WEST Coast forward Josh Kennedy not only completed a rare feat in kicking double-figure goals against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday—he also maintained his record as one of the most accurate key forwards from set shots in the AFL.
Kennedy kicked 10.3. Not all those were from set shots, but the figure does give an indication of a player who finds the goals more often than not.
With his height, Kennedy is a press-breaker. Eagles teammates are likely to choose him over shorter teammates who are covered.
And given that presses force a plethora of kicks under pressure, Kennedy is in the best position to take the hurried kick because of his height and his strong hands.
The general benchmark for key forwards in shooting at goal from set shots is 70 per cent. Kennedy is over that benchmark during the first nine rounds in 2011, with 72.4 per cent.
Of the players in the top 10 on the goalkicking table, Richmond pair Jack Riewoldt and Tyrone Vickery are easily the most accurate from set shots, with whopping percentages of 79.3 and 84.6 respectively.
These figures suggest a successful Tigers kicking coach (former Carlton midfielder Nick Stevens). Mostly, they indicate that the Tigers are playing more through the corridor and that their players are skillful enough with their feet to find forwards who lead down the middle.
As recently as a year ago, Riewoldt was known as a wonky shot at goal. Now he's an unerring shot in front of goal and he regularly slots goals from tight angles on either side of the ground.
Vickery is an unhurried player whose cool nerve serves him well when kicking for goal. He's playing as the tall forward who takes his turn in the ruck.
Coach Damien Hardwick is more than happy with Vickery's current return of 11 goals from set shots in nine games.
At the other end of the scale, the most famous hook foot in the game, Hawthorn's Lance Franklin, continues to work on the principle that the more shots you have, the more likely you are to kick a goal at some stage.
Franklin has had 20 goals from 36 set shots in the first nine rounds—a percentage of 55.6. While it's not an ideal percentage, if Franklin is taking six or eight set shots at goal, you know he's in form.
Sunday's match against the Sydney Swans at the SCG is a case in point. Franklin kicked 6.6 (again, not all shots were set shots) playing at centre half-forward.
The comments after the match tended to concentrate on his ripper match rather than his poor percentage return on goalkicking.
A perennial comment from griping media folk is that goalkicking is the one area of the game that has not improved. So does this theory stack up?
If you compare the set-shot accuracy of the top 10 goalkickers from last year and the figure from 10 years ago, the figures are remarkably similar.
The average percentage for the 2010 players is 65.69. The average percentage for the 2001 players is 65.91 - so the old school wins by 0.32 per cent.
Having said that, the 2001 figure is skewed by Matthew Lloyd's success rate of 76 per cent from set shots.
Lloyd was an exceptional kick for goal.
| SET SHOTS 2011 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Mt | G | B | Sc.% |
| 1 | J.Riewoldt (Rich) | 9 | 23 | 6 | 79.3 |
| 2 | JJ.Kennedy (WCE) | 8 | 21 | 8 | 72.4 |
| 3 | L.Franklin (Haw) | 8 | 20 | 16 | 55.6 |
| 4 | C.Dawes (Coll) | 8 | 14 | 5 | 73.7 |
| 5 | L.Jurrah (Melb) | 8 | 14 | 5 | 73.7 |
| 6 | K.Tippett (Adel) | 7 | 14 | 6 | 70.0 |
| 7 | N.Riewoldt (STK) | 8 | 12 | 8 | 60.0 |
| 8 | B.McGlynn (Syd) | 8 | 12 | 4 | 75.0 |
| 9 | T.Vickery (Rich) | 9 | 11 | 2 | 84.6 |
| 10 | T.Cloke (Coll) | 8 | 10 | 7 | 58.8 |
| SET SHOTS 2010 H&A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Mt | G | B | Sc.% |
| 1 | J.Riewoldt (Rich) | 22 | 61 | 28 | 68.5 |
| 2 | B.Hall (WB) | 21 | 53 | 25 | 67.9 |
| 3 | J.Brown (BL) | 16 | 42 | 21 | 66.7 |
| 4 | M.LeCras (WC) | 21 | 36 | 13 | 73.5 |
| 5 | L.Franklin (Haw) | 17 | 36 | 26 | 58.1 |
| 6 | K.Tippett (Adel) | 22 | 36 | 27 | 57.1 |
| 7 | B.Green (Melb) | 22 | 34 | 19 | 64.2 |
| 8 | J.Podsiadly (Geel) | 17 | 34 | 19 | 64.2 |
| 9 | M.Pavlich (Fre) | 21 | 33 | 17 | 66.0 |
| 10 | J.Schulz (Port) | 16 | 29 | 12 | 70.7 |
| SET SHOTS 2001 H&A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Mt | G | B | Sc.% |
| 1 | M.Lloyd (Ess) | 19 | 76 | 24 | 76.0 |
| 2 | C.Tarrant (Coll) | 22 | 44 | 23 | 65.7 |
| 3 | M.Richardson (Rich) | 19 | 41 | 24 | 63.1 |
| 4 | B.Ottens (Rich) | 21 | 39 | 15 | 72.2 |
| 5 | T.Wilson (WCE) | 18 | 38 | 23 | 62.3 |
| 6 | S.Rocca (NMFC) | 21 | 37 | 20 | 64.9 |
| 7 | B.Hall (STK) | 17 | 36 | 19 | 65.5 |
| 8 | A.Lynch (BL) | 21 | 35 | 19 | 64.8 |
| 9 | D.Bradshaw (BL) | 17 | 35 | 19 | 64.8 |
| 10 | A.Rocca (Coll) | 20 | 34 | 21 | 61.8 |
*******************
West Coast's 123-point victory over the Western Bulldogs on Sunday was full of statistical wonders, at least from an Eagles point of view.
Here's just a sample:
- The Eagles won the contested possessions 186-128. The differential of 58 is the most in any game this season.
- The Eagles won the inside-50s by a differential of 37, 68-31. The Bulldogs figure of 31 is the lowest they've recorded since Champion Data started taking records in 1999.
- West Coast's final quarter of 10.4 to the Bulldogs' no score is the best final quarter in the Eagles' history.
- The Eagles' winning margin of 123 points is the third highest in the club's history (in round 19, 1995, they defeated Adelaide by 135 points and in round 20, 1992, they defeated Brisbane Bears by 131 points).
