How would you fix the yips?

[Gadzorks]

We have a goal scoring problem and until we resolve that we are not on the road to glory.

‘ If I ran the zoo’ (Dr Seuss) I’d.....

1. I’d go to the main training ground and remove the point posts. Graphic big statement.

2. Reframe the intent of the game - the intent of the game is to get the ball into a position so that we can take a shot. The shot is just what we do, the hard part is getting the ball into a position inside the 50.

neither would probably work, but what would you do if you ran the zoo?

 

[Dalions]

We have a goal scoring problem and until we resolve that we are not on the road to glory.

‘ If I ran the zoo’ (Dr Seuss) I’d.....

1. I’d go to the main training ground and remove the point posts. Graphic big statement.

2. Reframe the intent of the game - the intent of the game is to get the ball into a position so that we can take a shot. The shot is just what we do, the hard part is getting the ball into a position inside the 50.

neither would probably work, but what would you do if you ran the zoo?

Just #uncage the bloody things and let them off the chain.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I actually like first idea...

I'd perhaps look into getting a psychologist. Supposedly that's helped with other forwards before

 

[dlanod]

We have a goal scoring problem and until we resolve that we are not on the road to glory.

‘ If I ran the zoo’ (Dr Seuss) I’d.....

1. I’d go to the main training ground and remove the point posts. Graphic big statement.

2. Reframe the intent of the game - the intent of the game is to get the ball into a position so that we can take a shot. The shot is just what we do, the hard part is getting the ball into a position inside the 50.

neither would probably work, but what would you do if you ran the zoo?

A lot of it is our game plan. Coming down the wings and entering to one pocket either results in a mark on a sharp angle or a contested ball and a snap shot at best, so if we refocused on our forward 50 entry to come through the top of the fifty metre arc we'd see a lot better quality shots on goal. Of course, that might then be less successful at generating shots on goal...

 

[M Malice]

As I said in the review thread it doesn't matter how much practice you do you can not duplicate match day pressure, it's all in the head like golf putting yips, it seems to be self fulfilling and spreads through the team like a coronavirus, as soon as we miss a few at the start it just keeps on rolling.

Maybe no practice at all would work.

 

[Macca225]

 

[Johnny Bananas]

A lot of it is our game plan. Coming down the wings and entering to one pocket either results in a mark on a sharp angle or a contested ball and a snap shot at best, so if we refocused on our forward 50 entry to come through the top of the fifty metre arc we'd see a lot better quality shots on goal. Of course, that might then be less successful at generating shots on goal...

We could look to dish it off more after marking on a tight angle inside 50, instead of taking low percentage shots.

 

[The Zork]

An old basketball coach told me kobe bryant used to train on a ring that had less diameter.. I can’t see anything online about it but they have proven elsewhere in a study that it can improve free throws using a smaller ring, maybe smaller goals would have a similar effect.
It sounds like at training their goal kicking is good though, so i dunno.

 

[Maroon Monsoon]

To fix the yips Id probably run a players camp next preseason that addresses the players mental weakness. You know the type, real pseudo military stuff, maybe blare the tigers song at them while their team mates abuse them with personal traumas shared in confidence. Wonder if there's anyone in seq who runs things like that

Edit: didn't we bring someone in halfway through last season to help Charlie with his set shots? He went gangbusters after that so maybe bring the same bloke in to work with the whole team

 

[dlanod]

We could look to dish it off more after marking on a tight angle inside 50, instead of taking low percentage shots.

This is tougher than doing it the kick beforehand because there is such a limited area of the ground that you can realistically target from a forward pocket, if you're not going for goal. Think about a 30m arc from the forward pocket, the amount of space in there, and about 75% of the players on the field would be in that space.

Compare that to a 30m arc around the position from the kick before, i.e. on the wing about the 50m arc. It gives you a lot more room to find a free player.

 

[Gibbo_88]

No idea how to fix them but just posted some stats in the review thread. Thought it would be worth posting here as well.

Can't find the link now but there was a blog post from Squiggle (2018 or 2019?) about the Eagles and their goal kicking accuracy. I think they were converting at about 60% for a lot of the season and the author made the point that at some point they would revert to the mean, no team had kicked that accurately and maintained it for a season.

Obviously last night blows our numbers out a bit further but even if we don't include last night, we're a fair way off being "average" and the round hasn't finished yet. The whole competition is converting (goals-behinds) at about 52% and right now we are going at 44% (47% before last night). The next worst teams are the Swans who are going at 48%. The big outlier is St. Kilda going at 63%. At some point in time we'll creep back up to 52% but who knows when that will be.

 

[Maroon Monsoon]

No idea how to fix them but just posted some stats in the review thread. Thought it would be worth posting here as well.

Can't find the link now but there was a blog post from Squiggle (2018 or 2019?) about the Eagles and their goal kicking accuracy. I think they were converting at about 60% for a lot of the season and the author made the point that at some point they would revert to the mean, no team had kicked that accurately and maintained it for a season.

Obviously last night blows our numbers out a bit further but even if we don't include last night, we're a fair way off being "average" and the round hasn't finished yet. The whole competition is converting (goals-behinds) at about 52% and right now we are going at 44% (47% before last night). The next worst teams are the Swans who are going at 48%. The big outlier is St. Kilda going at 63%. At some point in time we'll creep back up to 52% but who knows when that will be.

Thats very interesting. Do you have any numbers for our conversion rate last year? That might be a good representation of our team specific mean we can expect to revert back towards as the season goes on

 

[Dylan12]

I'd probably send the entire playing down to Gold Coast at the end of the season, engage Brett Burton and Collective Minds to run a camp for a few days and that should sort the list and their goalkicking out pretty quick smart.

Oh wait...

 

[Dalions]

Maybe they should just change their thinking to a pass that they want to put just over the goal umpires head.
Like many kicks for teammates last night. They were straight but just over their head.

 

[M Malice]

An old basketball coach told me kobe bryant used to train on a ring that had less diameter.. I can’t see anything online about it but they have proven elsewhere in a study that it can improve free throws using a smaller ring, maybe smaller goals would have a similar effect.
It sounds like at training their goal kicking is good though, so i dunno.

This makes a lot of sense, if you put a player in the centre of the goal most players would be able to get it very close to them a large percentage of the time, stick a bigger target there ie. goal posts and suddenly it becomes difficult.

 

[Sherrinator]

Some clubs have the supporters move a target behind the goals. As a kid, we would aim for a pin point in the centre of the sticks (unless there was wind).

I think the real issue is our guys are exhausted which has a bit to with age of some players, maybe our game plan and we seem to have a couple of turnover merchants in our team who put everyone into a defensive scramble (which is exhausting). The scoreboard pressure anxiety is also clearly prevalent.

 

[martinson]

A lot of it is our game plan. Coming down the wings and entering to one pocket either results in a mark on a sharp angle or a contested ball and a snap shot at best, so if we refocused on our forward 50 entry to come through the top of the fifty metre arc we'd see a lot better quality shots on goal. Of course, that might then be less successful at generating shots on goal...

I've become convinced that we often have the opportunity to go deeper and more direct but our players refuse to do it because the gameplan is to look for a shorter target down the flanks.

So far it just hasn't worked in big games . We burnt 2 or 3 goals last night by refusing to direct it long when we had players running into space towards the front of goal and instead to a one on one on a flank.

Richmond knew what was coming every time.

 

[martinson]

An old basketball coach told me kobe bryant used to train on a ring that had less diameter.. I can’t see anything online about it but they have proven elsewhere in a study that it can improve free throws using a smaller ring, maybe smaller goals would have a similar effect.
It sounds like at training their goal kicking is good though, so i dunno.

Bradman used to practice his batting with a stump.

Of course he was Bradman so he could probably hit it with a stump.

 

[Dalions]

I've become convinced that we often have the opportunity to go deeper and more direct but our players refuse to do it because the gameplan is to look for a shorter target down the flanks.

So far it just hasn't worked in big games . We burnt 2 or 3 goals last night by refusing to direct it long when we had players running into space towards the front of goal and instead to a one on one on a flank.

Richmond knew what was coming every time.

We played predictable footy last night which we haven’t done a lot of so far this year.
It was evident that we didn’t have the run in our legs to run it up the guts and or the skill to pull it off.
So we went into our shells.
Either that, or it was a pre-conceived plan so we didn’t give them a look at our real plan? Come finals, so we can hit them with something new.

 

[martinson]

We played predictable footy last night which we haven’t done a lot of so far this year.
It was evident that we didn’t have the run in our legs to run it up the guts and or the skill to pull it off.
So we went into our shells.
Either that, or it was a pre-conceived plan so we didn’t give them a look at our real plan? Come finals, so we can hit them with something new.

For sure.

I'm actually emboldened by last night instead of disheartened.

Provided we get our best side in and clinically work out how to mix it up better.

 

[M Malice]

Bradman used to practice his batting with a stump.

Of course he was Bradman so he could probably hit it with a stump.

He could have hit a marble with a toothpick.

 

[Dalions]

He could have hit a marble with a toothpick.

I reckon I could too.
But not if the marble is travelling at 140kmh

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Bradman used to practice his batting with a stump.

Of course he was Bradman so he could probably hit it with a stump.

A stump and a golf ball!

 

[EurekaKid]

I'd drill further into the question before I set about a solution.

- Could we just be performing below expectation and it's being highlighted by key games and this will just average out over time?
- How often are these behinds resulting in repeat entries and goals because we are actually pretty good and defending kickouts?
- Could we not be creating turnovers and or converting promising transitions into easier set shot or over the top opportunities at goal?
- Are there particular culprits who might have either a technical, physical or mental problem to overcome? McStay seems to be a combination of technique and mental, whereas some guys might simply be less accurate because they get more shots in congestions/roving packs or take more audacious chances.
- We play a game style based on strength at stoppages and territory. We create a lot of scoring opportunities from stoppages, chaos balls and key forwards creating contests rather than plucking big marks or taking lead up marks. Could changing this style have unintended consequences?
- Have guys actually been improving based on work already done? Rayner for example.

Could there be a better investment of our time and lower hanging fruit? For example...
- Working on contested marking and leading patterns of key forwards
- Getting the ball in the hands of the best users and choosing the right options going inside 50
- Ill-disciplined free kicks and turnovers that thwart our attacks or gift the opposition easy transitions
- Putting more pressure on good opposition to force them to be less accurate

 

[Gibbo_88]

Thats very interesting. Do you have any numbers for our conversion rate last year? That might be a good representation of our team specific mean we can expect to revert back towards as the season goes on

Just had a look, the numbers are easy enough to find on the stats page of the AFL website Here

We were bang on 50%, 307 goals and behinds. Did a quick look at the other teams in the top 6 last year and they were all around 54-55%. The lowest accuracy for the year was St. Kilda with 48%. I had a quick look back to see if there is anyone over the past 5 years and couldn't see anyone that is going at less than 48% so it is very unusual the situation we're in. There's also going to be less games this season to improve our position.

Looking back over the stats in for/against. We're right up there for inside 50's, average scores for and against, contested possessions and clearances but we just don't have a key forward or two that's a reliable shot at goal to finish off all the hard work we're doing.