Player Watch Father-Son Pick #25 (2019) - Jackson Mead

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Surely every kid gets taught to use both sides or they should be.
 
Surely every kid gets taught to use both sides or they should be.

Kicking a football seems to be the least required part of AFL these days.
 
It's weird, the AFL seems to have wheeled back around on this. Unless you're especially good with your opposite, they seem to coach players not to use it under any circumstances.

That leads to weird outside of the boot chip kicks and players wheeling around or giving off because a defender is sitting on their preferred side.
 

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I watched Port v Brisbane from 2003 last night and the difference in kicking skills are like night and day.

I think there's a clear difference in the type of player that gets drafted these days. Back then there was a much better balance between the athlete and the footballer. You could be not particularly quick, not particularly tall, not particularly strong and still get a game in the midfield of a top AFL team. Look at Roger James, Jarrad Schofield, Josh Carr - these guys would battle to even get drafted these days.

When your drafting focus is the jock champion athletes from private schools, don't be surprised when they can't kick, not just on their non preferred but on their preferred too.

To be honest I think that's a bit of a bullshit strawman, be interested if somebody could actually come up with some evidence of this being the case in the draft as it's one of those frequently parroted lines. Yet I don't see much evidence that it is the reality, just a version that some want to hold for various reasons.

I did really like Mead's kicking in the games I've seen in the past couple of years, will have to see how it holds up in the pressure of an AFL match however as the speed, intensity and zones up ahead of him are a different beast completely.
 
One of most underrated skill to have is being able to kick well with both feet, and it still astounds me how few players possess this skill. It was one of Tredders' biggest weapons.

Yeah, I can't believe it is a draft requirement to at least be proficient on your non-dominant side.
 
Yeah, I can't believe it is a draft requirement to at least be proficient on your non-dominant side.
It’s interesting that clubs clearly don’t see it that way. Take Joe Daniher as an example, he would have been training semi professionally with an AFL club since he was 14 or 15, he looks like he can barely stand upright on his opposite right leg let alone kick on it.
 
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I know you all hate Tex but he’s another who’s great on both sides
We are an inclusive bunch here. We do not discriminate.
"Give us your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
But Tex..... that's going too far 🤔
 

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