RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
In Kane's column today he writes:
"Port Adelaide kicked the ball at 54% efficiency against Fremantle on Saturday. The Dockers were at 64%. Port Adelaide is now ranked 16th of 18 in the AFL for kicking efficiency."
I know everyone has their theory about what's gone wrong, ie effort, intent, game plan, injuries etc but to me kicking is a fundamental foundation of the game and the can't kick, can't play football is the greatest and truest cliche in football.
That's why its called football, not handball, not runningball, not punchingball, but football, so using your foot and feet properly is fundamental to the game.
Last year when we lost games, especially at AO, that we should have won or done better than we did, we were kicking at 51%-56%, the Richmond game, the second half of WCE, the Geelong game stand out as hitting those lows efficiency percentages. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with the Brisbane and Carlton game, but I listen to the radio when at AO and they regularly give you kicking stats, thru each quarter as well as the game, where as on TV they don't.
In the AFL record they list individual player champion data stats and separate them into position, and then give AFL averages for those positions which in round numbers are
Ruckmen 59%
Forwards 62%
Midfielders 61%
Defenders 75%
That means an AFL side average kicking efficiency is about 63-64%, given most players fall into mid field, so the 75% for defenders would only raise the average 2 or 3% above the mids.
For me our bad kicking is fundamental to our failure over the last 2 years. I like to use the house and foundation analogy. If your house has a good foundation then it can survive a good shake from an earthquake. So if we have good kicking we can survive high pressure from the opposition ala Hawthorn. The stronger the foundation the greater the earthquake force the house can handle before it succumbs.
So if you live in a high earthquake zone like San Francisco you have to design more intelligent and flexible foundations that sway with the earthquake forces. I'm not sure if our more complicated game plan needs better than average kicking skills, but I know that when we are less than average we usually fail.
In the 2016-17 preseason, we have to concentrate on our kicking skills if we want to climb the ladder. We also have to improve our decision making so that when we kick the ball we take the right option where to kick it to and which player to kick it to. Turnovers kill all sides but they seem to hurt us as much as any side in the AFL. Decision making and good kicking are both independent of each other and intertwined. So we should be improving both facets.
Our recruiters and list managers also have to start to select players who have elite kicking skills, because if you can't kick you shouldn't be playing AFL football for Port!
"Port Adelaide kicked the ball at 54% efficiency against Fremantle on Saturday. The Dockers were at 64%. Port Adelaide is now ranked 16th of 18 in the AFL for kicking efficiency."
I know everyone has their theory about what's gone wrong, ie effort, intent, game plan, injuries etc but to me kicking is a fundamental foundation of the game and the can't kick, can't play football is the greatest and truest cliche in football.
That's why its called football, not handball, not runningball, not punchingball, but football, so using your foot and feet properly is fundamental to the game.
Last year when we lost games, especially at AO, that we should have won or done better than we did, we were kicking at 51%-56%, the Richmond game, the second half of WCE, the Geelong game stand out as hitting those lows efficiency percentages. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with the Brisbane and Carlton game, but I listen to the radio when at AO and they regularly give you kicking stats, thru each quarter as well as the game, where as on TV they don't.
In the AFL record they list individual player champion data stats and separate them into position, and then give AFL averages for those positions which in round numbers are
Ruckmen 59%
Forwards 62%
Midfielders 61%
Defenders 75%
That means an AFL side average kicking efficiency is about 63-64%, given most players fall into mid field, so the 75% for defenders would only raise the average 2 or 3% above the mids.
For me our bad kicking is fundamental to our failure over the last 2 years. I like to use the house and foundation analogy. If your house has a good foundation then it can survive a good shake from an earthquake. So if we have good kicking we can survive high pressure from the opposition ala Hawthorn. The stronger the foundation the greater the earthquake force the house can handle before it succumbs.
So if you live in a high earthquake zone like San Francisco you have to design more intelligent and flexible foundations that sway with the earthquake forces. I'm not sure if our more complicated game plan needs better than average kicking skills, but I know that when we are less than average we usually fail.
In the 2016-17 preseason, we have to concentrate on our kicking skills if we want to climb the ladder. We also have to improve our decision making so that when we kick the ball we take the right option where to kick it to and which player to kick it to. Turnovers kill all sides but they seem to hurt us as much as any side in the AFL. Decision making and good kicking are both independent of each other and intertwined. So we should be improving both facets.
Our recruiters and list managers also have to start to select players who have elite kicking skills, because if you can't kick you shouldn't be playing AFL football for Port!
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