22 hours ago, Pates said:

About time, I was worried he was on the Cale Morton diet!

22Yrs is about right, to begin filling out.    Some smaller players might begin earlier?

On 12/5/2019 at 7:14 PM, Good Lord George said:

For me, the more interesting thing re: kicking is highlighted in the photos above. The good kicks (Salem, May) have their weight forward over the ball. The less reliable kicks (Langdon and Brayshaw) are leaning back on their kicks.

Gawn is an example of a guy who has changed his kicking style and is now a good kick. Leaning forward.

Trac is a great field kick, but terrible set shot. In the photo above, he's in play and his weight is... going forward. 

It's a fairly simple mechanical adjustment. Hopefully it's something that gets picked up on and fixed (like it did with Max).

Not sure Gawn is a good kick, and leaning back happens after you've kicked. So the examples above Salem has just dropped the ball whilst the others are later on in the motion.

But I do agree the best kicking technique is getting forward so the ball is dropped from a lower height.

Salem's ball drop is so quick and repeatable so it stands up under pressure. Even with his opposite foot/hand you can tell he's dropping it right over his foot. 

Meanwhile Gus is dropping it from somewhere above waist high and so it has so much potential to go wrong. 

If Lewis is going to work as a kicking coach he needs to remember all the drills and lessons he did under Clarko and David Rath 10 years ago.

St Kilda had the great idea in the offseason to hire David Rath. I wish we did.

On 12/6/2019 at 12:02 PM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Not sure I agree with this. Some of the best kicks in the history of the game "leant backwards". For example, Mark Browning and Jordan Lewis. I also think Salem "leans back" when he kicks. Perhaps it's just a trick of perspective in still photographs. 

 

On 12/6/2019 at 6:26 PM, Good Lord George said:

I'm sure there are players who seem to lean back when they kick, that are good kicks. I can't, from memory, picture Salem's technique but I think he is generally on the move (as you should be when kicking), so his weight us forward over the ball.

From my experience, being on the move and having your weight forward (leaning over the ball) made for much more accurate kicking than leaning back. Noting I've only done low level coaching courses and played senior country footy, that's the way it was coached.

You'll also often here commentators saying, when a player has a poor shot at goal, "He's leant back on the kick".

 

 

I thought this was just common knowledge, as I was taught this by a coach in juniors.

Leaning over the footy as you kick gives greater accuracy, but will generally limit your distance and penetration, and result in a lower kick.

Leaning back will allow you to “roost it”, giving the kick a lot more height, but will leave a much greater margin for error and often results in a bit of a slice or a fade.

For me, leaning back was moreso used when trying to hit a long lead in general play, or when struggling to make the distance.

For set shots I always tried to lean over the kick and had a good accuracy. Finding the footy in the first place was my issue.

Edited December 7, 20195 yr by Mach5