Jul 05 2007
Would AFL Clubs Adopt Rugby-Style Placekicking?
Here’s an interesting one. Collingwood Magpies kicking coach and former Coleman Medal winner Brian Taylor is suggesting that AFL clubs should allow players who take a mark inside the 50 to placekick the ball rather than punt it for goal.
“I understand the place-kick is still legal, so it would come down to a player being confident enough to use it and executing the kick within 30 seconds,” Taylor said.
“The reality is it’s a more efficient method of goal kicking. The statistics show that. Take Matthew Lloyd, who is the most accurate kick for goal over the past decade.
“When you compare Lloyd with a rugby league player, you have to allow for the fact not all of Lloyd’s scores are from set shots. So breaking it down, in 2001 he kicked 105.36, 82.27 coming from set shots at 68 per cent. That’s as much as 20 per cent below the best in rugby league, and they kick from angles just as severe as ours.
Taylor has a point about accuracy. Nobody has kicked more than 100 goals in the AFL’s 22-round season since Tony Lockett of the Sydney Swans in 1998, and some pundits are decrying the sudden drop in scoring this season. Placekicking might improve accuracy and boost scores a bit. Plus, it has the added benefit of reducing the potential for stabby thoughts.
On the other hand, shouldn’t it be a challenge for Australian footy stars to try and punt the ball through the goal posts? Shouldn’t we reward the accuracy of those players, rather than make it easier for everyone? And if accuracy does improve as a result of place-kicking, wouldn’t this just lead to more flooding “tempo football” to prevent anyone from taking a mark inside the 50?
And who would get the tee out there and set it up within the 30-second time allotment? Would another player be allowed to hold the ball in place?
Placekicking is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure whether it will catch on in the AFL. Things can change, though. Placekicking wasn’t widely adopted in American football until 1934, when the shape of the ball changed to accomodate the forward pass. Little changes like this keep football interesting.
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Dave,
Great stuff ,can you provide a link some on the blog to all your football history stuff . The link at the bottom of the history doesn’t work any more.
Thanks
My hatred for Bryan Taylor is at an all time high.
Err I mean Brian.
Simon: Yeah, I let that domain expire a few weeks ago. Look here:
http://www.davesfootballblog.com/footballhistory
It will never happen. Dynamics of AFL are such that the game must not have the downtime rugby does. Although I respect the skill of those in rugby, the skill set in Aussie rules in very very different. A good goal kickers runup should be DIRECTLY too the goals. Observe over time. The ball has a great tendancy to go directly in the direction the kicker takes in his runup. You could not therefor introduce a kicking style so devoid of the basic instincts of the Aussie rules player. Each player would have to learn a completely new technique and thats not going to happen. Rugby can chose there goalkicker from the team, the marker in AFL must take HIS kick. There are far far more kicks for goal in AFL, and consistenly from greater distances. The only way you could use statistics to compare is to put the two alongs side each other, in the same conditions, on the same day! Aussie rules is played in consistently cool, wetter and windier conditions than rugby.
After reading the article, I sincerely believe Talyor should be sacked. Hand to foot is NOT the greatest error made, it is running straigth towards the goals.