Stay on topic please
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I agree, this is very disrespectful to Cyril.
Kicking on the outside of the foot seems to be preferred. J Hird led the way.
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The game is a lot more compressed nowadays.
If you are forced into a spot where you may need to use your opposite foot, odds are you have a handball option (and David Myers aside, I think >90% of players are basically ambidextrous when it comes to handballing). That wasn’t so much the case 20-30 years ago - the game was more open so needed to kick to get out of those spots.
That said - still think players should be decent on their non preferred. Don’t have to hit 50m bullets. But should be able to hit a 25-30m kick if needed.
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Gulden, possibly the best kick in the game right now uses this skill.
And it’s terrible. The AFL industry has convinced themselves this is OK. It straight out isn’t anywhere near as good as being able to kick either foot. If you’re having to kick outside of your foot to get to your target you basically only have one option. If you can use your other foot you have significantly more options for the same kick.
Kicking straight technique
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Tell me about it.
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Not sure why this even debatable. They not playing in the Bundalong 3rds, they playing “elite” level so they should all be able to kick both sides at reasonable standard. Sure, going to be a favoured side in majority but if not an option to use cos they crap, they need to do what any good player does and spend an hour a day on weak side to get up to par. Im sure plenty of you guys had a kick as i did at different levels, and can be done. Could be the difference gameday. If they come to the club as 18yo wouldnt expect to nailing it, but should after season or two.
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They wanted a tall forward in a draft with not much in the way of tall forwards. Hazards of picking for need.
I’m pretty sure Hooker didn’t play champs that year, being an overager who lost his draft year to illness (glandular, i think?) or maybe injury. Taylor I’m pretty sure was 21 or something when drafted. But yeah, that was before i really got into draft watching myself, but I remember VM being talked up as invincible and bombing out pretty hard. WA just more even across the park. Emma Quayle wrote her book about that year’s draft crop, before being sadly lost to journalism when the Age hounded their Essendon supporters out of the building in the wake of the Saga.
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Taylor was drafted as a 21 year old smokey.
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I know it’s completely unrelated to this thread but I think Archie Roberts is going well
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It would be good to get some more assessments on Archie Robert’s progress and potential. Is it realistic to think he could break through and play a few games in 2024 or is he he long term in a development stage in the VFL? Whose position in the AFL team could he be threatening or would it take a player’s injury for him to get an opportunity?
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Archie is this years player that we forget until four years down the line he debuts and we wonder where he came from. In my mind already he’s a skinny kid hanging around the ground hoping for a stray footy. There’s also a chance he tears it up in the VFL and becomes the half back messiah we’re praying for.
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That’s because they already are using their other foot!
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To me he looks like a skinny kid that we got late in the draft. In a year where we’re expecting to win games in not expecting he’ll get much, if any, opportunity
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Highly unlikely he would be given 4 years on a list if he hasnt debuted.
He’ll have a foot related back injury after a promising VFL year, finally debuting in 2028 vs GWS but the Sydney ground will combust on a 56 degree day in July just as he’s about to be subbed on. THIS IS ESSINGTON
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Can we call him Ken?