WHEN clubs lose games such as Port Adelaide did on Saturday against the Gold Coast Suns, it's easy to point the finger and attempt to blame a few individuals.
A close analysis of that last quarter shows that the list of errors made by just about every Port Adelaide player during the last quarter would be as long as their supporters' faces after the game.
The spotlight of blame however has fallen on the previous week's NAB AFL Rising Star nominee Jasper Pittard; and by extension, the Port Adelaide coaching box.
Should the 20-year-old Pittard - playing his fifth game - have taken a crucial kick in with two minutes and 45 seconds left in the game, and Port Adelaide holding on to a one point lead?
The talkback crew say 'no, no, no, no,' but there is no doubt in my mind he not only should have taken that kick, but also that he will become a better player for having done so.
Let's start by dismantling the presumption that a senior, more experienced player should have taken the kick at that moment on the assumption they would have executed better.
Did anyone see the Bulldogs' Robert Murphy (188 games and 28 years old) take a kick out with less than two minutes on the clock and scores level against Fremantle on Monday night?
He played on and kicked the ball out on the full.
Even the game's oldest player, Essendon's Dustin Fletcher (333 games and 35 years old), miskicked his last kick out of the game on Monday and put it straight on to Scott Pendlebury's chest.
Nobody cared at the time, because the game was well and truly in Collingwood's hands. They might late in the season however, if percentage becomes an issue.
That's not a knock on those players, just the 'leave it to the seniors' argument applied by so many to the Pittard case.
Consider these facts about Pittard for a moment when considering his decision to pick up the ball and take responsibility (and his teammates trusting him to do so):
- The club had identified him as a likely candidate for taking kick-ins before he was recruited in the first round (No.16 overall) of the 2009 AFL National Draft.
- He showed during games and training the temperament and the skill to make the right decisions more often than not.
- Critically, according to Champion Data statistics, Pittard had taken 39 of Port Adelaide's 76 kick-ins in 2011 before that fateful moment and performed well in the role. The next best is Alipate Carlile who had taken 19 of the 76, then Steven Salopek with eight and Troy Chaplin with four.
Such a statistic shows the stature in which he is held at Port Adelaide because kicking in has become the hardest job in football.
Geelong's Josh Hunt admits as much in the AFL Record this week. His description of what a player is faced with when putting the ball back into play is instructive: "You need something that is going to catch your eye and if there is someone free, you need to back your first option.
"If you think in today's game no or yes, no, yes, the opportunity is gone," said Hunt.
Batsmen will recognise that description: 'yes, no, sorry', is the cry of the batsman watching his partner get run out.
Faced with the moment for the 40th time this season, Pittard made a decision to kick to himself and play on based on a notion that the Gold Coast's defensive zone was not yet set and the opportunity to move the ball to a teammate in space had presented itself.
Pittard presumably underestimated the pace of Gold Coast's Harley Bennell who was on the mark, and a tired, ineffectual attempt to block Bennell from his teammate Carlile left him vulnerable.
The kick was smothered and, after a couple of desperate attempts to rectify the situation failed, Gold Coast's Luke Russell snapped a great goal to give the Suns the lead.
One had to feel for Pittard but I could write a similar paragraph for countless moments during that last half that affected the result.
As is so often the case in a close finish, no one player at Port Adelaide was singularly responsible for the result of the game.
With that in mind, Pittard can move on with the knowledge that being the player he has already proved himself to be, he will learn from the moment.
The best way to learn is to put yourself in the position to execute your skill in the critical moments. That Pittard was prepared to do that with the game in the balance is an indicator he is a man who Port Adelaide can rely on in the future.
When he took the kick he was merely fulfilling what he was drilled to do, playing his role in the team. Imagine however the message sent to the youngster if the senior players or coaching staff had said 'we don't want you taking the pressure kicks'.
When would he ever be ready?
Maybe taking his first pressure kick-in aged 25 with 100 games behind him? Or 200 games? Murphy and Fletcher proved such to be nonsense, as did the positive approach of Matt Suckling (11 games) who took many pressure kicks for Hawthorn against Geelong on Tuesday.
Funnily enough, Pittard had told the Geelong Advertiser during the week, after being nominated for the NAB AFL Rising Star, he had been gaining confidence in his kicking because his teammates and coaches had been happy to give him the ball.
With a positive mindset, Pittard (and the team) can grow from such moments, learning that resilience is one of the most important characteristics an AFL player (and an AFL coach) can have.
Port Kick-Ins Total
Pittard 40
Carlile 19
Salopek 8
Chaplin 4
Kane Cornes 2
Hartlett 2
Source: Champion Data
