Mega Thread Port Forum 'General AFL Talk' Thread

[Marmozet]

The way this season's gone I thought I'd just go nuts and tip a few upsets this week. Went Collingwood, Carlton and Melbourne I hate footy now!

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Darling 5 goals. Lucky we drafted Jacobs.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

It's times like this I wish Portia had done our drafting. True we wouldn't have a player under 195cm but would that be such a bad thing?

 

[mic59]

Darling 5 goals. Lucky we drafted Jacobs.

I clicked "like"on the post. That may be but I certainly don't like the fact we passed on Darling. There's always these players who go quite a distance before being picked up. But all you can do is realize there's a lot of other teams in the same position. I had a look at the 2009 phantom drafts and most of them had Butcher, Moore and Pittard in the top 30. I only remember 1 or 2 that had Fyfe in the top 30.

Apparently Carlton played pretty poorly toight, kicked badly(4.11 to 3/4 time) and had the worse of the umpires(8-14). Why couldn't this have happened when we played them?

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I clicked "like"on the post. That may be but I certainly don't like the fact we passed on Darling. There's always these players who go quite a distance before being picked up. But all you can do is realize there's a lot of other teams in the same position. I had a look at the 2009 phantom drafts and most of them had Butcher, Moore and Pittard in the top 30. I only remember 1 or 2 that had Fyfe in the top 30.

Lol don't worry no one would make that mistake. Sometimes you just have to laugh or you cry.

Apparently Carlton played pretty poorly toight, kicked badly(4.11 to 3/4 time) and had the worse of the umpires(8-14). Why couldn't this have happened when we played them?

Other times it's just not your year.

 

[Relativity]

It's times like this I wish Portia had done our drafting. True we wouldn't have a player under 195cm but would that be such a bad thing?

I'd miss the unique combinations of speed and endurance.

 

[mic59]

Darling was originally expected to be top 5 but some incidents, including a fight in a nightclub and being suspended from school saw him fall to the Eagles start of 2nd round priority pick.

 

[philreich]

Carlton 4.9 halfway into the third. How in the @@@@ did we let this mob beat us.

Mind you, as bad as we were against Carlton, we did have to play against 25, not 22.....

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Darling was originally expected to be top 5 but some incidents, including a fight in a nightclub and being suspended from school saw him fall to the Eagles start of 2nd round priority pick.

Phil Walsh told Ford Fairlane pastmyprimus and I why he fell so far at a Club 1870 event last April held in Port's ONE Suite and then in the change rooms. The above didnt help - but probably added to the front that Darling put up as he had no intention of going to any other club. It was a fascinating 15 minute chat with Phil Walsh, one I was very glad to have had given the last 48 hours, before I walked off to look at other parts of the change room area and talk to Polec, Impey and White as I thought we only had another 10 minutes or so. Nearly 20 minutes later I see Ford still talking to Phil.

 

[philreich]

It'll be interesting to see how the Crows go in Perth next week, against a rampaging West Coast Eagles. After their week from hell, it's hard to see them getting withon 10 goals. Strangely, given the circumstances, I hope they're competitive.

 

[Waspy79]

Last qtr. .. holding ball rule was different for each team

Reminds me of the 2014 prelim and 2013 elim final

Umps like to get those Vic clubs over the line in the close ones.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Phil Walsh told Ford Fairlane pastmyprimus and I why he fell so far at a Club 1870 event last April held in Port's ONE Suite and then in the change rooms. The above didnt help - but probably added to the front that Darling put up as he had no intention of going to any other club. It was a fascinating 15 minute chat with Phil Walsh, one I was very glad to have had given the last 48 hours, before I walked off to look at other parts of the change room area and talk to Polec, Impey and White as I thought we only had another 10 minutes or so. Nearly 20 minutes later I see Ford still talking to Phil.

It was a great chat, here I was just some boofhead supporter at a club event and Phil just listened to questions from pastmyprimus and me and answered them all honestly and forthrightly. It was a great chat, he was brilliant and I just couldn't walk away. So poignant a time now.

 

[Grave Danger]

Darling 5 goals. Lucky we drafted Jacobs.

I believe the circumcisee had the job on Gazza today

 

[Schulzenfest]

I believe the circumcisee had the job on Gazza today

Benny couldn't have been circumcised, his scalp is still attached.

 

[StuMan]

Jacobs' tagging job today mainly consisted of caressing Ablett's back, and falling over.

 

[Schulzenfest]

 

[Dylan8]

One of my favourite references

 

[ploppy]

I follow your posts religiously and love 99% of them, but I'm staggered you'd be so simplistic here.

A players kicking style is well and truly set by the time they reach adulthood. Refinements can be made, but it's unheard of to completely break down a technique and start from scratch. The notion of there being one perfect technique applicable to every individual is an absolute fallacy. The optimum technique is vastly different for each individual and is a product of your physical capabilities, dimensions and background. A good kicking coach would recognise this and would need to spend a hell of a lot of time analysing individual techniques in order to firstly try identify what their optimum would be and then tailor their coaching work with that individual to help them get there.

That's all without even mentioning the complex variables of pressure, fatigue, gameplan (ie. boundary hugging sides will have been instinctively drilled such that their initial movements are towards the boundary line, which can cause issues if they then spot a target slightly inboard)

Think of the varieties of batting/bowling techniques in cricket, tennis shots, golf swings, pedalling styles (can't wait for the tour to start!) etc. out there. In all sports you've got to work out what works best for yourself and then refine it to suit your goals. It's never just a matter of going to Warney, Roger, Tiger or whoever and saying 'show me how to be awesome'.

I think there is a perfect way to kick and most other ways are just wrong..everyone has two legs and two arms you can copy the style of any kick. I was only safa hack but i changed the way i kicked by copying the style of good kicks at my club. Went from awkward to quite proficent by working on it and copying a style that i thought was effective. you can change everything the way you hold the ball, how high you drop it, how close you drop it, the back lift, how you point your toes, you body shape, and much more. I would point to Hartlett and and say everyone kick with that style its the best way to do it. every other way is a compomise.

 

[240volt]

Darling 5 goals. Lucky we drafted Jacobs.

Might have to dig up my old port adelaide drafting in recent years thread

 

[Boss351]

It was a great chat, here I was just some boofhead supporter at a club event and Phil just listened to questions from pastmyprimus and me and answered them all honestly and forthrightly. It was a great chat, he was brilliant and I just couldn't walk away. So poignant a time now.

good stuff, maybe you and RussellEbertHandball or anyone else with experiences with Walshy could appear on the Port podcast and talk about your recollections chatting with Phil, I know many of us would look forward to it

 

[Hellgood]

I think there is a perfect way to kick and most other ways are just wrong..everyone has two legs and two arms you can copy the style of any kick. I was only safa hack but i changed the way i kicked by copying the style of good kicks at my club. Went from awkward to quite proficent by working on it and copying a style that i thought was effective. you can change everything the way you hold the ball, how high you drop it, how close you drop it, the back lift, how you point your toes, you body shape, and much more. I would point to Hartlett and and say everyone kick with that style its the best way to do it. every other way is a compomise.

But with each week there's a growing moan on here that Hartlett isn't a good kick...

So you would try to 'fix' Buddy's action? Without the famous arc he would lose 10-15m of penetration! Similarly, Jonathon Brown always favoured swinging to his right (regardless of being in play or from a set shot) to get a bit more leverage. Whereas Jay Schulz has had considerable success by running straight as a die towards his target.

Then look at the smaller blokes. Simon Black was amazing at the way he angled his body to find the space to kick the footy - breaking all the regurgitated rules you hear in juniors like 'don't kick across the body' - yet still consistently delivered the footy absolutely lace out (Cyril Rioli very similar). There's just very little for a lithe bloke like him to take from the way quad heavy beasts like Hartlett and Hurn address a kick.

Some players like Butcher reach a point where radical change becomes necessary for the benefit of their mindset (remember Nick Riewoldt resorting kissing his knee after a couple of frustrating years in front of goal?), but that is the case for very few AFL footballers. Ultimately it comes down to analysing each individual player and then tailoring a plan for them to improve their unique style. Those dinky inside of the left boot kicks that Polec weighs to perfection coming inboard aren't in any coaching manual, yet any coach who wants to stop him from doing it is an idiot because Polec has built up immense confidence that he can pull it off 99% of the time.

Going back to cricket, Steve Smith was brutally described as a spaz when he first started appearing for Australia. Yes he's refined his game a lot, but still looks very unconventional at the crease with his movements unlike a (when in form!) beautifully calm and balanced Alistair Cook. Brian Lara had an ludicrously large backlift, but it worked amazingly well for him scything the ball through the off side with tremendous power. The techniques of these guys are virtually incomparable, but the common theme is that they work for the individual and with experience they have come to understand their game to an extent where they have developed an internal troubleshooting mechanism. Coaches will help by giving them a different perspective of their issues, but ultimately it comes down to whether their experience tells them that the coaches hypothesis is worth taking on board.

Burgoyne going to a kicker in the style of say either of the Kanes and saying:

'well first you stride forward with immense power, don't worry about any body contact it's probably not going to bring a player of my stature down, once you're inevitably clear of the pack due to being blessed with extreme pace have a quick think of who I want to kick to (hmm do I go to an incredibly mobile 193cm beast in Roughie... Or Cyril's just made his first move into space a split second before his opponent because he was too busy watching him... Or there's Gunston cleverly doubling back I would just need to pop it over the top... decisions... ah stuff it I'll just nail Roughy on the tit), I then take a quick look at the ball and see I've got the laces pointing outwards, balls upright, bucket of water etc. then go bang with my superior fast twitch fibres'

is not going to help them!

 

[pastmyprimus]

It was a great chat, here I was just some boofhead supporter at a club event and Phil just listened to questions from pastmyprimus and me and answered them all honestly and forthrightly. It was a great chat, he was brilliant and I just couldn't walk away. So poignant a time now.

I remember the chat clearly. He was incredibly generous with his time. There we were, two boofhead supporters asking him question after question and no suggestion at all that he wanted us to move on. I got the impression we could have spoken to him all night. I walked away eventually on a real high.

A memory that will stay with me.

 

[Kickpuncher]

Might have to dig up my old port adelaide drafting in recent years thread

After this year's results it seems like a good time to bring back the 'spuds who tear us apart' thread.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I follow your posts religiously and love 99% of them, but I'm staggered you'd be so simplistic here.

A players kicking style is well and truly set by the time they reach adulthood. Refinements can be made, but it's unheard of to completely break down a technique and start from scratch. The notion of there being one perfect technique applicable to every individual is an absolute fallacy. The optimum technique is vastly different for each individual and is a product of your physical capabilities, dimensions and background. A good kicking coach would recognise this and would need to spend a hell of a lot of time analysing individual techniques in order to firstly try identify what their optimum would be and then tailor their coaching work with that individual to help them get there.

That's all without even mentioning the complex variables of pressure, fatigue, gameplan (ie. boundary hugging sides will have been instinctively drilled such that their initial movements are towards the boundary line, which can cause issues if they then spot a target slightly inboard)

Think of the varieties of batting/bowling techniques in cricket, tennis shots, golf swings, pedalling styles (can't wait for the tour to start!) etc. out there. In all sports you've got to work out what works best for yourself and then refine it to suit your goals. It's never just a matter of going to Warney, Roger, Tiger or whoever and saying 'show me how to be awesome'.

Once again another extreme interpretation of a relatively simple solution to marginal improvement and a lot of hard work.

The aim is to improve kicking efficiency by 5%-10%-15% not 100%. If you get an 18 year old into the club and he puts in 40 hours a week and 40 weeks a year that's 1,600 hours a year at the club and you are telling me that when he hits 28 and has put in 16,000 hours at the club he cant improve 5%-10%-15%? Ok that 16,000 hours includes a lot of non kicking time - the majority but you cant tell me that 2,000 hours of that time and maybe another 2,000 hours of his own time in that other 128 hours a week over 10 years cant be added to improving kicking.

I never said there was one perfect techique. There is no perfect technique but you can work yourself closer to perfection.

Of course its more than going up and asking a champion how to be awesome. The greats have to be prepared to coach and put in a s**t load of time to make people aewsome. That's why Warne is a tune up here and there type coach rather than a Terry Jenner full time coach who works on massive volume of repetition.

Look at Dennis Lillee for a great who had to change his bowling technique. He broke down and employed Dr Frank Pyke to fix his back and Austin Robertson Senior - once the fastest man in the world in the 1930's, to rebuild his run up and make it one of the most beautiful and smooth fast bowling runups along with Michael Holdings - who ran 400m track for Jamaica. He then became a great cricket coach, a fast bowling coach because he went all round the world taking long term coaching clinics starting Oz, spent a couple of years plying sield cricket in Tassie and coaching, but mainly thru his work in the sub continent with the clinics/camps run by the Madras Rubber Factory. He wasnt a tune up coach. But the greats can sometimes make a quick call just on gut feel and observation. Sometimes they are right. Lillee saw Mitchell Johnson bowl 2 balls and he rang Rod Marsh at the Academy and said - I found one - in reference to there decade long quest to find a left arm fast bowler who could bowl fast and swing the ball. Could a non great ex fast bowler have made that call that quickly?? Who knows. And he told a 14 year old Sachin Tendulkar at his MRF clinic to concentrate on his batting because he wont make a great fast bowler. I reckon anyone probably could have made that call.

 

[Jim Dixon]

Saints doing well against the Bombres. Got to say I'm impressed with the work Richo has done with them.