Saints worst kicking side

[saynta]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/t ... faaea1ac78


"SOME things in football defy logic.

It won’t surprise many Saints fans to be told Jack Billings is the worst kick at goal in footy.

But how can Tim Membrey be the most accurate by a country mile in 2017, then come up with this year’s horror show?

As Saints coach Alan Richardson said after Saturday night’s loss to Fremantle, the continued set shot butchery cannot be anything but deflating.

Membrey’s 1.5 — including missing a handful of sitters — killed St Kilda’s momentum as it was charging hard at Fremantle.

A player who was clearly 2017’s best set shot is now the fifth worst in the competition, with Billings the worst and Patrick McCartin the ninth-worst.

It is inexplicable, especially given goalkicking coach Ben Dixon put over 2000 shots into his forwards over the summer.

St Kilda is now the worst team at kicking for goal and the worst for set shots, dropping below the Western Bulldogs over the weekend.

What could have been a fighting win over Fremantle after a horror start and Jake Carlisle’s concussion turned into the one that got away.

“Tim’s historically for us been as good a kick as we have had,” Richardson said after the 30-point loss.

“He’s having some issues with his set shots, there’s no doubt about that.

“He’s an outstanding contest players, Tim, he’s work through this. He’s hurting, we’re hurting.

WAYWARD SAINTS

ST KILDA
Ranked 18th for goal kicking

All shots - 69.85 and 25 misses

Set shots - 37.43 and 13 misses

JACK BILLINGS
Worst in the competition for accuracy at goal

4.12 and two misses from 18 shots

2.4 and one miss from seven set shots

TIM MEMBREY
Last year was the AFL’s No.1 shot at goal (38.14). This year the fifth-worst shot for goal

6.12 and two misses from 20 shots

5.9 and two misses from 16 set shots

“They are opportunities he’d normally nail. No one works hard on their skill, his marking and kicking and leading. He’s a real pro so that will turn.

Membrey has had 20 shots at goal so far this year, on last year’s accuracy rating (38.14 for the year) enough to have him at around 50 goals.

Instead he has 6.12 and two misses altogether, his set shot kicking returning 5.9 and two misses.

Billings is the competition’s worst with 4.12 and two misses from 16 shots, including 2.4 and one miss from seven set shots.

Overall St Kilda has kicked just 69 goals from its 179 shots, going at 69.85 plus 25 misses.

The Saints take on Collingwood on Saturday night, aware their finals chances are slipping away.

Unfortunately for Richardson, there isn’t much he can do on that front other than attempt to lessen the pressure on his players.

“Sometimes I worry that I get the guys in a state that they care too much about outcome and result,” Richardson said.

“Not that I ever talk about that you’ve got to kick the goal but you know, the opportunity from the game perspective. The season’s not gone the way we want in terms of win-loss, that’s obvious.

“Am I getting a bit anxious when they are at that moment when they’ve got to nail their routine, they’ve got real clarity on what works for them?

“We continue to look at that, we’ve got a really strong program in place and the guys are working through and we are confident that will turn.

“Most clubs that I have been involved with and other clubs that I haven’t been involved with have periods where they don’t nail their opportunities.

“So we’ll turn that around.”

Patrick McCartin is expected to miss another week with concussion but could return the week after, while Jake Carlisle will be monitored for a bad concussion.


SAINTS FIRST HALVES

First quarter Score

Round 1 7.5 (win)
Round 2 2.10 (loss)
Round 3 3.9 (loss)
Round 4 3.7 (loss)
Round 5 5.8 (draw)
Round 6 3.7 (loss)
Round 7 3.8 (loss)
Round 8 1.5 (loss)

[resaintlee]

Sorry, can't get through the paywall

[saynta]

Sorry, can't get through the paywall

[repta]

Ben Dixon is not the massiah

When you have Billings holding the ball for a bannana directly in front of goal (look through the tape the coverage showed his hand position!!! Top and bottom of the laces)
and
Tim Membry standing bolt upright and chin tucked into his neck forming a ball drop longer than Sanderlands arms

They are being taught the wrong technique.

[degruch]

How far are we from the worst all time...what have we got to beat?

Obviously Dixon's a great kick, but not such a great teacher. What about others who've conquered the yips? Roo did a lot of work on his technique. Who straightened Loewe out when he was particularly average? What's Fev up to lately?

[Saintmatt]

How far are we from the worst all time...what have we got to beat?

Who straightened Loewe out when he was particularly average? What's Fev up to lately?

Peter Hudson. Hour after hour after hour. After training. I used to watch it regularly. He ended up becoming a purely mechanical set-shot who almost couldn't miss from 40m in the end. Meanwhile in 2018 ...

[saynta]

How far are we from the worst all time...what have we got to beat?

Who straightened Loewe out when he was particularly average? What's Fev up to lately?

Peter Hudson. Hour after hour after hour. After training. I used to watch it regularly. He ended up becoming a purely mechanical set-shot who almost couldn't miss from 40m in the end. Meanwhile in 2018 ...

Yep, I well remember that.

[repta]

sports "scientists" wont let them even have a shot at goal. Hurts the hamstrings.

all the great goal kickers had a simple technique. What work for one may not work for another. However there is fundamentals that they are getting very very wrong.

Head over the ball
finngers holding the ball in alignment
kick through the ball (but dont kick the skin off it). dont stab at it
have a smooth run in (no bobs, bops, disco steps, stops starts, jitters)
walk/run at the goal
Dont lean back at the delivery stride
Kick it past the umpire. dont aim to hit him/her on the chest.

Far too many players go back to far and get lost in the run up. They then stutter or end up kicking the ball from too far out. Rievaldt used to anoy me how he would mark it at 30 and end up kicking it from barely inside the 50, making the shot 10 times harder.

[Scollop]

Bump

Who is in charge of teaching/correcting basic skills at St Kilda? If it's Dixon, he has failed and his contract should not be renewed.

One of our main deficiencies and a theme for the last 2-3 years for our side has been poor kicking. I'm not just talking about kicking for goal. There's been a dozen or more threads since Richo became coach where this has been discussed

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86298&hilit=kicking

So with goal kicking, last night on Footy Classified Matthew Lloyd stated that he found that there was a distinct lack of training and noticeable lack of planning at Essendon when he was employed part time a couple of years back. He reckons that a player who perhaps plays a large majority of their game in the forward line, they must know in advance what type of kick they'll use in a given position on the ground - e.g. from the boundary close to the point post or from the boundary 30 metres out or from a slight angle within 20-40 metres from goal.

Some players ( and he highlighted the vision from Saints players who missed on Friday night ) have no idea!! There's no plan and they just wing it. We're talking about professionals here and not your weekend suburban footballer.

With St Kilda; who is in charge of the rules. What are the non negotiables regarding the type of kick rquired in a set position on the ground?

With regard to field kicking I saw Dan MacKenzie have a really good first half spoiled by a seriously poor kick which was directed through the corridor and the turnover cost us an immediate goal. DMac is having a really good patch and playing some fine footy. I don't want his confidence shattered due to a clanger or two, so someone needs to help the young guy with his technique. Assess how it happened and practice getting it right. Apart from the obvious ( which is that the player takes responsibility ) which of the coaches is responsible for correcting bad technique?

[shrodes]

Far too many players go back to far and get lost in the run up. They then stutter or end up kicking the ball from too far out. Rievaldt used to anoy me how he would mark it at 30 and end up kicking it from barely inside the 50, making the shot 10 times harder.

I've felt like a lot of this season we've had the opposite problem - running too close to the man on the mark. The correction in trying to get it round them or over their head last minute causes misses.

[The_Dud]

This is one of the main reasons I have lost all faith in Richo. This problem has been a club wide problem for years and there has been no apparent improvement.

I remember Fev a while back said he would have 500 shots at goal a week. For all Fevs downfalls, kicking goals was not one of them. Our problem forwards should be doing this at a minimum, I don’t care if it slightly increases their chance of doing their hamstring (apparently), a forward who can’t kick straight is pretty useless anyway.

[chico2001]

This is one of the main reasons I have lost all faith in Richo. This problem has been a club wide problem for years and there has been no apparent improvement.

I remember Fev a while back said he would have 500 shots at goal a week. For all Fevs downfalls, kicking goals was not one of them. Our problem forwards should be doing this at a minimum, I don’t care if it slightly increases their chance of doing their hamstring (apparently), a forward who can’t kick straight is pretty useless anyway.

And we have a few of that type....most of the forward line and even ones who are out injured.

[outside66]

BEN DIXON needs to go. It does my head in watching this bloke roll around on the boundary laughing with blokes who've just belted the stuffing out of our mob. What makes it even more infuriating is that NOT ONE 'expert' or fellow 'media star' will ask him WHY CAN"T ST KILDA KICK STRAIGHT? WHY ARE ST KILDA WORSE THIS YEAR? WHAT HAVE YOU (BEN DIXON) DONE TO MEMBREY?

This highlights why we're a minnow club. Essendon identified Mark Neeld as a problem and he got the ass. You don't even need a brain to identify Ben Dixon has not only done nothing for us since coming on as a 'goal kicking specialist' but has in fact sent us backwards. Ben Dixon's pay compared to what Neeld's would be absolutely nothing yet we don't want to point fingers. Well I'm pointing both of my middle fingers towards Ben Dixon!!

Membrey could've run the goal kicking practice for free but no, we have Ben Dixon.

[saintsRrising]

Ben Dixon is not the massiah

When it comes to picking coaches, we have the knack for picking duds..

[guitars4]

Our kicking for goal is obviously terrible but IMO our field kicking is even worse ,if that's possible.

[HitTheBoundary]

Back when we could kick.....

[Enrico_Misso]

Ooooh Plugger.
Never get sick of watching him - the most exciting player - EVER.

How I wish we had someone like him now!