles, but even he is missing targets lately! That’s not good!
We MUST have kicking coaches brought in. What possible reason could there be to not do it? I think we can afford the dosh! Is the place kick still legal? Rugby guys don't miss! Better still make them use the drop kick and stab kick at training! Nothing else for a couple of hours. Sure it’s a lost skill, but it's more accurate than the drop punt, and its incredibly good practice for kicking dp's and torps. The stab pass is a devastating weapon if you can kick. Wayne Richardson was the master, he could leave bruises on Macca's chest, dead centre!

You think I'm joking, don't you?

I'm not! I do it all the time! especially if I'm playing with the kids inside, its far easier to control. If our blokes could kick the stab, and practiced it endlessly, I'm talking hours per week, they would be able to perform "stab punts" on game day (I just mean a stab pass that doesn’t hit the ground - and that travels 20-30 metres without going over 8 feet off the ground).
All forms of drop kick were dumped from the game in the late '70s because it looked old fashioned after McKenna made the Drop Punt so popular and some players - those with poor skills - found it difficult, and the result of stuffing up a drop kick is a dribble along the ground, very embarrassing!!!

But it really isn't hard, and IS the best way to practice kicking. Before 1975 or so, most shots at goal and really long field kicks were droppys. Bartlett was very good at it, so was Tuddy. Besides which, imagine the looks on the faces of opposition line coaches when they find out!? I would love to see it at least trialled, I do believe it will return to the game one day, Soccer goalies use it all the time! But just as a training tool for now, If it doesn’t work I'll bare me bum on Bourke Street!!!!

[Pies4shaw]

Have you got Wayne confused with Barry Price?

[35forever]

Great Post Tannin, I don't agree with all of it, I mean it makes sense, but our blokes are stuffing up field kicks even when they have time enough to smoke half a fag before kicking!

But I agree entirely with your solution, learn your kicks, or hit the bricks!!! Either Loveridge or Al Richardson put his blokes on notice recently saying that if they didn’t develop an opposite foot by pre-season 2016 they wouldn’t be playing, end of story!

There is one other skill I'm finding bloody frustrating to watch as all sides, not just us, seem to have completely lost it... Picking the bloody thing up! Whether bouncing or stationary, guys just can't pick the damn footy up! They're fumbling, dropping, knocking it away by accident, hitting it into their legs, etc etc. Anyone else noticing this? Some guys can do it, Swanny and Pendles are magicians, but most blokes stuff it up as often as they pick it up. Again, not enough skills training! I think AFL coaches assume basic skills as read, but increasingly, and especially as it becomes all about having the "tank", the simple stuff is ignored. I know we ignore it, and I don't believe Bucks will make it a priority.

When I played I had a footy in my hand every possible moment. If I was watching telly I'd be just passing it back and forth from hand to hand, feeling it, getting to know it, being "one" with the Sherrin. It certainly helped. No doubt.

But thanks for having something positive to add Tannin, much appreciated, and I hope someone at CFC is reading it. (you'd probably be surprised how often they do!!)

[John Wren]

[35forever]

[35forever]

JW, I think you were well off topic there old son! Do you wanna report yourself to the mods? Or should I?

Oh, PS: know the game better than me do you? As I said to Doc, if you have nothing to add to the topic at hand... I think you can guess where I'm imagining your head about now