Five-time All-Australian Garry Lyon is frustrated by the state of set shot kicking for goal in the AFL right now.
Singling out Essendon forward Joe Daniher and Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps, who have both had their issues this year in front of goal, Lyon called for teams to put more work into the craft and wants greater scrutiny for players who struggle.
“When are we going to make assessments of players on that (goal kicking) as well? Tell me Joe (Daniher) is a star. He is not a star because Joe can’t kick for goal,” Lyon told AFL Nation.
“Patrick Cripps, he can’t kick for goal, I’m sorry, you’ve got to mark him down. Patrick is limiting himself by what he does when he goes forward.
“Then the next question is, who’s coaching these blokes? You’re an assistant coach, your job is to coach football, you’re getting paid $300,000, you’re failing as a coach if you can’t fix someone. How are you fixing this goal kicking problem?”
Lyon emphasised that his issue is players who consistently miss by a wide margin.
“I don’t care if you’re missing by a metre to the left or a metre to the right, everyone misses those, these blokes are missing the set,” the former Melbourne captain said.
“Not just the goals, they’re missing the set. On $700,000, this year is different, but full time, access to every resource you want, given every single physical preparation tool and mechanism you can want, and we just go ‘oh well’ (when they miss).
“I’ll give you the cricket analogy. The bloke fielding at first slip drops 10 out of 11. Do you reckon we would go ‘oh well’? You’d banish him and he’s out.
“Do your job. If you’re a cricketer – catch the damn thing. If you’re a golfer – putt the thing in hole. If you’re footballer – kick it through the two big things.”