THE YIPS ARE GETTING BIGGER
IT’S coming up to 10 years since my last game of AFL footy, and the one thing that bugs me more than anything is when fans remind me about my dodgy goalkicking.
The reason it flattens me so much is because I know it’s true.
I reckon I was pretty decent kick for goal … until my infamous miss on the half-time siren of the 2008 grand final.
After that I got the yips. It affected me terribly for the next 18 months, and became a stain on my career.
I can still remember that feeling of nerves, hearing the crowd murmuring as I was approaching the sticks, and feeling my arms shaking uncontrollably.
You could sense the disappointment in the stands. The ball had zipped from one end of Kardinia Park to the other — Scarlett to Enright to Milburn to Ling, on to Bartel, Stevie J and then Mooney — then I’d go and bugger it all up with a poor shot on goal.
It was deflating for the fans and my teammates, and embarrassing for me.
It got so bad, I found myself pushing up the ground, chasing kicks away from goal.
I didn’t want the pressure of being relied on to slot the goal.
I heaped that burden onto someone else; often in those days it was young Tommy Hawkins,
It wasn’t fair. I was the team’s senior key forward. I should’ve taken the responsibility.
My record shows I was a much better set-shot kick earlier in my career, and that doesn’t count for the times I sprayed it out on the full or fell short in those final few years.
These days I share the Fox Footy commentary box with some of the game’s greatest ever key forwards, including Jason Dunstall, Jonathan Brown, Garry Lyon, Nick Riewoldt and Dermott Brereton.
We talk about goalkicking a lot. We also pay close attention to the next generation of key forwards.
Of all the up and comers the King twins are the most exciting in my book. Max (St Kilda) and Ben (Gold Coast) could be anything.
They’re tall, athletic, smart and brave. They’ve got the lot, and they’re not yet 21 years old.
So far I’ve seen more of Max, and the only chink in his armour that I can see is his kicking for goal.
It’s a bit shaky, and I reckon I can see that apprehension in his eyes when he’s lining up.
I’m not saying he’s got the yips. But, speaking from experience, I can tell him if he doesn’t iron out his routine and run-up now, the yips will come knocking at some point.
Even with an unreliable goalkicking drill, King is probably good enough to kick 500 majors by the time his career ends.
Anyone who does that has had a great career.
But I’m talking about him fulfilling his potential and being an all-time great.
I’m talking about slotting 800 goals or more, and leading St Kilda to its second premiership.
He has the talent to do that, and if he did he would go past Riewoldt as the second-best forward the Saints have ever had.
He’d still be behind Tony Lockett, but that’s a pretty good place to be.
The trick for King will be to find a mentor he trusts and work diligently at his craft.
Luckily for him, Jarryd Roughead is already employed at his club, and would make the perfect goalkicking coach.
When I had the yips, the bloke I worked with was David Wheadon. He was a great teacher, but I had to learn to place my trust completely in him.
Plenty of people were offering me advice, and I made the mistake of listening to them all. I was changing my routine on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. But once I got to work with David and managed to block out those external voices, I reckon my goalkicking did improve in the latter part of 2010, and into my final season in 2011.
Blake Caracella was the man for Tom Hawkins. Blake was a great kick of the footy himself, and spent a lot of time with Tommy when he started to get a little nervy.
The work they did paid off big time. Hawkins became one of the best kicks for goal in the game, and now has more than 600 to his name, with plenty more to come.
He killed the yips before they took hold by putting in the work early in his career, and learning about his natural kicking style.
And it made him a superstar of the AFL, just like I reckon Max King will be.