Kurt's Kicking

[Harris Pilton]

Have you noticed that KURT TIPPET is an anagram of TURKEY KICKS UP?

Well, not quite, but near enough. He had a pretty good day today but even so missed a couple of howlers from dead in front, which could have iced the game.

When he takes set shots in front of goal his action is static, jerky and horrible, clearly unnatural. Yet in today's game I saw him take a mark deep in the pocket. On that occasion he ran out a bit and kicked a curler over his left shoulder, which split the goal dead centre. On that occasion he looked natural and fluid.

I wonder if he should modify his set-shot technique to incorporate a bit of curve in his run-up. The natural action of hip flexion involves the adductors to some extent, which produces hook. Soccer players and rugby players seem to exploit this. Some AFL players do also. Franklin's run up usually involves a bit of a curve.

I'm sure the AFC kicking boffins have considered this, but I'd be interested to hear the opinions of forum members.

 

[Schulzycrow]

Lot is in the drop onto his boot, head needs to be more over the ball. When he leans back it all goes to shite.

Get this fixed up 100 goals next year.

 

[aneale]

Robert Oatey

problem fixed

 

[Rave Slave]

Can we splice together Walker and Tippett. It'd be like splicing together Bruce Lee and Godzilla. Shit would just get ****ed up.

 

[ruscy002]

Can we splice together Walker and Tippett. It'd be like splicing together Bruce Lee and Godzilla. Shit would just get ****ed up.

His kicking has really gone backwards this year, which is a huge disappointment. The ability is there, but he really just needs confidence - would love to see one of our leaders get over to him and just tell him to take his time and visualise his routine. Doesn't even have to be a leader, just a senior player like Porps or something.

 

[aneale]

still, i,d settle with him kicking 5 every week

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Hopefully the same technicians who guided the improvement in Burton, Perrie and Gill's kicking can take charge of Tippett and help him hone his skills.

 

[Mismatched]

His kicking has really gone backwards this year, which is a huge disappointment. The ability is there, but he really just needs confidence - would love to see one of our leaders get over to him and just tell him to take his time and visualise his routine. Doesn't even have to be a leader, just a senior player like Porps or something.

Well, his kicking was actually okay over the middle part of the season, its just been the past 4 weeks or so and right at the beginning of the season that he's had a few howlers. Certainly isn't the most fluent and natural of techniques, just doesn't seem comfortable at all and as such is tense and prone to dropping the ball at all different angles.

 

[Crow-mo]

Hopefully the same technicians who guided the improvement in Burton, Perrie and Gill's kicking can take charge of Tippett and help him hone his skills.

you are a bad man

 

[ronnie1234]

He needs to stop missing from 15m straight in front ... Saw him miss a few easy ones while i was at the hospital. I just thought to myself, how can he miss from there

Hope he can fix all this by the next season

 

[dylan123]

The one set shot I saw him having a go at he seemed to drop the ball far too early (kind of looks like he was throwing it in the air). It makes it much harder to kick it straight and get everything else right if you are dropping it too high up because the ball could drop bad etc.

 

[goldcoast]

There are two issues with Kurt's goal kicking.
Firstly, he marks the ground as his visual kicking point, which is to close to the man on the mark. The man on the mark comes into his periphial vision therefore tries to kick the ball higher. Kind of a panic action in his final kicking action.
Solution: He needs to take about 7 to 9 steps away from the man on the mark, then mark the spot there and this takes the man on the mark out of his view. As Kurt is taking most shots within 30 metres distance will not be an issue and he can kick through the ball not try to lift it.

Secondly, as mentioned earlier his run up to kick isn't fluent. He walks and then takes a couple of steps before he kicks.
Solution: He needs to run up as he kicks in a fluent motion.

PS. My interest is I watch a lot of Kurt as he was involved in the Gold Coast Stingrays Rep program before being drafted and is wonderful talent.

 

[Elder van Berlo]

I wonder if, given Kurt's breakout year last year, this is an aspect of his game that he and the club have simply not worked at hard enough this season. I remember in the pre-season training reports from the 08-09 pre-season one of the common themes was that Kurt (and Porps as well, because he was coming off injury) would always spend hours doing extra goalkicking practice. These two players then showed significantly improved goalkicking during 09, with Porps barely missing all year and Kurt's accuracy improving. I remember noting last year that even though Tippett's goalkicking % was probably not elite, it looked like his action had tidied up, he was kicking a better % generally and when he did miss, they were not ugly misses like they were in 08 (and the type of miss which have come back into his game this year).

Perhaps the people who attend training would know, but I can't remember reading about Kurt doing any extra goalkicking practice at all this season. And now he is back basically kicking the ball like he did back in 08.

As noted in the OP, he is (and always has been) a very good snap of the ball given his struggles with set shots and his size.

 

[smoovy]

He remains the last ever Crows player to nail a checkside goal from a set shot and has a good snap. If you saw this you would say he was a natural footballer with a good kick. Yet his set shots are anything but. They look awkward, somewhat ******ed and completely lacking any sort of confidence.

I think he needs to develop a bit of an arc to his kick, runs in too straight a line. This would also help get a bit more distance on his kick.

 

[ringo200]

Hopefully the same technicians who guided the improvement in Burton, Perrie and Gill's kicking can take charge of Tippett and help him hone his skills.

Can anyone give an example of a player who came into the game as a terrible set shot and through training over the years became a reasonable kick at goal?

 

[OldCrowBloke]

There are two issues with Kurt's goal kicking.
Firstly, he marks the ground as his visual kicking point, which is to close to the man on the mark. The man on the mark comes into his periphial vision therefore tries to kick the ball higher. Kind of a panic action in his final kicking action.
Solution: He needs to take about 7 to 9 steps away from the man on the mark, then mark the spot there and this takes the man on the mark out of his view. As Kurt is taking most shots within 30 metres distance will not be an issue and he can kick through the ball not try to lift it.

Secondly, as mentioned earlier his run up to kick isn't fluent. He walks and then takes a couple of steps before he kicks.
Solution: He needs to run up as he kicks in a fluent motion.

PS. My interest is I watch a lot of Kurt as he was involved in the Gold Coast Stingrays Rep program before being drafted and is wonderful talent.

These are good points, but another factor is that he seems very tense over the ball when taking a set shot. I think it was his last goal today when he took less time, obviously made an effort to relax a bit, and kicked it straight through from about 35 metres.

 

[SydCrow]

the one from the goal square that he missed I literally couldn't watch - x6 on the IQ replay ))

IMO he and Tex need a sports psychologist - they are choking badly

VB on the other hand I would have given 100-1

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Can anyone give an example of a player who came into the game as a terrible set shot and through training over the years became a reasonable kick at goal?

Nick Riewoldt maybe? Still a bit shakey at times.

Usually they just get shunted down back (ie Bock).

 

[birdmanptr]

Hopefully next year after round 4 and he us on 27 goals 4 points we will be able to say to him

I know what you did last summer

 

[Mismatched]

There are two issues with Kurt's goal kicking.
Firstly, he marks the ground as his visual kicking point, which is to close to the man on the mark. The man on the mark comes into his periphial vision therefore tries to kick the ball higher. Kind of a panic action in his final kicking action.
Solution: He needs to take about 7 to 9 steps away from the man on the mark, then mark the spot there and this takes the man on the mark out of his view. As Kurt is taking most shots within 30 metres distance will not be an issue and he can kick through the ball not try to lift it.

Secondly, as mentioned earlier his run up to kick isn't fluent. He walks and then takes a couple of steps before he kicks.
Solution: He needs to run up as he kicks in a fluent motion.

PS. My interest is I watch a lot of Kurt as he was involved in the Gold Coast Stingrays Rep program before being drafted and is wonderful talent.

Very good points, he does seem to get very close to the man on the mark and this can put a lot of extra pressure on you as you kick and is rarely required. Its very similar to kickouts when players step over the line, there's just no real need to get that close.

Nick Riewoldt maybe? Still a bit shakey at times.

Usually they just get shunted down back (ie Bock).

I actually remember a chat on the TV about this a while back discussing Riewoldts kicking for goal and apparently(I can't remember it myself) Riewoldt was actually an extremely good set shot when he was drafted and into his first year or two, it was after that which he developed the wobbles in front of goal.

Regarding Bock being shunted down back, generally its more than just their kicking, they also just generally don't find enough shots on goal in general. Otherwise you would have seen blokes like Riewoldt, Richardson and Travis Cloke, even Buddy (kicked 2.11 one day) played as defenders, but you don't, because they just generate that many shots on goal that you take the good with the bad.

If Bock had a good day as a forward, he'd kick 4 goals, whereas if Tippett has a good day, he'll kick 7 or even 8+, if he has a bad day in front of the sticks, he could still nail 4 or 5.

 

[jamesclean]

Can anyone give an example of a player who came into the game as a terrible set shot and through training over the years became a reasonable kick at goal?

a great question, and i'm not sure, but i think it'd probably be a late-start AFL player with a background in a non-kicking sport such as basketball

but i'm not sure

 

[ruscy002]

There are two issues with Kurt's goal kicking.
Firstly, he marks the ground as his visual kicking point, which is to close to the man on the mark. The man on the mark comes into his periphial vision therefore tries to kick the ball higher. Kind of a panic action in his final kicking action.
Solution: He needs to take about 7 to 9 steps away from the man on the mark, then mark the spot there and this takes the man on the mark out of his view. As Kurt is taking most shots within 30 metres distance will not be an issue and he can kick through the ball not try to lift it.

Secondly, as mentioned earlier his run up to kick isn't fluent. He walks and then takes a couple of steps before he kicks.
Solution: He needs to run up as he kicks in a fluent motion.

PS. My interest is I watch a lot of Kurt as he was involved in the Gold Coast Stingrays Rep program before being drafted and is wonderful talent.

All good points

The other thing that I'd add is that I'm not a huge fan of marking the kicking point at all. Really feel as though it creates a psychological barrier in that the player thinks they have to kick from that point, even though they might have lost their run-up on the way in. He should just work out roughly how many steps he takes, then double it and that's where he should start running in from.

 

[FR0GGY]

The post about getting close to the man on the mark and kicking it high was pretty spot on also he seems to drop the ball with both hands rather than guiding it down with 1.

 

[RoosterLad]

His kicking is terrible when close to goal, really needs to work on that otherwise it is a waste of time taking a big mark. It is strange that he can kick well when snapping, maybe he doesn't go through the robotic run up process implemented by the Crows?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

The problem is that he doesn't have a base level of kicking skill, built up by having a footy in his hands every day of his life since his was 5yo like most AFL players would.

Most players would enter the AFL having kicked a footy (say) 50,000 times over the course of their life whereas Kurt would have maybe 10% of that. Please ignore the 'exactness' of the figures, but you know what I mean.

Most players will enter AFL footy taking this base level of skill with them and THEN add some technical fine tuning and a routine. Kurt's come in to the game without that base level of skill yet we have tried to splice on some technical refinement and a routine onto a very shakey frame. It doesn't work.

His first few years in the AFL system should have been his time to clock up some hours, develop his own style and to get him to a stage where kicking a football is a more natural action. His instructions should have been very broad during this time - try to kick the ball accurately, try to kick the ball far, try to bend it left and right etc. And let him figure out how to do it his way. Then add whatever technical refinement/routine stuff to value add 3-4 years down the track.

Now all his got in his head are a bunch of technical kicking points and a technique that falters in most situations.