ONE OF Lance Franklin's former goalkicking coaches has encouraged the Sydney Swans star to relax when lining up for goal after his wayward display on Friday night.
Ben Perkins, who has earned a reputation throughout several sports in Australia for his expertise in kicking technique, spent the end of the 2010 season with Hawthorn working closely with Franklin and his forward partner Jarryd Roughead on their conversion.
In the Swans' win over Hawthorn on Friday night at ANZ Stadium, Franklin kicked seven behinds before kicking two final-quarter goals to help his new club over the line.
Franklin has a history of inaccuracy – over his career he has kicked 594.437 for a conversion rate of 57 per cent – and while Perkins would have hoped for more time working with the brilliant forward, he has identified where he can improve.
Relieved Franklin's focus on future
"With 'Buddy', I really needed more time with him [at Hawthorn] to completely make him understand what the [kicking] swing was all about. What I did find was working with Buddy was making him kick a few balls extra hard and then kicking some soft, and then getting that in-between feeling," Perkins told AFL.com.au.
"Buddy can sometimes come in and try to just bang it in and he can try too hard. Then there's the careful kick, where someone wants to just steer it through. You don't want careful. You hate careful. You get that [in-between] feeling into him so that's the feeling he's going to take out there.
"Players need coaches to remind them of things. Players' minds wander and they forget little things. Watching Buddy last night, not many of his kicks looked the same – except they were missing. His mind was racing."
Perkins, who in the past has also worked with Geelong, Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and most recently improved Michael Hurley's goalkicking at Essendon in 2012, said Franklin's ability to turn a game with an amazing moment meant he needed to be coached in a certain way.
"The big difference with Buddy and Roughead is that Buddy is such a 'feel free' player who does things on instinct and feeling, while with 'Roughy' you can set him on a more disciplined set routine, and he transforms himself into that when he has a set shot," he said.
"Roughy showed me truly tremendous ability in training, and I told [Hawks coach Alastair] Clarkson that he would be just fantastic with match practice.
"[Roughead] then did his Achilles, and we had to wait to see the results. But I declared he would be a big improver, and that's turned out pretty true."
Perkins has previously worked with the Wallabies rugby union side, where he was a confidant of star player Matt Giteau. Port Adelaide's 2004 premiership captain, Warren Tredrea, credits Perkins for relieving him of the 'yips'.
"I didn't have a genuine routine but I started working with Ben and pretty much instantly I was able to convert a lot better," Tredrea said in 2012.
"He is very good at what he does. His biggest things are momentum and attention to detail. He does a lot of stuff with the run-up, and for me it was about starting off slow, but on the impact of the kick you're at a speed where you feel comfortable
