Goal kicking - is it the yips or something deeper

[Demon Dude 425]

I think a lot of our guys are showing the side effects that having a poor preseason will bring. if you are underdone then you're confidence is going to be down to begin with. plus you're missing shots on goal in games that you'd normally kick because you're tired, and all of a sudden it becomes a bit of a mental game as you're struggling to work out just why you aren't kicking goals. then the pressure comes on and you become even more tense, and on and on it goes. there's no easy fix. the boys just have to keep working hard and find some confidence from somewhere and it turns around for them. 

if Trac is serious he should be paying someone to fix his goal kicking out of his own pocket and practising in his own time on it. I would if I were him, as there could be a big payoff in it for him come contract time if he can start kicking another goal or two a game. could be money well spent.

some of Garletts goal snap attempts and field kicking the last few weeks have been a bit bizarre. looks like he's holding the ball the wrong way, and kicking the wrong side of the ball at times to curl it towards goal through the air. i know he got 3 goals yesterday, (got a couple of easy ones over the back), but to me it seems like he doesn't have the time to adjust the ball in his hands anymore in traffic and just throws it on the boot anyway he can. or maybe he's been practicing the ground ball roller that much he's confused himself on how kick the ball properly. he needs to sort it out whatever it is, because besides this aspect of his game letting him down, he's been finding the ball well enough.

TMac still doesn't look 100% to me and is lacking penetration on his kick. I haven't looked at it closely but he may be leaning back on it a bit too much compared to last year? but I think he's smart enough and a strong enough character to sort it out eventually, so i'm not too worried about him.

[Males 577]

Definitely need to get someone down there to fix up Trac’s kicking technique. This is my opinion only, and I’m certainly not a professional ?, but I wonder if he was too good in juniors? Surely no coach taught him to drop the ball from chest high, or to try and snap the ball out of the stadium? They seem like bad habits that crept into his game, possibly because he won so much ball through juniors that he started being flashy and now it creeps into his game? We know he’s excitable, hopefully something he can fix though. ??‍♂️

[DV8 2,271]

1 hour ago, Males said:

Definitely need to get someone down there to fix up Trac’s kicking technique. This is my opinion only, and I’m certainly not a professional ?, but I wonder if he was too good in juniors? Surely no coach taught him to drop the ball from chest high, or to try and snap the ball out of the stadium? They seem like bad habits that crept into his game, possibly because he won so much ball through juniors that he started being flashy and now it creeps into his game? We know he’s excitable, hopefully something he can fix though. ??‍♂️

I suspect,  he's always been a big lad in his age groups... a natural advantage thru the junior leagues. so little things then like how he gets the ball onto boot,  maybe didn't show as a problem area,  so much.   Its certainly a habit he has.

Maybe he just got so much of the ball back then.

 

Well if he gets so much of the ball,  and he has very good hands, put him in the Mid rotations, from the bench.

[ProperDee 1,698]

These blokes are paid to kick the football for a living and surrounded by others who are paid to coach them. The first consideration in solving any problem is identifying it. If a couple of hundred of us armchair critics on Demonland can see it, why can’t the “professionals”?

As an aside, Christian still has that self-anointed superstar persona yet to be knocked out of him and FCS keep him away from red cordial.

[deebug 1,754]

 Allen Jackovich will solve it? Get on the great man down there ASAP

[Maldonboy38 5,808]

Three combined things;

1. Technique. A lot of players don't have great technique, but their natural eye-hand co-ordination covers for it. Think of James Hird's poor technique, yet he was a wonderful kick. Petracca in particular has a very high ball drop. TMac's is actually ok. Hunt's is poor etc... Whoever is our current goal kicking coach or adviser needs to be replaced because the message is not getting through. Some great explayers with great technique are Barry Hall, Jason Dunstall, Wayne Carey, Matty Lloyd.

2. Routine. Practice the goal kicking routine so much you don't have to think about it. Have a look at Jack Reiwoldt - 3 steps and kick while moving in a direct line to the target, every time. Great to watch. 

3. Exhaustion. Our preseason of surgeries and late returns has cost us big time, as has a further poor injury record this year.  Strange thing is though that we are missing easy set shots early in games when exhaustion is not yet a factor.

If any one of the three above are missing, it is easy to overthink the kick and stuff it up. Welcome to MFC 2019. 

[chookrat 3,774]

On 5/18/2019 at 5:08 AM, 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?

I put it solely down to the players not attending the 2017 camp. 

[Mazer Rackham 14,968]

11 hours ago, Demon Dude said:

if Trac is serious he should be paying someone to fix his goal kicking out of his own pocket and practising in his own time on it.

Yes, he should be taking action of his own initiative to get on top of this.

But "in his own time" is a bit of an issue, as the players' training and rehab, etc, are micromanaged to the minute. Almost literally. Their bodies are like taut rubber bands and the fear is that extra minutes will cause something to snap.

So we see Tracc drowning himself instead of devoting himself to the number one weakness in his game. It's backwards.

[Engorged Onion 9,231]

8 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Yes, he should be taking action of his own initiative to get on top of this.

But "in his own time" is a bit of an issue, as the players' training and rehab, etc, are micromanaged to the minute. Almost literally. Their bodies are like taut rubber bands and the fear is that extra minutes will cause something to snap.

So we see Tracc drowning himself instead of devoting himself to the number one weakness in his game. It's backwards.

@Mazer Rackham , do you have Trac's schedule on your iphone?

Edited May 19, 2019 by Engorged Onion

[Demon Dynasty 15,203]

T-Mac had a one off very good year last year in his re-creation from a backman to a 'make do' forward.  Hogan often taking the opp's No.1 defender and no 666 allowed T-Mac to roam a little more freely inside 50 and offer himself into a few more open spaces on the lead, usually on the Opps No.2 defender.

No Hogan means T-Mac is now getting the opp's No.1 and sometimes even being double teamed with no other genuine key forward at present (the Weid obviously out for now).

As a result T_mac's ability to take marks inside 50 has dropped roughly 50% (to be exact 45.8%) so far this season vs his 2018 season average...

T-mac Ave marks i50

                2018         2019 (to Rnd 9)      % diff                                                  2.88                  1.56                 -45.83%

In the short term Pruess needs to come in as support for T-Mac up forward playing deep and as a decent foil relief ruckman for Maxy.  This will take an extra tall away from the Opp and potentially stop the opp from sending a chop out to T-Mac so often.  IF Pruess can start clunking a few and scoring himself this might also force the opp to send their No.1 defender to him occasionaly, freeing up T-Mac a little more often.

In addition we need to have a point of difference for the remainder of the season.  No more medium talls like Tim Smith pls.  Assuming Pruess comes in (and he should!), it's time to go small and if needed blood small with the likes of Lockhart, Chandler, Bedford working in with Jeffy playing deeper forward to crumb front and square and around the packs for the spills off Pruess & T-Mac.  Obviously you wouldn't play both Chander and Bedford together and would only want limited game time from both early on to give them a look/taste of AFL.  See how they go before deciding whether to persist or not in the short term or send back to Casey if they don't impact.

That's 2019.  As for 2020 we need to invest in recruiting a genuine key forward and a genuine small who both know where the goals are, can take regular contested marks inside 50, crumb nicely in the case of the small and are both very accurate.  Will have to trade our way out to get these two 'must gets' for 2020!

We do this AND recruit a genuine outsider with burst speed, skills and finish (think Balta!) to assist Salem on the other wing....and we have ourselves a shot at the big one folks.

Premiership window is open.... time to fix the rot up forward, fill the gaps and snatch our first piece of silverware in a mighty long time and our first in the modern era!

Edited May 19, 2019 by Rusty Nails

[Demons11 6,404]

On 5/18/2019 at 10:37 AM, DeeSpencer said:

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.

We definitely had an off night but I think the only one with the major issue is Trac, he definitely has the yips.  I think him even dropping that mark was a cop out not to have a shot. 

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by Demons11

[Graeme Yeats' Mullet 6,267]

If we have a goal kicking coach, sack him and get a new one

If we don't have one, sack the person who chose not to have one, then get one!

[Demons11 6,404]

1 minute ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

If we have a goal kicking coach, sack him and get a new one

If we don't have one, sack the person who chose not to have one, then get one!

???????

[Canplay 573]

I'm not sure it's just yips -   I don't think Jason Taylor put enough emphasis on kicking skills :-  the follow have come to the club with flawed kicking skills / techniques and haven't improved :-

Trac, Hunt, ANB, Stretch, Sparrow, Lockhart, Spargo,  Maynard.

Oliver and Brayshaw have good technique but are torching their F50 entries with poor vision / decision making.

[nosoupforme 3,085]

On 5/18/2019 at 5:08 AM, 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?

What Petracca needs is to shave 30% off his brain that's called attitude that will slim his over larged  head, in other words BIG HEAD..

I once said to him don't lay back on the ball.when kicking from 35  metres or closer. Just follow through with a generous run up say 10 metres before you kick through the ball as you lower your eyes. That way the foot will hit the ball precisely. 

He said to me come down to training and show me. HA HA smarty.     So deep down I cursed him. Not meaning it of course.

Anyway so the story goes as God is my witness.

[DV8 2,271]

13 hours ago, deebug said:

 Allen Jackovich will solve it? Get on the great man down there ASAP

His antithesis.   that might just be a good idea.  'db'...   some of that confidence might just rub off on Tracca.

[binman 37,765]

1 hour ago, Canplay said:

I'm not sure it's just yips -   I don't think Jason Taylor put enough emphasis on kicking skills :-  the follow have come to the club with flawed kicking skills / techniques and haven't improved :-

Trac, Hunt, ANB, Stretch, Sparrow, Lockhart, Spargo,  Maynard.

Oliver and Brayshaw have good technique but are torching their F50 entries with poor vision / decision making.

The issue is that if you come to the afl with a suspect kicking technique it may improve a bit but will always be suspect.

A gun junior like trac will have kicked a footy 100, 000 times. More probably. Hard to re train that. And a gun like trac would not have that weakness exposed as s junior. His skills would still put him above everyone.  

[deebug 1,754]

10 hours ago, DV8 said:

His antithesis.   that might just be a good idea.  'db'...   some of that confidence might just rub off on Tracca.

could also show T-Mac and weed a few tricks.

[Superunknown 3,307]

A player’s kicking technique under pressure should be as reliable as a golfer’s swing or tennis player’s serve. 

Respectfully excluding Shark’s Augusta horror show in 1996

 

[Brownie 5,126]

On 5/19/2019 at 9:06 AM, Maldonboy38 said:

Three combined things;

1. Technique. A lot of players don't have great technique, but their natural eye-hand co-ordination covers for it. Think of James Hird's poor technique, yet he was a wonderful kick. Petracca in particular has a very high ball drop. TMac's is actually ok. Hunt's is poor etc... Whoever is our current goal kicking coach or adviser needs to be replaced because the message is not getting through. Some great explayers with great technique are Barry Hall, Jason Dunstall, Wayne Carey, Matty Lloyd.

2. Routine. Practice the goal kicking routine so much you don't have to think about it. Have a look at Jack Reiwoldt - 3 steps and kick while moving in a direct line to the target, every time. Great to watch. 

3. Exhaustion. Our preseason of surgeries and late returns has cost us big time, as has a further poor injury record this year.  Strange thing is though that we are missing easy set shots early in games when exhaustion is not yet a factor.

If any one of the three above are missing, it is easy to overthink the kick and stuff it up. Welcome to MFC 2019. 

Yep. Your brain is not your friend.

The whole process has to be so ingrained it's just a routine.

Coaching and mountains of practice.

[DeeZee 6,719]

Last year they were lining up to kick goals.

This year WTF?

We really need Hannan and Melksham in that forward line. Key ingredients together if you ask me.

[old dee 22,809]

On 5/18/2019 at 10:37 AM, DeeSpencer said:

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.

I think picking next Saturday's tattslotto numbers would be easier.

[Demonland 64,402]

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,381]

On 5/19/2019 at 7:44 PM, Canplay said:

I'm not sure it's just yips -   I don't think Jason Taylor put enough emphasis on kicking skills :-  the follow have come to the club with flawed kicking skills / techniques and haven't improved :-

Trac, Hunt, ANB, Stretch, Sparrow, Lockhart, Spargo,  Maynard.

Oliver and Brayshaw have good technique but are torching their F50 entries with poor vision / decision making.

I'm surprised that you consider Oliver has a good technique. It seems to me he swings his kicking leg across his body, that is, at an angle, rather than straight through. That technique requires pinpoint timing, otherwise the likelihood of the kick going exactly where you want is reduced.

[Macca 16,173]

The real answer is to deconstruct and then reconstruct (kicking action) ... but I am not sure that any of the clubs have ever gone down that path often enough.  At our club,  has it ever happened?

Under 18 players are not the finished product so therefore all aspects of a draftees game need to be looked at as soon as they arrive at a club.  More so in the juniors if we're being proactive about it.  

The yips (or choking) in front of goal has a correlation to kicking actions.  Stewart Loewe was one who improved his kicking in a substantial way but I can't think of too many others.

The sport is more about keepings-off than it ever was so kicking to position is of paramount importance.  Kicking for goal the same.

You can't turn the ball over and you have to be accurate in front of goal.  Practice makes perfect but practising with a poor action is often a waste of time.

You'd like to think that the club would be on top of it but in the case of Petracca,  his kicking action hasn't improved from what I have seen.  And because if that,  the yips can get worse.  He'll be sledged about it too which will only accentuate the problem.

But he is not the only one ... we have any number of players who have technique issues with their kicking.  And we just lost a very winnable game (again) because of our poor conversion rate

 

Footnote: Right  handed Golfers who block the ball out to the right (under pressure) have technique issues.  And they know it too so that's why they often reconstruct.  Lefties the same.  Doesn't always work though as muscle memory is a strong factor.