How about the crows learn to kick the ball straight?

[Rear Admiral]

I watch other games and constantly find myself comparing the number of times that other teams kick goals on a consistent basis.. The big play, the play that could just put a dent in the oppositions spirit, the big goal that will electrify the crowd... guaranteed we will miss more often than not, easily guaranteed..

And that ignores the simple shots that are just part of building a lead.. All we seem to do is brush it away with "yeah that's a problem we need to turn around".. It's seriously crisis point now, disgusting..

The fact that we don't get a top-shelf goal kicking coach and spend serious amounts of training time on this problem truly shows it's at crisis point. Had we converted all those set shots early on, I'd bet my bottom dollar it would've knocked the wind out of Freo's sails, and we'd have won the game early on in the piece. But more the point, it's a problem we've had for years.

 

[Coopers]

We came very close to losing against Geelong for the same reason - we missed several fairly regulation set shots in the first half. Very nearly came back to bite us.

 

[jackster83]

We all seem to lean back too much on the kick, which results in a loss of control over the direction the ball takes.

Compare this to D. Jarman who used to lean slightly forward to ensure his head was directly over the ball when he kicked.

 

[ltdamn]

Kicking straight would have won us at least 2 extra games this season guaranteed. It's the difference between almost being in the 8 and not being even close right now.

If our coaches aren't ashamed enough off that fact alone, they should resign.

 

[Vader]

It's not only goal kicking that's terrible. Inability to hit targets around the ground is poor too.

I turned the TV off when a Crows player (was it Otten?) kicked straight to a Freo player who turned and goaled. Commentary had just been warning how dangerous it was to play a certain way, because of what could happen, then the Crows did exactly that! Text book case of what not to do. How embarrassing.

Really? I cheered for Freo at that moment. It was a classic case of poetic justice.

Adelaide had wasted the previous 2 minutes by chipping it around the back line. I can understand playing the clock if we were 11pts up with 3 min left in the final quarter. Doing it when 11pts down, with 3min to go in the 3rd quarter was unforgiveable. It was poor play by Adelaide and it deserved to be punished. I'm glad that Freo made us pay full price.

Stuffing around with the ball like that was always going to end in disaster. It was only a matter of time before someone stuffed up, resulting in an easy goal to Freo - I saw it coming about a minute before Otten even got the ball.

 

[Vader]

Kicking straight would have won us at least 2 extra games this season guaranteed. It's the difference between almost being in the 8 and not being even close right now.

If our coaches aren't ashamed enough off that fact alone, they should resign.

Try 5 games. It's the difference between Adelaide finishing 12th and repeating our top-4 finish from 2012.

We could/should have won the games against Freo (twice), Hawthorn, Collingwood & West Coast. We may also have won the Carlton game as well (though that scoreline blew out in the last 10min when the Adelaide players gave up).

 

[Crow54]

Really? I cheered for Freo at that moment. It was a classic case of poetic justice.

Adelaide had wasted the previous 2 minutes by chipping it around the back line. I can understand playing the clock if we were 11pts up with 3 min left in the final quarter. Doing it when 11pts down, with 3min to go in the 3rd quarter was unforgiveable. It was poor play by Adelaide and it deserved to be punished. I'm glad that Freo made us pay full price.

Stuffing around with the ball like that was always going to end in disaster. It was only a matter of time before someone stuffed up, resulting in an easy goal to Freo - I saw it coming about a minute before Otten even got the ball.

Well, so did I. I didn't cheer for Freo though, because I'm a Crows' supporter. (My daughter may have done, as Freo is her second team.) As furious as I get at dumb play by the Crows, I can't see myself cheering for the other team.

 

[Vader]

Well, so did I. I didn't cheer for Freo though, because I'm a Crows' supporter. (My daughter may have done, as Freo is her second team.) As furious as I get at dumb play by the Crows, I can't see myself cheering for the other team.

I don't normally.. but when the Crows are doing something that is so infuriatingly stupid that it deserves to be punished.. and the opposition manage to punish them accordingly. I find myself cheering, albeit briefly, for the opposition.

 

[Crowked]

We handball to team mates in a worse position very well and very often.

Pity we have no other skills. Cant kick, can't mark, cant tackle, cant even sheppard our team mate. Close to the least skillful team in the comp.

 

[Vader]

We handball to team mates in a worse position very well and very often.

Pity we have no other skills. Cant kick, can't mark, cant tackle, cant even sheppard our team mate. Close to the least skillful team in the comp.

If only that were even vaguely close to true. We all watch our own team with eagle eyes, noting every turnover and castigating the offender (doubly so if it's a favourite whipping boy). We don't watch the opposition anywhere near as closely - and therefore don't notice that they too make just as many mistakes as we do, particularly when put under pressure by the Adelaide defenders. Even the great and mighty Geelong were turning the ball over with obscene regularity when they played us a week ago, particularly in the first quarter when none of the players seemed capable of hitting a target (from either side).

Don't get me wrong.. it's infuriating to watch, but the reality is that we're no better and no worse than most of the other teams in this regard.

 

[spexau]

I don't normally.. but when the Crows are doing something that is so infuriatingly stupid that it deserves to be punished.. and the opposition manage to punish them accordingly. I find myself cheering, albeit briefly, for the opposition.

It was so frustrating because you could see it coming a mile off. I just wish our midfielders would work harder to provide an option. They all need to be taught that to break that kind of zone you have to lead for each other to create space and then work the ball into that space. Switching slowly from side to side hoping the zoning team makes a mistake doesn't work especially against teams like Freo.

 

[spexau]

If only that were even vaguely close to true. We all watch our own team with eagle eyes, noting every turnover and castigating the offender (doubly so if it's a favourite whipping boy). We don't watch the opposition anywhere near as closely - and therefore don't notice that they too make just as many mistakes as we do, particularly when put under pressure by the Adelaide defenders. Even the great and mighty Geelong were turning the ball over with obscene regularity when they played us a week ago, particularly in the first quarter when none of the players seemed capable of hitting a target (from either side).

Don't get me wrong.. it's infuriating to watch, but the reality is that we're no better and no worse than most of the other teams in this regard.

Exactly. Pressure does funny things to even the most skillful players.

I'd actually point out that our tackling has improved a lot this year especially in the 2nd half of the season and since the inclusions of Crouch, Lyons, Laird, Brown our handballing out of packs has improved markedly also.

 

[SugarShane]

We actually played reasonably well last night, but bad kicking for goal decided the result.

Freo had 10 set shots for goal for 8 goals 2 points.

Adelaide had 12 set shots for goal for 3 goals 8 points and 1 out on the full.

That is fkg pathetic.

Maybe Freo just know enough about their home ground in order to know how to kick goals there. We should look into trying something like that.

 

[WAG]

I think our guys should go to the Josh Kennedy school of kicking.........54.18

 

[Vader]

I think our guys should go to the Josh Kennedy school of kicking.........54.18

I don't care how good or bad their technique is, or how strange it looks, just as long as it works consistently for the player involved - resulting in them kicking goals at a rate on par with the AFL average. Our set shots this year are going at around 30%, when they should be closer to 60%. Fix that and we win a lot more games than we lose in 2013.

 

[Kickin_Goals]

I think our guys should go to the Josh Kennedy school of kicking.........54.18

he stutters but everything else is where it should be when in the kicking action.

 

[AFC979810]

Always been an issue. Club obviously doesn't believe in having a quality kicking coach.

Our kicking for goal has sucked for a long time and its about time it was given a higher focus by a dedicated kicking coach. Not some fly in consultant, but someone to iron out faults and get some consistency.

Wrong.

In 2012 we were equal 3rd most accurate team kicking for goal (55%) with only North and Sydney being more accurate at 58% (North) and 56% (Sydney).

So what has changed?

We aren't playing any F**** forwards.

In 2012 we had Walker,Tippo, Callinan and Porplyzia all playing (thats 4/6 forwards that are actually forwards). Our forward line was working so well that it allowed us to move Porps to the midfield for about 20-30% of game time in short bursts.

In 2013 we have pretty much played with one actual forward (Porps) all season. Lynch is a half forward flanker, McKernan is a ruckman, Jenkins could be a forward but isnt.

We need to get an actual forward in there (I am looking at you LJ). Shit - even bring McIntyre. No point in having a crack at our goal kicking when we don't have any pure forwards playing.

 

[Rear Admiral]

Kicking straight would have won us at least 2 extra games this season guaranteed. It's the difference between almost being in the 8 and not being even close right now.

If our coaches aren't ashamed enough off that fact alone, they should resign.

 

[Rear Admiral]

You can get all the goalkicking coaches in the world.

You want better kicks for goal, recruit more skillful players. Simple as that.

We need to do both.

 

[AFC979810]

If our coaches aren't ashamed enough off that fact alone, they should resign.

So what have our coaches done this year that they have regressed so badly?

We were the third most accurate team in the AFL last year.....

Surely it has to come down to the cattle we are putting out there.

 

[Vader]

So what have our coaches done this year that they have regressed so badly?

We were the third most accurate team in the AFL last year.....

Surely it has to come down to the cattle we are putting out there.

I'm not sure that it does. Even the cattle we have now weren't this inaccurate last season.. were they?

 

[Rear Admiral]

It's not only goal kicking that's terrible. Inability to hit targets around the ground is poor too.

Thank you!!!

At long, long, long, long last....someone has finally taken note of this (I raised it in a recent post).

Yep, our set shots at goal are beyond horrendous, absolutely. Could not agree more. But I lost count of the number of times our Defenders and Midfielders kicked the ball....straight down the throat of opposition players. Not talking about up Forward, but everywhere all over the paddock. Again and again and again. I was ready to pitch a beer bottle though my TV screen .

Great post - thanks Crow54 .

 

[Vader]

Last year Jenkins kicked 11.3. This year he's kicked 24.24. That said, he's probably the only one who I can identify who is massively down on their historic output.

Thompson was another of our culprits last year - but he's close to average. 10.15 in 2012, 5.7 in 2013.
Otten had no real goal kicking history (at least not at AFL level) prior to this year.
McKernan's on par as well, having never been an accurate kick for goal. 3.4 last year, 7.9 this year.

Seems you may have a point. We've lost our most accurate players, being left with those who couldn't hit the side of a barn from 3 paces. Bring on LJ!

 

[Rear Admiral]

Thanks to trigg, Sando's recruiting strategy has been severely compromised. It's true that Craig placed too much emphasis on athleticism over football ability but he still had a few decent picks to use. Sando has nothing to work with aside from free agency and I wouldn't back the Crows to have any success there either.

This is one of the major gripes I have with Trigg and "had" with Craig .
And to make matters worse, Trigg's divine wisdom in the Tippett-gate debacle has screwed up our Draft options for another couple years as well. While I'm not saying Sando is the absolute #1 coach in the Comp, but if our "brilliant leader" (Trigg) ends up giving Sando the @rse in a year or two because he's been unable to Draft in top talent....I'll be seriously considering instigating a riot at the front doors at West Lakes.

 

[Slippery Pete]

We need to do both.

True, but it's a bit like starting a sun smart routine at the age of 50. Sure, it's better late than never, but most of the damage has already been done.

What you come into the AFL with is pretty much what you've got for life as far as ball skills go. You can make marginal improvements, but that's about it.

Sure, strive for the marginal improvements. But if you want a skillful side, it's all about the pedigree of the players.

Look at the players Hawthorn have recruited, for instance. Not many guys in that team can't hit a guy on the chest from 30 metres.

Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell aren't good kicks because of their coaches at Hawthorn. They're good kicks because they've been good kicks since the age of ten.