Why are we such pathetic kicks, especially for goal?

[perfectionist]

So much good work, so much hard slog - then a mark thirty metres out on a slight angle - and the result is ?- a point (if we are lucky). Contrast, in the first quarter at least, Geelong, less than half the number of forays into the forward zone and finally a mark thirty metres out but on a sharp angle - the result? - a goal.

If it was just luck, there would be weeks when these arrangements were in our favour - but not so.

I can only remember two brief periods in following St Kilda since 1960 when our kicking has been top class. The last half of 1997 and the first half of 2004. In 1997 we won 9 of our last ten (alas not the tenth!) and in 2004 we won our first ten.

No doubt technique and confidence are components - but so is practice and remedial action. Do we have a specialist at the club who analyses with video every-one's kicking - field and goal as they are different techniques- and then sets a program of remedial action and practice? Or do we just hope for the best?

[Saints Premiers 2008]

love to know

[karnaby]

No doubt technique and confidence are components - but so is practice and remedial action. Do we have a specialist at the club who analyses with video every-one's kicking - field and goal as they are different techniques- and then sets a program of remedial action and practice? Or do we just hope for the best?

Sadly I suspect that we just cross our fingers & hope for the best. Our kicking is often pathetic

[Iceman234]

It’s a very reasonable question at the moment.

Poor kicking is killing us right now, not just goal kicking but general play – how many times today did our kicks miss our targets by five metres or more?

A first quarter of 7.4 was possible if we’d kicked like a confident competent team. I think we had two rushed in the first but still shows we had the chances for more goals than we kicked.

Poor kicking is poor football – heard that somewhere before – and at the moment poor kicking is costing us.

I don’t know that it would have saved us today, but it may just have been the catalyst to set a panic through Geelong and cause mistakes. We will never know, because it was more than that that turned the momentum their way

[karnaby]

Iceman - I don't think it is just today's problem, I think that it is a long term failure that needs to be addressed immediately. Poor kicking (& our lack of foot speed) are things that will limit our chances until both are adequately rectified.

[widereceiver]

at the risk of repeating myself...


If they could teach Stewart Loewe to kick, it's beyond me why these guys can't learn. Buckets ended up very reliable. I cringe every time Roo or Milne has a set shot. Kosi seems to have got his mojo back but not enough possessions.

None of our midfielders can kick for goal with any surety, Joey used to be good, Ball used to be OK, Hayes nuh.

Oh and Dal used to be quite good at times. Then again he used to get a sniff.

[ace]

Good kicking is coached, but our coaches can't coach.
You would think a professional, full time footballer, would like to be able to kick long straight and WITH BOTH FEET.
But why bother if you are on good pay, just go out and have a drink.

[meher baba]

Riewoldt's goal kicking has improved. Gehrig's is great as always. Schneider also looks like a sharpshooter from what we have seen.

And, unexpectedly, Stephen King gives me a fair degree of confidence when he is in front of the sticks. And we know BJ is a good kick.

But Kosi, Milne, Fiora, Hayes, Joey, Dal and Ball have all gone backwards in the last couple of years. And X continues to give me the shakes as he always has done.

Is it because many of these players have been suffering from chronic injuries? Is it because we have been training so hard with the complicated new gameplan that we haven't had enough time to drill ourselves the basics? Is there something in rodgerfox's theory that endlessly running up and down the ground means that our players are too tired to concentrate properly on set shots?

I think there is something in all of these points. The answer is surely practice, practice, practice plus a structure which puts the ball more often in the hands of our sharpshooters than in the hands of the likes of Blake, Fiora, Ball etc.

[saint-stu]

I want to know what's wrong with Milney's kicking.

A few years ago he was so accurate at set shots, I never worried about the result.

[saintsrus]

But Kosi

Didnt he kick 3 yesterday?

[brown-coat]

I have the feeling Ross spends too much time on endless strategy, positioning and where to run and not enough on the core basics.

A feeling..

[Armoooo]

Barker?
What does he do exactly?
Ever since he has come to the club and started working with our forwards they seem to have gone backwards, that's even when taking into account our new gameplan and the quality of the entries...

[rogerwa]

mental softness...killer instint (mental toughness) is nailing goals when it really counts...hurting your opponent & the opposition on the scoreboard

our repeated misses from 20 -30 yrs out dead in front are a disgrace

nothings changed over the past 100 yrs...the good/great players & teams tend to nail em the also runs tend to miss

no different to any other sport
the mentally tough golfers nail the big putt
the mentally tough tennis players nail the big point
the mentally tough cricketrs nail the big catch/runout whatever
the mentally tough footballers nail the big goal


they have all been playing the game since they were 6 yrs old...no excuses

if ya cant hit a target 20 yrds wide from a distance of 20 yrds ya need ya nuts cut out