HOW CATS CAN COPE WITH MAX FACTOR
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BILLY Brownless imagined a little man on his shoulder whispering constant expressions of doubt.
Travis Cloke seemed a victim of paralysis by analysis, a thousand goalkicking remedies unable to cure what ailed him.
Tim Membrey never thought it could happen to him. If set shot goalkicking remained one of the few AFL skills unimproved over time, he was the AFL’s best exponent.
A man who played his solitary game at Sydney as a late replacement for Lance Franklin had mastered the AFL’s version of putting for dough.
His 44.18 in 2016 was followed by 38.14, the AFL’s most lethal goalkicker also a triumphant recruit picked in late 2014 as a delisted free agent.
Then it happened.
As St Kilda’s season fell down around them in a contagious hail of missed shots and botched chances, Membrey caught the bug.
Finally back on track again after 19.5 in the past seven weeks after starting the year with 6.15, the Saints full-forward now admits he caught the yips.
“Yeah, it was probably just a bit of the yips, I reckon. I have been someone who has been reliable for quite a while now,” he said.
“Obviously it wasn’t going well at the start of the year and it was a little bit frustrating. I know it wasn’t anything too serious, I had to get the rhythm and feeling back.
“But when everyone around you is struggling with goalkicking the pressure can build and you feel like you have to be the one to turn it around.
“It was more expectation. This is my job, I am supposed to kick these goals. Some of them were relatively easy.”
Against Fremantle in Round 8 it was 1.5 for the day, followed by 0.3 against Collingwood in another wasteful Saints loss with more points than goals.
In last year’s stunning win over Richmond, Membrey kicked five goals straight then was suspended for a fortnight after collecting Dylan Grimes high.
In Round 10 this year Richmond hit back in a 28-point win, Membrey kicking two goals. He expects to play against Alex Rance once again at Etihad Stadium tonight.
“Yeah, I might get Alex. It’s certainly a big challenge and something I will look forward to if he does come to me,’’ he said.
“Obviously he is a great interceptor of the ball so we will try to take that away.
“Whoever he does go to, we have got some tricks there so we will see how we go early.”