Why can't AFL players kick straight?

[Bombers 4 premiership]

I don't know about everyone else, but I think that AFL teams should be able to kick at a much higher percentage than they do.

These guys are full time AFL players and you'd think they'd be able to kick a goal from inside about 40 metres almost every time.

Yet most teams seem to struggle to kick more goals than behinds.

 

[kidstyler]

i rekon ya being to hard on them.

after all the players are only human ......

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

They're dam payed professionals

 

[estibador]

It's a mental thing.

The ability to cope with pressure is what separates the true champions in any sport from players who are merely gifted athletes.

Golf is the classic example. All they practise all day is hitting thousands and thousands of golf balls. Yet when the pressure is really on the mentally fragile are found lacking.

 

[CaptainDavey]

You know I agree. In sports such as soccer and basketball, they seem to be a hell of a lot more consistent than AFL players when it comes to doing routine passes and scoring.

AFL players seem to make the freakishly difficult look easy and the simplistic quite complicated sometimes!

 

[estibador]

You know I agree. In sports such as soccer and basketball, they seem to be a hell of a lot more consistent than AFL players when it comes to doing routine passes and scoring.

What about penalty shootouts in soccer? When put under immense pressure with the game on the line all of a sudden players start fluffing simple penalty kicks from 11 metres out.

 

[CaptainDavey]

What about penalty shootouts in soccer? When put under immense pressure with the game on the line all of a sudden players start fluffing simple penalty kicks from 11 metres out.

Point taken. Nonetheless, most things are routine. I'm not entirely sure if you're into soccer or anything but Germany are world renowned for their penalties, they're absolutely clinical with their finishing. I agree it's more of a mental thing then a talent thing, but the gap between the sports is pretty wide IMO

 

[Herbs]

Lots of awful kicks in a soccer match, especially near goal. The big shot that ends up 20 rows back for example. Pressure on whoever makes the kick plays a huge part. But some are just squibs.......

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Lots of awful kicks in a soccer match, especially near goal. The big shot that ends up 20 rows back for example. Pressure on whoever makes the kick plays a huge part. But some are just squibs.......

You can't compare soccer to AFL though. Set shots don't have goal-keepers or a row of people on the mark, you just need to get it between the sticks.

 

[bigdroppunt]

i been waiting for a thred like this.this is the reason im so hapy we got rid of kent "shanka" kingsley he was a payed pro football player at our club and IMO didnt make enough of his time there lurning to kick geez he could miss some easy ones. and i also think that shots a goal like that that are missed bring the whole team down.

 

[Herbs]

You can't compare soccer to AFL though. Set shots don't have goal-keepers or a row of people on the mark, you just need to get it between the sticks.

Was referring to open play, not set shots.

 

[Angus1]

The kicking is often bad because being a talented footballer these days isn't enough to get you into the AFL. Scouts look for the best athletes. That's why at these camps they put so much emphasis on who has the fast beep tests plus other endurance qualities etc...
Plenty of Country footballers can kick way better then AFL players but they can't run hard all over the ground like the AFL boys do. They might not be as tall or maybe they are too thin or fat etc...

Kicking is one area that doesn't really seem to have improved much at all.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Was referring to open play, not set shots.

I still think it's hard to compare. Snapshots aside, kicking the ball straight from a gettable distance in AFL is not like trying to get around the goal-keeper in soccer. The skills of evasion are different and contribute to misses in soccer. If you extended the soccer goals infinitely vertical and took away the goalie, I think you'd find they'd nail most shots.

 

[blueboy152]

most players when warming up before the game always drill it staight though the middle, but during the game the pressure gets to them, everyone is watching. Its a big diff during and before

 

[NEON]

AFL players, in general, don't practice pure goal kicking as much as they used to.

 

[trueblue_91]

Also it is harder kicking after you have run 10 km.

Most players have solid kicking but a mix of pressure and running a lot in a game can make them stuff up a few kicks.

 

[folester41]

i agree soccer players and bballers are far more consistent.

these guys are meant to be the best players in the country, they should all be kicking at over 80%

also in football you have more control of the ball then soccer and basketball is a small target yet they manage to hit it far more then footy players.

 

[seanoff]

Blight reckons its a lack of appropriate practice.

They put weeks and weeks into getting them fit, hrs and hrs every week into handball and short passing drills, decision making drills, ruck drills, etc etc, they don't appear from what I've seen of AFL clubs training spend much formal time on kicking at goal. It seems to be something you do after training with your mates for shits and giggles.

Maybe if they spent 1hr less a week discussing why player x missed a target 50m away whilst running the other way with 4 guys hanging off him and spent that time doing formal goal kicking they'd kick a bit straighter.

I was always taught to aim at a target behind the goal, and if on the run try to hit the goal umpire or someone behind the goal depending on what was in front of me.

 

[Bollox]

I still think if i stood behind Jude Bolton at training with a Louisville Slugger and clocked him with it everytime he missed he'd be a deadeye dick within hours.

 

[bigdroppunt]

Blight reckons its a lack of appropriate practice.

They put weeks and weeks into getting them fit, hrs and hrs every week into handball and short passing drills, decision making drills, ruck drills, etc etc, they don't appear from what I've seen of AFL clubs training spend much formal time on kicking at goal. It seems to be something you do after training with your mates for shits and giggles.

Maybe if they spent 1hr less a week discussing why player x missed a target 50m away whilst running the other way with 4 guys hanging off him and spent that time doing formal goal kicking they'd kick a bit straighter.

I was always taught to aim at a target behind the goal, and if on the run try to hit the goal umpire or someone behind the goal depending on what was in front of me.

yeh im with ya mate more practice at my club we have to all have 3 shots a
if you miss more than one you have to run a 400(one lap) we worked on 2 out of 3 aint bad.

 

[The Hobo]

I don't know about everyone else, but I think that AFL teams should be able to kick at a much higher percentage than they do.

These guys are full time AFL players and you'd think they'd be able to kick a goal from inside about 40 metres almost every time.

Yet most teams seem to struggle to kick more goals than behinds.

A few points:

1) First and foremost, the ball is not round. If you miss the spot on a soccer ball, it will still more or less go in the same direction (provided u don't miss by too much). Miss it on a footy, and it'll go very ugly.

2) Teams are now focussing on other aspects more, like fitness, strength, gameplans etc. and not as much on skills.

3) Mentally weak

 

[The Hobo]

What about penalty shootouts in soccer? When put under immense pressure with the game on the line all of a sudden players start fluffing simple penalty kicks from 11 metres out.

You'd still back them more often than not to get it in the goal. Plus in soccer, they have to beat the goal keeper, which is where the trouble is. In AFL you just get it in the sticks

 

[In2theWild]

14 years on and kicking is worse than ever. Holy Jeebus some of these scores are ridiculous! Carlton scored 2.13 to 3 qtr time today against Geelong on a clear, still day.
WTF.

 

[Gavin Excell]

It's because modern players are more athletes than footballers

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Poor technique from junior level, plus fatigue.

On the whole, AR coaching at junior levels is appalling. Volunteers who just don’t know what’s they’re doing and have too much on their plate.