Goal kicking - is it the yips or something deeper

[Pates 9,660]

So there’s been plenty of discussion about the umpires from the West Coast but really we had the game in our hands for most of the match but didn’t make the most of our entries or chances. 

But only 3 times this year have we kicked more goals than behind with the Essendon game (18.4) being the best. Last week it was so very close to costing us the win and this week there is no doubt in my mind it cost us. We had so many chances that should’ve been nailed and some of them weren’t even close. 

TMac who’s usually a good set shot even has the yips now, but the worst offenders are clearly Jeffy and Petracca. Now both did very good and important things on the weekend but it’s not good enough to say, “take the good with the bad”. Petracca who is on more money than most of us will see in a lifetime missed from what most people at the local ground would be nailing. While he also had a running shot that didn’t even register a score!

I’m sick of it and it’s about bloody time the coaches did something about it. But the question is, is it simply the yips that’s spreading through the club or is it poor technique that needs correcting? And if it’s the latter why hasn’t it been done before?

[Leoncelli_36 2,264]

41 minutes ago, Pates said:

So there’s been plenty of discussion about the umpires from the West Coast but really we had the game in our hands for most of the match but didn’t make the most of our entries or chances. 

But only 3 times this year have we kicked more goals than behind with the Essendon game (18.4) being the best. Last week it was so very close to costing us the win and this week there is no doubt in my mind it cost us. We had so many chances that should’ve been nailed and some of them weren’t even close. 

TMac who’s usually a good set shot even has the yips now, but the worst offenders are clearly Jeffy and Petracca. Now both did very good and important things on the weekend but it’s not good enough to say, “take the good with the bad”. Petracca who is on more money than most of us will see in a lifetime missed from what most people at the local ground would be nailing. While he also had a running shot that didn’t even register a score!

I’m sick of it and it’s about bloody time the coaches did something about it. But the question is, is it simply the yips that’s spreading through the club or is it poor technique that needs correcting? And if it’s the latter why hasn’t it been done before?

Petracca needs a specialist kicking coach. He has a shocking ball drop. He is dropping it from his head. I dunno what chance you are of changing his action now. It’s probably fairly entrenched now. It’s worth hiring the services of a kicking expert. Perhaps they could approach Brad Green. 

[Pates 9,660]

3 minutes ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Petracca needs a specialist kicking coach. He has a shocking ball drop. He is dropping it from his head. I dunno what chance you are of changing his action now. It’s probably fairly entrenched now. It’s worth hiring the services of a kicking expert. Perhaps they could approach Brad Green. 

I remember Robbo was a terrible kick for goal but he spent an off season correcting it and became a very reliable set shot. I don’t accept that with discipline it can’t be corrected. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,817]

And why are teams kicking so accurately against us? That’s hurting us just as much.

In 4 of the last 5 weeks, the opposition has managed to kick single digit behinds.

We have the most accurate ‘against’ score in the league if that makes sense.

[Pitchy 196]

I had a Russian singing teacher who was trained in the harsh traditional way in 1940's Russia. Her wisdom would apply to Trac's goal kicking technique. She would speak of whole body involvement. She would say to be rooted through your legs at all times. 'Remember tree trunks' she would say.

When Petracca has a set shot, his attention seems to be only in his head and his body is lagging/ambling behind. From the moment he begins his approach he needs to be told to think only of his tree trunk legs (which in his case are hard to miss!). Then when he arrives to kick they will be engaged appropriately in sync.

At the moment he is so laggy his boot sometimes barely hits the ball. 

[Wells 11 5,397]

4 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

And why are teams kicking so accurately against us? That’s hurting us just as much.

In 4 of the last 5 weeks, the opposition has managed to kick single digit behinds.

We have the most accurate ‘against’ score in the league if that makes sense.

Pains me to say it but they kicked beautifully tonight the eagles. Looked so relaxed and powerful in their approaches. We look the opposite ie Tense and tentative. Tmac was a dead eye last year, it seems like he doesn’t trust himself now. The only player I feel genuine confidence in re shooting a set shot fr goal is Melksham.. and Jeffy ( But not in general play anymore) . Hopefully it’s coachable but seems like a very elusive skill at afl level for many. Maybe you just got it or u don’t. 

[pitmaster 3,544]

1 hour ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Petracca needs a specialist kicking coach. He has a shocking ball drop. He is dropping it from his head. I dunno what chance you are of changing his action now. It’s probably fairly entrenched now. It’s worth hiring the services of a kicking expert. Perhaps they could approach Brad Green. 

Matthew Lloyd...Wayne Carey...unlike Yze they are available, and they'd have plenty to teach about positioning and general forward play.

[chookrat 4,247]

2 hours ago, Pates said:

So there’s been plenty of discussion about the umpires from the West Coast but really we had the game in our hands for most of the match but didn’t make the most of our entries or chances. 

But only 3 times this year have we kicked more goals than behind with the Essendon game (18.4) being the best. Last week it was so very close to costing us the win and this week there is no doubt in my mind it cost us. We had so many chances that should’ve been nailed and some of them weren’t even close. 

TMac who’s usually a good set shot even has the yips now, but the worst offenders are clearly Jeffy and Petracca. Now both did very good and important things on the weekend but it’s not good enough to say, “take the good with the bad”. Petracca who is on more money than most of us will see in a lifetime missed from what most people at the local ground would be nailing. While he also had a running shot that didn’t even register a score!

I’m sick of it and it’s about bloody time the coaches did something about it. But the question is, is it simply the yips that’s spreading through the club or is it poor technique that needs correcting? And if it’s the latter why hasn’t it been done before?

It's ibviously because we didn't review last years prelim final loss. 

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

Petracca can fix his, the club should have been onto this years ago, we have all seen it and it ain’t got better. FFS, get Dunstall. He was to this day one of the best set shots the game has seen. But more importantly he never missed the gimmies. Garlett is harder to fix as I think he moves quicker than his brain has time to decipher the moment.

Tmac will come good, he is just in a form slump.

but I agree, people blame the umps as it’s easy. We lost that game because we missed easy shots, took shots when we could have handballed it to a player in a better position and our entries into f50 are putrid to say the least.

[Canplay 634]

It’s just another area of our game that the coaching team aren’t getting cut through and improving individuals.  Trac has had a shocking ball drop since he arrived - never been altered 

[Deefender 232]

Too many players kick the ball with no purpose. They don’t run through; it’s often just a few steps and lollipop lobbed in the general direction. Amateurish and pathetic.

 

[Moonshadow 17,676]

Tracc will always be a middle-of-the-road player until he fixes his kicking action. He ruins good passages of play with terrible execution. Fix up his kicking and he could be anything.

At the moment he lacks much polish

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

Tracc has shocking technique. And probably a frazzled mind. But fix the technique first. It says a lot of about "sports science" that something this fundamental can be permitted to exist in a top tier player.

Garlett was one of the pioneers of the "small forward prefers to bumble it through off the outside of the boot" technique which quickly became popular. He's a good kick but prefers the flashy low percentage shot. All it does is give the ball a chance to take a funny bounce and miss. Kick it straight and land it in the crowd!

And speaking of landing it in the crowd. If players are fixated on technique in the heat of the moment, they will fluff it. In another thread there was talk about kicking torps. Doug Wade kicked over 1000 goals using the torp exclusively. His secret: pick out someone in the crowd and kick it to them.

Our guys clearly have mental demons and need to simplify the thought process. (And fix Tracc's technique.)

[DeeSpencer 25,678]

Tom McDonald - either nails is straight through or sprays it. We all know about his kicking. More confidence in his game and he'll nail them again.

Petracca - yeah he's cooked. Probably going to take a full summer to fix.

Garlett - mentally checked out of AFL Footy ages ago.

Hunt - pretty similar to T Mc. The technique isn't pretty but mentally he gives it a go

Melksham is meant to be our sharp shooter. And whatever choice of Smith/Weid/Preuss should be able to steer them through.

Fix Tom's general play, fix Tracc, get a good small forward and it should improve.

[Macca 16,961]

Forget the yips ... we choke in front of goal.  And like the fumbles & missing easy targets,  it becomes an epidemic.  The body language says many don't want to take a shot. 

One player does it and the rest follow suit.  It is a technique issue and a confidence issue.

We keep losing games because of our poor kicking for goal.  Last night mirrored the game against Sydney late last season.  We threw away a win. 

Practice your goalkicking in a simulated way until you're exhausted should be the coaching message. 

[Lucifers Hero 39,737]

5 hours ago, Pates said:

So there’s been plenty of discussion about the umpires from the West Coast but really we had the game in our hands for most of the match but didn’t make the most of our entries or chances. 

But only 3 times this year have we kicked more goals than behind with the Essendon game (18.4) being the best. Last week it was so very close to costing us the win and this week there is no doubt in my mind it cost us. We had so many chances that should’ve been nailed and some of them weren’t even close. 

TMac who’s usually a good set shot even has the yips now, but the worst offenders are clearly Jeffy and Petracca. Now both did very good and important things on the weekend but it’s not good enough to say, “take the good with the bad”. Petracca who is on more money than most of us will see in a lifetime missed from what most people at the local ground would be nailing. While he also had a running shot that didn’t even register a score!

I’m sick of it and it’s about bloody time the coaches did something about it. But the question is, is it simply the yips that’s spreading through the club or is it poor technique that needs correcting? And if it’s the latter why hasn’t it been done before?

How can you call out Garlett and Petracca but accept McDonalds performance.  He also sprayed a few last night and has very few to show for the year.  He should be our main goal kicker!   

If folks are going to criticise players it would be good to at least be consistent about it.  Otherwise it sounds like the whips are out for the whipping boys?

 

[Little Goffy 14,521]

Personally, I think the yips is actually something pretty deep on its own. Has practically ruined whole seasons for star players. Remember when Brad Johnson started running around the mark for shots, even if he was supposed to be line up from about 30 out?

Anyway, probably cost us a game, so I hope they are getting their best mechanics and shrinks onto it fast.

 

[3Dee 1,153]

Oliver with 0 goals this year is a surprising statistic.

[monoccular 17,424]

9 goals from 62 inside 50s says it all -- a mere 1 in 7 (14%) results in a goal.

Raising the efficiency to even 20% would give us 12 goals, 25% would be 15 goals, close to the magic 100 points.  30% goes to a massive 18 goals.

Surely the coaching / development / biomechanics / psychologists can see the bleeding obvious, but they need to admit there is a big problem before it can be addressed.

What is the point in slaving away with fancy clearance drills when it all goes for tough?

How about spending an entire session or two on this aspect of the game (or however many it takes) and as John Kanga Kennedy said - "do something!!"

 

[RalphiusMaximus 6,046]

While Petracca is the worst set shot in the side, there are only a couple of players I actually have confidence in when it comes to these kicks in the entire side.  One of those is Brayshaw, and the reason for that is that Jones took him on in his first couple of seasons and really worked on his set shots.  They used to have set shot contests after every training session.  You can clearly see the difference when comparing Gus to Petracca or Oliver.  Neither of them have any confidence when kicking for goal and their technique is terrible.  While a specialist kicking coach would be nice, it's possible that we can't fit one in under the soft cap.  What they can do with the structure we have right now is set aside some time every session to work on it.  Turn it into a competition.  Challenge them to improve against their teammates.  Even ask our better kicks to work with the worst ones on their technique.  It won't be fixed overnight, but it's clearly an issue that needs to be worked on. 

[—coach— 3,496]

Really simple solution would be to hire whoever is the coach at the cats, they have kicked 137 goals 90 behinds this season and are so far in front of everyone else on goal kicking accuracy as to be quite ridiculous. As an example they kicked 21.7 today!

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

15 hours ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Petracca needs a specialist kicking coach. He has a shocking ball drop. He is dropping it from his head. I dunno what chance you are of changing his action now. It’s probably fairly entrenched now. It’s worth hiring the services of a kicking expert. Perhaps they could approach Brad Green. 

Yze would be better if available.  Get piggy in there otherwise.  Similar body shape / size

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

7 hours ago, monoccular said:

9 goals from 62 inside 50s says it all -- a mere 1 in 7 (14%) results in a goal.

Raising the efficiency to even 20% would give us 12 goals, 25% would be 15 goals, close to the magic 100 points.  30% goes to a massive 18 goals.

Surely the coaching / development / biomechanics / psychologists can see the bleeding obvious, but they need to admit there is a big problem before it can be addressed.

What is the point in slaving away with fancy clearance drills when it all goes for tough?

How about spending an entire session or two on this aspect of the game (or however many it takes) and as John Kanga Kennedy said - "do something!!"

 

Hey we were still 2.4% better than last week Mono.  (Desperate times!) 

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

15 hours ago, Pitchy said:

I had a Russian singing teacher who was trained in the harsh traditional way in 1940's Russia. Her wisdom would apply to Trac's goal kicking technique. She would speak of whole body involvement. She would say to be rooted through your legs at all times. 'Remember tree trunks' she would say.

When Petracca has a set shot, his attention seems to be only in his head and his body is lagging/ambling behind. From the moment he begins his approach he needs to be told to think only of his tree trunk legs (which in his case are hard to miss!). Then when he arrives to kick they will be engaged appropriately in sync.

At the moment he is so laggy his boot sometimes barely hits the ball. 

This is a family friendly site Pitchy!

[titan_uranus 25,000]

I suspect much of it is psychological.

Tonnes of inside 50s, but the longer we go without scoring a goal the more pressure builds every time we take a shot that we convert it.