One giant leap for mankind
Ryan Papenhuyzen reckons he threw out his back celebrating. Ditto those mere mortals watching from the lounge, trying to work out what just happened.
Xavier Coates, humble as you like, trotted out the old “practice makes perfect” line after his match-winning, long-jumping, gravity-defying, physics-redefining piece of rugby league brilliance.
The rest of us could practise all we like, and the closest we’d ever get to Coates’ breathtaking acrobatics against the Warriors would be a hop, skip and a face plant. So best just to sit back, marvel and break down how he did it.
One giant leap: What did we just witness?
In essence, a 194 centimetre, 108-kilogram athlete, starting his run 45 metres out from the tryline at roughly a 25-degree angle to the corner post.
Given Melbourne’s matchwinning play travels through four sets of hands, Coates has to time and taper his run accordingly.
A junior athletics star with – shock, horror – long jump among his specialties, the Papua New Guinean was once regarded as a potential Olympian before focusing on rugby league.
GPS data has clocked Coates at 37kph during NRL games, though he’s not at top speed when he takes Reimis Smith’s pass on the 10-metre line.
The arc of Coates’ run gives him enough time for a balanced take-off even with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak looming in cover and hitting Coates’ legs. A right-foot take-off from around 6.5-7 metres puts him into orbit.
At his peak, Coates is parallel to the turf and at least 1.6 metres off the ground. With half-a-second of hang time, Coates’ impressive wingspan makes for a 2.8 metre human missile when his arms are outstretched, legs pivoting after contact from Watene-Zelezniak’s cover tackle as the ball is planted on the tryline with 10 centimetres of room to spare from the corner post.
Or as veteran commentator Warren Smith put it: “He jumped like a rainbow and came up with a pot of gold for Melbourne.”
The training: Dos and don’ts when launching into orbit
Since the NRL took the corner post out of play with a rule change in 2010, wingers have practiced flying touchdowns regularly.
Every few weeks during his Dragons days, former NSW and Kangaroos star Brett Morris would forensically analyse an opponent’s impressive touchdown, then work on replicating it at North Wollongong PCYC, leaping from the “spongy floor with little boards underneath, so that when you jump you get extra bounce”.
The added air time when jumping from the specialised flooring allows for a player’s in-air technique to be honed, with a ball and defenders progressively added to the process.
Coates himself detailed his own routine after each Storm training session after full-time against the Warriors.
“We get the big pads out, we put them on the side and I get someone to pass me the ball and then come across and sort of push me over as I to try to plant the ball down,” he said. “I try to get my body into certain positions where I can get it down without the ball sort of getting whacked out by the defender coming across.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy backed Coates’ “practice makes perfect” explanation.
“He didn’t just do that tonight because that’s what needed doing, he practices that,” Bellamy said. “If he doesn’t practise that, he don’t score that try tonight. He’s one hell of an athlete but what he’s doing at the moment isn’t surprising anyone here because we know he’s put in the work.”
For those trying this at home, Coates’ inside foot take-off is critical. Having his body weight and centre of gravity closer to Watene-Zelezniak, or any covering defender, allows for more stability and contact to be absorbed in the air.
Ideally, aiming to put the ball down with your outside hand also allows for as much distance between the Steeden and a looming defender as possible, as well as using every inch of the in-goal to get it down. Points for trying to Xavier, though.
The greatest: Where does Coates rank in the pantheon of putdowns?
For match context, Coates’ Superman effort – securing a comeback victory in the final minute – comes up trumps.
Dominic Young had a one-handed cartwheel, with Moses Suli hanging off him, for last year’s Dally M try of the season contender.
Brett Morris’s 2014 Hall of Famer at Shark Park started with a very handy take and Jonathan Wright shoving him over the touchline, and ended with Morris’s entire body in touch and the Steeden somehow still on his fingertips inside the in-goal.
And before he took to AFL, Israel Folau took to the skies in the 2008 Origin decider with an overhead speccy over the top of Storm teammate Anthony Quinn.