The torpedo punt

[Goody1971]

I am no doubt showing my age here, but one of the saddest things for me about the evolution of Aussie Rules footy over the past decades has been the virtual extinction of the mighty torpedo punt kick. Obviously the game these days relies on precise disposal and controlled possession among many other highly analysed elements, and the poor old torp really has no major place in it. But every now and then I would love to see one get booted up the ground, just for old times' sake.

If I recall correctly, last season Hodgey wobbled one through for a goal against the pies from the centre square and Cyril sometimes seems to boot one through the posts from close range.

Who else longs for more torpedo action and which Hawthorn players do you reckon should have a crack at it and under what circumstances?

I realise this is a bit of a light-on topic but all this injury talk and waiting for March 27 is driving me a bit nuts....

 

[Dinsdale]

a lot of us still lament the loss of the drop-kick...

 

[Henry Jr]

a lot of us still lament the loss of the drop-kick...

I went the to Doggies game a few weeks back and there were a few drop kicks there!

 

[HigginsHawk]

Torp's were good to watch, especially unloading them from full back and watching them spiral towards centre wing. Ben Graham and Anthony Rocca were probably the last reasonable exponents of it on a regular basis. Would still be a handy way of breaking the defensive zone after a kick in.

For those even a bit older will remember the drop kick and stab pass which was gone by the mid 70's. Last time I actually saw one in a game was by Darren Jarman to Dunstall and never got more than a meter off the ground. Dunstall later commented that it knocked the wind out of him for a moment.

Maybe they can bring that in for next years NAB Cup, 7 points for a torp or drop kicked goal, just like in super rules.

 

[Hawker_Ant]

Torpedoes are considered too inaccurate and hard to control. It's all about possession (often through the hands) these days.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

A good torp is a sight to behold however, even the best exponents of it stuff it up regularly thus its demise from the game.

 

[arupist]

Kicking records. Can anyone kick the drop punt this far?

Place Kicks:
107 yards - Albert Thurgood (Essendon), using a place kick (6/22/1899)
105 yards, 1ft - Dave McNamara (St Kilda VFL), Junction Oval, July 21 1914
103 yards, 2in - Jack Leith (Melbourne VFL),. MCG, May 23 1905
98 yards - Austin Robertson (Port Melbourne VFA), Port Melbourne CG, August 1941
Drop Kicks:
116 yards - Fred Fanning (Melbourne Seconds VFL), v Richmond, Seconds Grand Final, MCG, September 1939
94 yards, 2ft - Horrie Clover (Carlton VFL), v Richmond, Princes Park, July 9 1921.
93 yards, 1ft - Joe Garbutt (Port Melbourne VFA), v Northcote, MCG, Grand Final, October 1929.
92 yards, 1ft - Jack Worrall (Fitzroy VFA), v Carlton, MCG, August 1889.
90 yards - Albert Thurgood (Essendon VFA), v Melbourne, MCG, July 1893.
85 yards - Bernie Quinlan (Footscray VFL), Melbourne, Western Oval, June 11 1966.
84 yards - Paul Vinar (Geelong VFL), HSV7 champion kick, 1965.
Punt Kicks:
94 yards, 2ft - Harry Vallence (Carlton VFL), v Collingwood, Victoria Park, May 27 1933.
94 yards - Jeff Fehring (St Kilda VFL), v Collingwood, Moorabbin Oval, April 11 1981.
93 yards, 1ft - Frank Caine (Carlton VFL), v St Kilda, Junction Oval, June 17 1905.
91 yards - Ray Kercheaval (Chicago USA), with Australian football, USA, 1935
87 yards - Ross Glendinning (Nth Melbourne), Victoria Park, April 30 1983.
80 yards, 6in - Paul Vinar (Geelong VFL), Craven Filter Champion Kick, Melbourne, 1968.

NFL:
65 yards - Ola Kimrin, preseason. Denver Broncos (W 31-0) vs. Seattle Seahawks, 8/25/2002.
63 yards - Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints (W 19-17) vs. Detroit Lions, 11/8/1970
63 yards - Jason Elam, Denver Broncos (W 37-24) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, 10/25/1998

 

[Stard Picket]

Wirrapunda was a torp machine loved his bombs from full back.

 

[Hawk Dork]

where's Alan Martello when you need him?

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Wirrapunda was a torp machine loved his bombs from full back.

Anothony Daniher and Ben Graham used to let them rip from there as well.

Also miss the big pack marks. Don't see those too much anymore.

 

[aquila]

One of the hawthorn players did a torp from the half back line on the weekend.

The long distance comp at half time was a pretty elegant demonstration of why it has gone the way of the dodo.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

We had a player at Norwood in the late 60s and early 70s named Noel Pettingill who was a monsterous kick. In round 1, 1972, Noel had the ball on the defence side of centre at Norwood Oval. He went back and launched a torpedo that went through the goal, post high and hit the fence at the back of the oval.

It was measured the next day by the coach and vice captain of the club, and they measured it at 105 metres. I was easily the biggest kick I have ever seen. Trouble is, it wasn't in an official kicking competition, so it doesn't stand amongst the records.

Noel was a consistently long kick as well. One time at AAMI stadium he booted one from the half back line and it bounced in the forward pocket before going out of bounds. Another time he won the Craven A national long kicking competition, and his longest kick was a wrong foot droppy

 

[grizzlym]

What a great idea for a thread.

My first memory of the torp is it being explained to me when I was a tacker by my uncle. He was a champion footballer and, as I found out in later life, a champion drinker.

We were sitting in the backyard of my folk's house and he was spinning a rainbow-coloured plastic footy in his big hands. The smoldering tip of Rothmans cigarette was glowing somewhere in the blur of footy, fingers and smoke.

I mustn't have been much older than four, because shortly after there was a family feud over my grandfather's estate and my father and uncle fell out for 20 years. Not a word was spoken in that time.

When I they resolved their differences over the poisoned Shekels, my uncle was ravaged by years of living off his footy legend status. The booze, cigarettes and bad business decisions had stripped him of his family, his home and his future. He only re-entered our lives for a year or so before a massive heart attack claimed him.

Anyway, back to the backyard in Camberwell with him spinning the footy in his hands. And I asked him about the different kicks you could do. He laughed, perhaps from bitter experience, and said, "footy's changed, the coach really only wants us to use the drop punt now, less chance of error." (Well, in words a 4-year-old could digest.)

"But there used to be a lot of other kicks that were used," he continued.

He paused, before reeling off a list of exotic sounding kicks, "the drop kick, the stab pass, the torpedo punt, the place kick". He said the names with a fond nostalgia like they were women he once knew and loved.

I was eager to know more about these new/old kicks, and he willing obliged by kicking this toy footy into the sheets hanging on the clothes line. He did it over and over. Peeling off torps. Ripping out stab passes. And daintily chipping drop kicks. I was entranced.

He was as enthusiastic as I was. My mum, however, who was watching from the kitchen window, was less enamored as her sheets were being peppered with kicks from another time. But she let us be.

When we went inside my uncle sat down and drew me diagrams of how to kick these arcane kicks. It was like I was being conferred with knowledge from a distant era, especially as he told me stories of the great exponents of each kick.

That's my memory of the torp. And my abiding memory of my late uncle. His words still ring in my ears though, "you won't see these kicks any more. Shame really."

A shame indeed.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Being a former Full Back, and Captain of my club I had the licence to utilise the 'torp' on occasion when kicking out.
Especially when there's two minutes left on the clock and we need the ball at the other end.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of 'getting onto' a Torp and watching it spear through the air, further and further.

I can totally understand why it's gone by the wayside though, not only is it not particularly efficient for hitting a target, if it doesn't come off, it goes well to the left or right, and who in this day and age wants that sort of foolish blunder being the one thing that us supporters remember your AFL career by.

 

[Davo23]

where's Alan Martello when you need him?

You talking about Alan "Out-of-bounds-on-the-full" Martello?


.

 

[Henry Jr]

Being a former Full Back, and Captain of my club I had the licence to utilise the 'torp' on occasion when kicking out.
Especially when there's two minutes left on the clock and we need the ball at the other end.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of 'getting onto' a Torp and watching it spear through the air, further and further.

I can totally understand why it's gone by the wayside though, not only is it not particularly efficient for hitting a target, if it doesn't come off, it goes well to the left or right, and who in this day and age wants that sort of foolish blunder being the one thing that us supporters remember your AFL career by.

I reckon you have summed it up well Galon.

However, I will add that I think because of the reasons above, I believe that its under-used. Why? I think that football has become very robotic and that A + B = C (I'll explain that latter Dash).

I think you would find that many a time when a torp is kicked into packed forward line, the forward ends up with it as they tend to judge the flight of the ball better, even when its a bit of a shank.

Nobody knows where its going. Short, long, left or right. You can't setup a defence for it really.

 

[Hawk Dork]

You talking about Alan "Out-of-bounds-on-the-full" Martello?


.

would have travelled 70 yards to get there though.

I vaguely remember he punctured a footy with a kick one day(don't know if it was real or footy folklore?)

 

[Hawkinspired]

What a great idea for a thread.

My first memory of the torp is it being explained to me when I was a tacker by my uncle. He was a champion footballer and, as I found out in later life, a champion drinker.

We were sitting in the backyard of my folk's house and he was spinning a rainbow-coloured plastic footy in his big hands. The smoldering tip of Rothmans cigarette was glowing somewhere in the blur of footy, fingers and smoke.

I mustn't have been much older than four, because shortly after there was a family feud over my grandfather's estate and my father and uncle fell out for 20 years. Not a word was spoken in that time.

When I they resolved their differences over the poisoned Shekels, my uncle was ravaged by years of living off his footy legend status. The booze, cigarettes and bad business decisions had stripped him of his family, his home and his future. He only re-entered our lives for a year or so before a massive heart attack claimed him.

Anyway, back to the backyard in Camberwell with him spinning the footy in his hands. And I asked him about the different kicks you could do. He laughed, perhaps from bitter experience, and said, "footy's changed, the coach really only wants us to use the drop punt now, less chance of error." (Well, in words a 4-year-old could digest.)

"But there used to be a lot of other kicks that were used," he continued.

He paused, before reeling off a list of exotic sounding kicks, "the drop kick, the stab pass, the torpedo punt, the place kick". He said the names with a fond nostalgia like they were women he once knew and loved.

I was eager to know more about these new/old kicks, and he willing obliged by kicking this toy footy into the sheets hanging on the clothes line. He did it over and over. Peeling off torps. Ripping out stab passes. And daintily chipping drop kicks. I was entranced.

He was as enthusiastic as I was. My mum, however, who was watching from the kitchen window, was less enamored as her sheets were being peppered with kicks from another time. But she let us be.

When we went inside my uncle sat down and drew me diagrams of how to kick these arcane kicks. It was like I was being conferred with knowledge from a distant era, especially as he told me stories of the great exponents of each kick.

That's my memory of the torp. And my abiding memory of my late uncle. His words still ring in my ears though, "you won't see these kicks any more. Shame really."

A shame indeed.

Great story.

You can see why the 'Torp' was fazed out of the game, but why the 'Drop kick'? I'm not old enough to remember the days of football where the drop kick was around, but i always here the older blokes rave about them.

 

[arupist]

You can see why the 'Torp' was fazed out of the game, but why the 'Drop kick'? I'm not old enough to remember the days of football where the drop kick was around, but i always here the older blokes rave about them.

The drop kick, when executed correctly, was a sight to behold. Unfortunately, it was also very difficult to time correctly and only the best could do it correctly all the time. The key was to connect with the ball at the precise moment the ball touched the ground. Otherwise we have a drop punt or an attempt to kick a ball that has bounced. Wet weather was not a friend of the drop kick either.

I recall playing with a guy who used the drop kick exclusively on kick-outs. Rarely missed one, even in the wet. Got great clearance but awfully dangerous if it didn't work. So we now play percentages on kicking.

Just need to look at those who cannot consistently deliver a kick in today's football. How much worse would it be if the risk factor was ten-fold?

Yes, a pity these types have gone, but we would go ballistic on this board if one of our players shanked a drop kick and cost a goal.

 

[WeneedyoungJarmans]

How often do you see a side playing keepings off around the half back line. Then after 2 or 3 passes, find they have to go back and kick long to a contest 50m away. The opposition use the period during the 2 or 3 passes to man up and close down the loose options. What usually then happens is a 50/50 contest following the long drop punt. So often, the opposition regains posession knowing predictably where the ball is going. Rarely, does it result is a clean break with a loose man shooting for goal.

Why.. I repeat why dont sides use the torp punt in this instanc, on occasion, not always, to try and kick the ball over the expected contest. The side expecting it should have players ready to shepherd the pack and someone out the back ready to run on to the mark in space.

The ball travels quickly through the air, faster than a drop punt and on the downward trajectory is harder to read in terms of where it will land. So often it goes the extra 5 metres players are not expecting.

I agree it can and should be used in an attacking capacity so long as the destination of the kick does not result in putting the opposition in a prime position to kick a goal on the rebound. I would not have thought this is the case if kicking from a half back flank to deep forward and your side is expecting the outcome.

 

[mrcurly]

It is a shame the torp is not used any more - it was a great shock weapon. I agree - it could be used to clear defensive zones, although i believe the major problem is hardly anybody knows how to kick the torp properly any more.

Possession football has not only taken a lot of the contest out of the game, the fear of a handover has forced most players to stick to a strict game plan - which includes using the most accurate kick.

Those who have watched Michael Tuck pinging at the goals from well inside the centre square at Princes park would know what a great weapon the torpedo could be. You dont need to be built like Al Martello, its just timing - in fact Tuck was far more accurate than Marty. It was Blights kick of choice too.... and Hudson had enormous accuracy with the flat punt. God there is a lot to hate about percentage football!

 

[onthemoney]

Love the torp.. I think the beauty of a good torp off the boot is that after stuffing up 10 of them, the one that comes off is all that much sweeter! Too unreliable, but I'd love to see a few more.

While on other kicks... There was lots of talk of the Wet Weather Punt when I was younger.. Am I right in saying you pretty much hold the ball flat across and kick the crap out of it? Did Sheeds have something to do with that story?

 

[Hawk Since Birth]

The funny thing is that although the torp has all but disappeared from the senior game the Auskick kids still love to see a coach or a dad 'go the torp' at training and then they want to learn how to do it themselves.

I think that one of the secrets to it is to try and get your timing right without necessarily trying to kick it too hard. It's like a good golf swing, rhythm and timing without too much brute force.

 

[Goody1971]

Thanks everyone for your input on this one - some great stories and memories...glad to hear I'm not the only one who misses the good old torp.

 

[Sixpence]

I'm not old enough to remember the days of football where the drop kick was around, but i always here the older blokes rave about them.

The 'drop kick' is still around. Can be found in pubs, stands at footy games and internet forums!