At what point does goalkicking become a crisis?

C

cnx_tigers

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We have no goalkicker in the team and we don't have anyone likely to come in who can kick either. So, we are stuck with Benji.

Last night, that easy miss at 12-4 was an absolute momentum killer.

Last week we completely outplayed the Cowboys, yet they got to within 6 points near the end because we'd missed so many goals that we hadn't cleared out.

Facts are facts….......Benji is kicking at around 55%.

Did any of you hear Warren Ryan last sunday? He was saying that, in this era of around the corner kickers, anything under 80% is a disgrace. He lashed out about Benji being below 60% as a farce and said any team without a kicker will pay for it at some point throughout the season with 2-3 extra losses.

And he's absolutely RIGHT.

At the moment, we need to outscore our opponents by 2 clear tries just to win. At what point does it become a crisis? It's got the potential to derail our entire season as the simple facts are that come mid winter there's going to be a lot of tight 2-4 point games that are won / lost on kicking.

Personally, I think management should be on the phone working out a deal to get Krisnan Inu somehow released from Parra. He's not wanted there, he would be a nice upgrade on the wing over Fitzy and he can kick 80%.

Other than that, what do we do????
 
_At what point does goalkicking become a crisis?_

about 12 months ago…

at 12-6 its a completely different game last night. the dogs begin to doubt themselves and we lift. the heads went down when benji missed that kick. after all the defence we had done another 2 tries seemed way out of reach, however one more try, its all square and who knows what happens.

the dogs would have hit panic stations at 12-6.

this wont go down as a game that goal kicking cost us, but it should.
 
Goalkicking has been a momentus problem for the Tigers since Hodgson left. I thought they could have given Lazarus a chance last night, he was on the field at the time. Benji HAS to hand the goalkicking job to someone else - could be the difference between achieving our GF ambitions come seasons end.
 
55% in this era is amazing. It's been years since any club has had a kicker under 70% (roughly)

55 is the stuff we saw in the 80's from front rowers who used to toe poke.

Benji no doubt will have the odd game where he kicks 5/6…........but he's going to miss a tonne of easy goals over the year and we can't afford it.

Jason Taylor is in his GK coaching...............and he looks much, much worse this season.

Maybe a new GK coach is needed?

Re Mitch Brown, is that legit that he can kick? I don't rate him as a player at all, but I'd play him ahead of Fitzy if he can kick 80%.
 
@cnx_tigers said:
55% in this era is amazing. It's been years since any club has had a kicker under 70% (roughly)

55 is the stuff we saw in the 80's from front rowers who used to toe poke.
Click to expand...

Fifta is currently kicking at 100% for Western Suburbs Magpies….
 
well super coach should get Fitzy to kick goals Fitzy is the greatest player ever he should be able to handle it.. he better the any player that Sheens had at the raiders he would be the raiders 5/8 not Daley
 
I think its an issue now, but does anyone know (a big ask I know) what Benji's goal kicking at the SFS is like compared to other places. Its a strange thing to say but I honestly think he struggles mostly with goal kicking at the SFS.

If Blake Lazarus does hit them better then maybe he should be given the job. I think they will need every point they can get in the Panthers game.
 
@NJLM78 said:
I think its an issue now, but does anyone know (a big ask I know) what Benji's goal kicking at the SFS is like compared to other places. Its a strange thing to say but I honestly think he struggles mostly with goal kicking at the SFS.

If Blake Lazarus does hit them better then maybe he should be given the job. I think they will need every point they can get in the Panthers game.
Click to expand...

This year hes' 8/17 at SFS - 4 games
Hes 8/11 at canberra & NQ - 2 games

16/28 all up
 
@NJLM78 said:
If Blake Lazarus does hit them better then maybe he should be given the job.
Click to expand...

All sounds good in theory. But for mine, an ESTABLISHED 1st grader should be given the goalkicking duties at this point, one that does not have a history of ongoing repeated injuries who will likely be there week in week out, not a rookie who is trying to establish himself into cementing a first grade jersey who may be in and out of the squad for some time. This is soley due to the fact that WT NEED a longer term solution to an ONGOING issue.
At this point Lawrence would have to be the first candidate. I've watched him kick for a few years. He has a powerful strike of the boot but does miss a few. But in comparison, his strike rate i would be guessing was around about the 70% mark a few years back.
With some guided coaching, i'm sure he would be the type to excel and get his %'s up higher than that quite easily.
Or maybe some people should just keep wiggling their toes and and go "oink oink" more often to fix Benji's kicking…
 
@innsaneink said:
@NJLM78 said:
I think its an issue now, but does anyone know (a big ask I know) what Benji's goal kicking at the SFS is like compared to other places. Its a strange thing to say but I honestly think he struggles mostly with goal kicking at the SFS.

If Blake Lazarus does hit them better then maybe he should be given the job. I think they will need every point they can get in the Panthers game.

This year hes' 8/17 at SFS - 4 games
Hes 8/11 at canberra & NQ - 2 games

16/28 all up
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Thanks. Thats actually worse than I thought for the SFS at not 50% this season.
 
Totally agree…12-6, only a converted try down would give us great confidence to come back like we had twice before. But, 8 points down means a converted try and another try or a penalty goal if your lucky.

Benji never really looked like kicking that, you could tell he just wanted to get it over and done with instead of kicking it with some rhythm.

I think its time to give Lazarus the kicking duties as he was the goal kicker for BRET and had quite a good kicking percentage as well I believe?
 
@triserratops said:
@tigersnumberone said:
Its killing me. How the **** did he miss that kick last night? How the ****.

YEP!
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Click to expand...

Forgive my swearing mods. Im pretty frustrated.

Last year goal kicking cost us against the bulldogs in round 6, the broncos in round 7 or 8, and the rabbitohs as well. Im sure there are more games than that as well - we were lucky he landed a sideline conversion against the knights out of nowhere too, to win a game at campbelltown (in which he had kicked out on the full 3 times as well).

6 more points last year would have seen us finish in the top 4!

We cant sit back and watch it happen again.

Honestly, who can step up? No one. We are stuck with Benji kicking. I love him to death, but he is not up to it.
 
May be it is the way he's practising??

Does he put a few over after a session when he's mostly fatigue recovered? I'm only guessing here but in match conditions when he is tired, he doesn't really look likely at all….in fact even the ones that do go over look fairly dusty.

If he isnt doing it already, maybe they need to incorporate his kicking practice into the fitness sessions
 
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