An eye on the ball

AussieRulesBlog has been aware of some discussion over recent months of goal kicking. Some commentators have opined that kicking for goal is perhaps the one area of AFL that has not developed with the increased professionalism of players over the last decade and a half.

Bringing that discussion to mind again are articles in todays Hun commenting on St kilda captain Nick Riewoldt’s refashioned goalkicking routine.

In his newly-unveiled routine, Riewoldt intentionally does not look at the target once he has commenced his run in.

AussieRulesBlog is particularly interested in this routine. We wrote to then-Essendon coach Matthew Knights when the Bombers seemed to have a whole-of-list case of the ‘yips’ a couple of years ago.

In that letter, we drew Knights’ attention to another ball game — golf. It is a maxim of golf that the player watches the ball right through the moment of clubface impact. We know from our own occasional efforts at the game that achieving this feat increases the likelihood of an acceptable shot by around 10,000%. On the other hand, looking where we expect the ball to be (mostly before we’ve hit it) increases the likelihood of suicidal thoughts by the same 10,000%.

The simple fact is, both hitting the golf ball and kicking a football are exercises in hand/foot/body and eye co-ordination. That extraordinary organ, the human brain, is able to manage incredible precision if it is not distracted. Looking up to see where we’ve hit or kicked the ball distracts it!

It’s no surprise that the Hun article draws a contrast between Riewoldt and Travis Cloke. Cloke’s inaccuracy is legendary. Barcodes supporters can often be heard muttering murderous thoughts as Cloke misses yet another ‘easy’ shot.

Cloke has a fairly ‘organic’ goalkicking routine. He leans back at the point of contact and, as a result, his ball drop is unpredictable at best. Lance Franklin is a similarly ‘organic’ kicker. By contrast, the forwards with 1000+ goals (or nearly) — Lockett, Dunstall, Ablett, McKenna, Lloyd — invariably are upright and watching the ball onto the boot as they kick.

We mentioned at the outset some opinions that goalkicking had not kept pace with other advances in player professionalism. Perhaps this can be explained by the penchant in the last couple of decades for recruiting athletes who could play a bit of football as much as physical conditioning coaches limiting goalkicking practice by  getting players off the training track early.

Sadly, AussieRulesBlog is old enough to recall the kicking segment on World of Sport where the legendary Bruce Andrew was a judge and commentator on the show’s kicking competition. As we recall, a straight runup and a straight ball drop were among the keys to effective and accurate kicking.

We think Riewoldt will see a significant improvement in his conversions percentage with this technique. We also hope that others take note and develop their own versions of the routine.