Code no 3 for Lote Tuqiri

[Fire Storm]

"You'd be surprised - Rugby players from either code generally stick out like dog's nuts for years after crossing to AR."


Jason Akermanis? He sticks out like dog's nuts anyway.




I played AR nearly everyday all through school so I have some idea. Not a bad kick at times. Not great with marking. Overhead or chest. Always had a problem with keeping my eyes on the ball. For any game. Except table tennis. I can just feel where the ball is even when it gets smashed passed and I cant see it. Its like the 'force' or something.



When you never ever do something, your never going to be crash hot at it. Kicking is such a small part of the game really in RL compared to AR, so its not something everyone does. Watch AR players play RL/RU. Some are great. A lot struggle to pass properly. Or look very wonky doing it anyway. Not because they have no skill, just because they never do it!


Although sometimes if I dont play golf for months, often I come out firing like I'm Lonard. Weird huh?



Why isnt there a Golf section here? Surely THAT is a conspiracy!

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Richoagain
Good on you for having a crack though, Nicko

thanks richo, it'd make it Code no 4 for nicko18

 

[Richoagain]

Originally posted by Mark Rudd
"You'd be surprised - Rugby players from either code generally stick out like dog's nuts for years after crossing to AR."


Jason Akermanis? He sticks out like dog's nuts anyway.

True, there have also been some brilliant AR players with very 'unique' kicking styles, a guy called James Manson played for Collingwood about 10 years ago - was quite a good player, just looked really awkward.

I played AR nearly everyday all through school so I have some idea.

Never said you didn't, the 'you'd be surprised' was directed at RLS.

When you never ever do something, your never going to be crash hot at it. Kicking is such a small part of the game really in RL compared to AR, so its not something everyone does. Watch AR players play RL/RU. Some are great. A lot struggle to pass properly. Or look very wonky doing it anyway. Not because they have no skill, just because they never do it!

That's about it. Victorians grow up learning one specific set of skills - NSW kids a completely different set of skills.

Some people can learn new skills quicker than others, it's like anything in life.

 

[Richoagain]

Originally posted by RLS
Kicking, kicks, Kick.........ppffftttt, How hard is it to kick, if you were going to take up AR I think it would take all of a week to master it, and from what I see of the game, if you do a couple of decent kicks a game, your a star.

You have to get the ball first, mate.

1. Make space
2. Contest a mark
3. Contest the ball on the ground
4. Be front-centre for the hands off

You can be the best kick on the planet, but if you can't do any of those things, you're going to be less useful than a chocolate teapot even to a Z-grade suburban side.

 

[Brian]

"Kicking, kicks, Kick.........ppffftttt, How hard is it to kick?"

Kicking is about timing and power .Some people are a natural and some people always seem to have problems .I was a good kick but an erratic one .I have to focus hard each time .That's timing .
You wont kick very long distances unless the right muscles are there .The ones that come from practice .
And Nicko ,torps do cover a lot of distance if your timing is right ,but you wont win any friends by trying to catch the ball .The end-on-end is the easiest way to catch the,so the drop punt is the preffered kick .The drop kick went out of general play because it took the much exta time to set up and for the ball to hit the boot allowing extra time to be tackled and put off balance .Having said that ,it amazes me that there isn't a specialist torpedo kicking/dropkicking/place kicking forward in AFL .
Also that NRL aren't more inventive like a kick to the wing to open play up .There was a guy in South's who used to make a lot of distance by place-kicking for touch .

 

[Fire Storm]

Dont be so defensive Robbie! I was talking in general to all.



Merely stating that I can kick at least half decently and play not too bad at AR because I payed it all the time in school. Same school as Shaun Hart by the way. Yep. The Lions wanted me but I said no. I said pick Shaun, he needs the cash more than me.



When Shepparton had a RL team, an AR player switched over to play for them. Well, more accurately, he played for Lemnos on Saturday and for the Warriors on Sunday! He was the teams goalkicker. A toe poker. Mel Maninga style. He was good! And evidently a good kick for the Lemnos Swans.


Anything's possible eh.

 

[Richoagain]

Reminds me of a lot of small towns around Wagga where it was fairly common for the same twenty-odd blokes to line up for the town in Rules on Saturday and league on Sunday.

Ungarie - home of the Danihers - was a bit like that.

 

[holc]

haha my Aussie rules friend ( lives on the border practically, Urana????) well he looks so unco when passing a league ball.
He tries to spin it but keeps his arms straight and boy does it look funny.
Thats one of the biggest no-nos when passing a league ball, get the normal flat pass going first before you try and spin it.

 

[Richoagain]

Playing RL for our school in country Victoria it was interesting seeing some of the boys try to pass for the first time. They eventually basically just told us that anyone who tried to spin it would be straight off.

But the funniest moment was when two of our boys (admittedly, these guys were pretty doughey, both of them) tried to tackle the same bloke and managed to injure each other (one split scalp, one set of teeth through the bottom lip) - and they did this about 30 seconds into the first game.

 

[Fire Storm]

Hehe. I did the same thing playering a 'friendly' game of AR with friends Robbie! Lined up a guy as did my teammate. We kinda both folded around the guy and hit heads. Ouch. Well, it didnt hurt me. I'm tough. Didnt feel it. At all. Much. Ok. It killed.



Now you wouldn't call ME doughy would ya!

 

[holc]

haha when our school tried to play AFL now that was funny. To handball it most of us threw the ball up about 2m before punching it, and we were trying to do classic marks everytime no matter how many people were around, we also practically ran and tackled as if we were playing rl with huge dumping tackles which the other team didnt like. We got absolutely killed but ill say we had fun mucking around!!!!!!!!

btw Kicking wise, one player who could make the swith is Brett Kimmorley, he has the best long kicking game in rl and im sure he could pick off someone from 50m away.

 

[Tamazoid]

Originally posted by dj21
Interesting that League are also courting him. Didn't they have a ban on players who converted?

It would be an interesting experiment. Would suit pagans paddock with running with the flight of the ball chest marks over a pack of players.

No. It was the Yawnyawn elitists up until recently that banned any Union players that went to League from ever returning.

 

[dr nick]

awwww diddums. Poor Tammy didnt get his own way.

boo hoo.

 

[Richoagain]

It's a union story, but anyway... here's an interesting article from the Fox Sports web-

Tonga RWC star wants to join AFL December 9, 2003

TONGA Rugby World Cup star Sila Va'enuku is plotting a radical career shift to play in the AFL.

Va'enuku, who was regarded as Tonga's best player in the narrow loss to Wales in the Rugby World Cup, had become frustrated at not picking up a rugby contract since the tournament and so is preparing to play Australian Rules.

As well as his top-level rugby exploits, 25-year-old Va'enuku is a stand-out player in the fledgling five-club Australian Rules competition in Tonga.

He has missed the cut-off for nomination of international rookies for the AFL next year, and is prepared to play in a state league in 2004 to push his AFL credentials.

Brian Clarke, head of the International Australian Football Council, had discussions with VFL club Werribee today on the player's behalf.

"If he could play in the VFL that would open a lot of people's eyes to the talent over there," Clarke said.

"The potential is enormous, and if Carlton is prepared to pick up a hurling player, perhaps that indicates the AFL clubs are starting to think outside the square a bit."

Mark Korsten, head of the Tongan league, admitted Australian Rules was a "fall-back option" for Va'enuku, who would play in the World Sevens in Los Angeles in February and was again hoping to attract a lucrative rugby contract.

"The last thing he wants to do is play rugby in Tonga when he could play Aussie Rules in Australia," Korsten said.

"But if he could play rugby in England he would be earning an AFL salary without having to put in all the hard work (switching to a new code).

"People in Aussie Rules may look at him and say, we wish we'd seen you five years ago, but he's not over the hill and if he comes to Australia he'd be serious about Australian Rules."

Va'Enuku made his international rugby debut with a small run off the bench in Tonga's first World Cup match against Italy, and then was adjudged by many as man of the match in just his second appearance against Wales, before being yellow carded in his third test against New Zealand.

 

[Tamazoid]

I'm surprised an NRL club didn't bid for him.

 

[TigerCraig]

Won't happen, he is too old. He can't be rookie listed, unlike the hurling kid, and I doubt an AFL club would use up a draft pick and a list place for him.

 

[Kurt Angle ©]

Originally posted by holc
haha my Aussie rules friend ( lives on the border practically, Urana????) well he looks so unco when passing a league ball.
He tries to spin it but keeps his arms straight and boy does it look funny.
Thats one of the biggest no-nos when passing a league ball, get the normal flat pass going first before you try and spin it.

Once of the funniest things comparing 'skills' to AFL fanatics this is...

'What skills does it take to throw a ball backwards'

I admit a simple lob is very easy from a standing position.

But running full pace, throwing a spiralling torpedo pass to another player, especially the curve you put on it for a cut out pass, to another guy running at full pace, and hit him sqaure on the chest.

No do the to your right side (if right handed).

Then do that in the 70th minute of the game when you have corked forearms from the blows, the you'll understand the skill and precision.

Again a simple underarm lob like Bocce is easy. A torpedo pass in these circumstance is not.

Now the skill some others here on this board have waxed lyrical about ... ' AFL player kick like nothing RL players can manage'....

well considering Kicking is the number one skill.

Soccer players can take a free kick... then take another free kick, and tell you the difference if they kick if 5mm to the left, and how much more/less it will spin.

AFL... just hoof it hard, and if you don't get it straight, you'll get a point for missing.

Number one skill is kicking, and you don't do it the best.

A hobby masquerading as a sport.

 

[TigerCraig]

 

[Richoagain]

Your argument held until you decided that somehow you could use the same argument a lot of AFL fans use to bag RL (ie, bag out a skill you don't understand in the slightest, and in the process kill off any credibility your argument had) to bag out AFL.

And then you finished with a vague insult, the hallmark of an ill-thought out argument.

Originally posted by Kurt Angle ©


Now the skill some others here on this board have waxed lyrical about ... ' AFL player kick like nothing RL players can manage'....

well considering Kicking is the number one skill.

Soccer players can take a free kick... then take another free kick, and tell you the difference if they kick if 5mm to the left, and how much more/less it will spin.

What makes you think AFL players can't?

You need a considerable level of skill to be able to pick out a team mate with a foot pass from 40m away.

To shoot for goal from 60m out, or to shoot for goal from the boundary requires just as much precision, but a vastly different amount and style of spin compared to a pass.

Anyway - how is soccer relevant to this argument?

AFL... just hoof it hard, and if you don't get it straight, you'll get a point for missing.

Number one skill is kicking, and you don't do it the best.

A hobby masquerading as a sport.

1. Mate, go down to the park, stand about 30m from the goal posts (rugby Hs will do fine for the purposes of this experiment) and just hoof the ball as hard as you can.

2. Watch ball go randomly in every direction, eventually requiring being retrieved from a tree.

3. Next, try to drop punt, and concentrate on accuracy rather than power. Notice the difference? Magic, isn't it.........

4. Now, once you've mastered getting the ball to go exactly where you want it to over short distances, have a crack from about 40 or 50 out.

5. For a real treat, get one of your mates to run away from you at full pelt and try to land a pass to him, on the chest, at about 50m.

6. Then do it again, but with a guy contesting him for the mark.

7. Then go out and learn to handball quickly and accurately having picked up the ball from the ground with a guy about to drop a shoulder into your jaw.

8. Then go out and learn to pick up a bouncing ball at full pace.

9. Then learn to dummy, balk, shepherd, and every other individual skill involved in the game of Australian Rules.

10. Then, if you're still keen, maybe come back and people might respect your arguments.

 

[Disgustipated]

Originally posted by Kurt Angle ©

But running full pace, throwing a spiralling torpedo pass to another player, especially the curve you put on it for a cut out pass, to another guy running at full pace, and hit him sqaure on the chest.

No do the to your right side (if right handed).

Then do that in the 70th minute of the game when you have corked forearms from the blows, the you'll understand the skill and precision.
. [/B]

Priddo's cut out pass in the 70th min to clinch the GF this year is a prime example.

 

[dr nick]

Kurt says you need skill to wrestle. Now go back and review the argument knowing where his credibility is at.

An insecure zealot if ever i saw one.