Kicking shall determine Buckley's future:

[inxs88]

Nathan, as a player, commentator, citizen and coach I have fully supported you and want to continue to do so. However, the modern day footy jungle drums are beating for ALL coaches in the league.

Adapt or die insofar as transitioning the ball out from defence and in general kicking alone. Let's not let a great comeback dilute the fact that we have too many poor kicks to be competitive and climb the ladder in a meaningful way. Am sure I am not Robinson Crusoe here with my list:

Poor Kicks:

* Marley W: If match committee let him kick in from any point scored, there should be a Royal Commission.

* Frost: the fact that his default thought is to "punch or punch" highlight his own self confidence with ball in hand.

* Brown: either kicks 9 irons or lob wedges.

* Toovey: despite not being played, he has been a perpetual source in turnovers and simply can't be played again.

Mediocre kicks:

* Cloke: no explanation required

* Macaffer: outside not being able to get the ball, he is a 40 metre kick at best.

* Gault: twice from 45 metres last night he adopted the Nathan Brown "lay up lob wedge". Frightening and can't be trusted.

* Swan: yes Dane. He has been 65% disposal efficient at best and has patented the "fast helicopter kick" off the boot to no mans land.

* Greenwood: a spoon kick when forced to kick beyond 45 metres.

* Ramsay: can turn it over when under pressure and has NO left side

* Marsh: a reasonable technique, but decision making means sketchy exponent at best.

Langdon: has a reasonable boot on his longer kicks but lacks subtley and finesse on those 30-40 metre low precision kicks that are necessary.

* Blair: 40 metres at best with too much trajectory. After 6.5 seasons it ain't going to improve.

* Adams: tenacious and has many redeeming qualities, however simply doesn't hurt the opposition by foot.

* Now the controversial one : SIDEBOTTOM: yes I love Steele as a player but he kicks too many dinky left and right foot kicks from the defensive half of the ground. Cannot convert from 45 metres directly in front (hooks every time). Too many Cotchin like tendencies.

Jury still out on:

Aish
De Goey
Goodyear


Solutions:

1. Practice, practice practice: Ben Sinclair whose been maligned on Nick's for many years had a 94% disposal efficiency rate last night and has steadily worked on what was and could still be a deal breaker.

2. Dump offenders to the VFL: No apologies and no excuses. Fix it and you are welcome for promotion back into the Seniors.

3. Revamp the backline: look at the Bulldogs with: Murphy, Wood, Johannsen, Suckling and Biggs streaming out of Half Back. Beveridge who comes from the Hawks/Clarko school of thought recognises that elite ball use in transition is a "STANDARD not A GOAL". So we should play the following:

B: Maynard Brown Oxley
HB: Varcoe Reid Pendlebury

Maynard should be given major tutelage in regards to being our primary kicker after a point. A spot we have yet to fill since leon Davis and Heath Shaw departed the Pies. Maynard can make wrong decisions, but you can't tell me his prospects aren't better that the slop that Marley served up last night!

4. Leave Reid at CHB: We simply wouldn't have won against the Tigers if not for his presence. His ability to punch 40-60 metre low darts to a fellow player is the benchmark to which all Pies players should be held to.

5. Inform Hine: that any player selected going forward has to be above average or elite with Champion Data in their kicking ranking. Additionally target left footers over the next 2 drafts like the Hawks did between 2004-2012, as it's a statistical fact they hold a higher percentage of disposal efficiency.

6. Blood new players: Tom Phillips reeks of class and prolific disposal efficiency. Ben Crocker, Howe (when ready), Elliott (likewise), Varcoe (likewise) plus Josh Smith, Brayden Sier, Broomhead etc.. all seem to have sound techniques. Bucks if you're deciding on a 50/50 slection; go with the better kick.

7.Trade repeat offenders: there are many clubs that have seemingly good players, yet they too offend in the kicking department. Players such as Toby Greene, Dom Tyson, Shaun Grigg, Adam Cooney, Ted Richards, Jeremy Laidler and Harry O'Brien have either been traded or under the pump re this skill area.
With us lacking high end draft picks in October this year, lets identify free agents or target certain players whom may seek more opportunities (eg. Aaron Mullett). Or cherry pick some of Essendon's dirty dozen (Hurley or Heppell).

8. Shout it to the roof tops Bucks: Make it a mandate in your match committee, player meetings, press conferences and on match day that irrespective of who you are, as a club we won't tolerate mediocrity in a skill that is fundamental to a Premiership.

Nathan, you have 18 months to get this right. That is very little margin for error. Do not fall on your sword by continually playing repeat offenders week after week expecting "blue skies" to suddenly appear.

Bucks, the most likely thing that happens is the players whom continually offend, shall be forced to "play for their careers, mortgage payments, and status of still being an AFL player at the biggest club in the land". Or it's off to Brisbane, Port Melbourne or Deer Park for chump change and a life of regret.

As a fan I simply want to see some accountability of what is ones "profession" and the fundamental skill necessary to make a leap to be a contender.

(Welcome any feedback)

[Magpietothemax]

Watched the Western Bulldogs versus the Saints tonight, and I agree that their super aggressive and diabolically rapid style of play is powered by the massive impact of their half back line. Wood is a fantastic intercept mark and superb kick, I believe we have a similar player named Ben Reid. If we could afford to have Pendlebury and Varcoe playing there, then it would be a set up of similar quality.Naturally that would depend on improved performance from the midfield...can we still compete adequately for clearances without Pendlebury in the middle? We should be able to..that was the rationale behind massively recruiting midfielders, I thought!
But would Adam Oxley and Ben Sinclair not fit in our defence somewhere? As you mention, Sinclair's disposal efficiency is massively improved. In the game on Friday night, he impacted the game often with excellent disposals down field. And finally, Oxley it seems to me is also an excellent kick.

[inxs88]

Oxley probably a better bet on the backline than Langdon, however both can pay wing and rotate or roll back accordingly or with each other

[Bob Sugar]

it's an easy fix, tell them to kick it to the opposition, they'll **** it up and end up hitting a team mate instead.

[Presti35]

Wether I agree with INXS88 or not, I have to say his posts are well thought out and easy to read.

I don't mind the cut-throat approach, but Id hate to be in a position where we're continuously rotating the same players back and forward from AFL to VFL.

I was all over Arron Mullet back when we traded for Levi. I think he could be a very good player and I would have gladly taken him 2 trade periods ago, especially if a 2nd round pick was all it took.

Also would love to nab one of those Essendon lads. It'd take a minor miracle to get Heppell. But Hurley can be swayed over. His addition would make our back 6 a much bigger threat.

Marley's disposal the other night was very poor. So I agree something needs to be done there. He does have pace and he does back himself. So do we dump a player who hard at it and has a bit of toe for a player, lets say, like Stanton who has great disposal, but has the courage of a wet fart?

Has Toovey really been such a terrible kick over his career? He's lost the pace as an ageing player who has also had a knee reco. I've enjoyed watching him over his career, but yes, we probably won't be seeing him play too many more senior games unless injury hits us.

Frost and Brown are the old style defenders. Brown had a terrific game against the Tigers didn't he? Just out of interest, when was the last time he and Reid played in the same game?

It's not Frosts job to be kicking the ball too much, so I feel like he's a horses for courses type of player.

Gault was terrible. He should be kicking goals from 45. Don't know if its nerves or what? He'll surly be seeing VFL time this week. Im not ready to give up on him yet, but he needs to tear apart a VFL game and quickly. I hope he turns it around.

I said this many times in the match day thread.... We need to work on our kick ins. Im finding myself holding back a turtle head every time we're kicking in after an opposition behind.

Love the effort put into the op.

[pietillidie]

Inxs88 has just put the kick of death on Bucks!

Quality effort, Inxs88. My main point of disagreement is that I'm not sure kicking is easy to judge in a team context given the other moving parts which need to align (positioning, run, form, pressure, space, etc.).

Kicking can turn around very quickly once you start mongreling or being mongreled.

[John Wren]

no it won't.

[thompsoc]

I have been rabbiting on for a long while about our poor kicking.
I thought DeGoey was a good kick until I've saw him in action.

[slangman]

Great topic…but i think most people have missed the obvious reason our team kicking is not as good as the top teams.

Our senior/leaders are generally average or poor kicks therefore the standard set from the top is not great.

Look at all the top teams and ALL their leaders are very good to excellent kicks. This in turn is a minimum standard expected from any other players in the team.

Could you imagine any of our leadership group (probably apart from pendles) roasting a young player for poor kicking?

Our senior players and leadership group need to set the elite standard of kicking and demand that the others also achieve that standard.

[slangman]

Great topic…but i think most people have missed the obvious reason our team kicking is not as good as the top teams.

Our senior/leaders are generally average or poor kicks therefore the standard set from the top is not great.

Look at all the top teams and ALL their leaders are very good to excellent kicks. This in turn is a minimum standard expected from any other players in the team.

Could you imagine any of our leadership group (probably apart from pendles) roasting a young player for poor kicking?

Our senior players and leadership group need to set the elite standard of kicking and demand that the others also achieve that standard.

[HAL]

Try asking me more politely.

[Pies4shaw]

[John Wren]

[inxs88]

Well a continuation of our kicking shall equate to a middling ladder position until rectified and Nathan has 42 games only to be assessed on. That is very little time. Actions over this period shall be ajudged and I hope Nathan can get it right.

Players seem to love playing for him and he has probably been the best coach in many an era that has attracted good players from other sides namely:

* Treloar
* Adams
* Varcoe
* Howe
* Greenwood
* Crisp
* C Young (yes a moment of levity)

Obviously there are many KPI's in assessing his tenure but surely "disposal efficiency" is a massive core consideration in measuring a teams progress and has a direct affect on the win/loss record. Just ask Clarko!!

[inxs88]