By Michael C Jordan -
November 24th 2009 @ 2:31am
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Queensland State of Origin kicking riches
I thought I’d pose a question to roar readers I have been pondering for a while: Why is Jonathan Thurston taking conversion attempts from the right sideline?
The thought fist came to me while watching recent State of Origin series and was brought back to mind with the recent four nations tournament. With the left-footed Cameron Smith in both teams, he would seem to me to be a much better option.
I must confess I’ve only really taken a keen interest in rugby league over the past few seasons, but I would have thought it was obvious to have the left-footed Smith take kicks from the right and Thurston to take kicks from the left.
Surely with the traditionally close nature of State of Origin football, it makes sense to give the team the best possible chance of getting the extra two points.
This would seem even more relevant given Thurston’s technique – the way he curls the ball leaves very little margin for error.
While I agree Thurston is the best kicker in the team for most conversions, statistically and logically Smith is a better option out wide on the right.
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(13)
Mick from Giralang said | November 24th 2009 @ 5:55am | Report comment
Very good point Michael. It’s rare to see kickers interchanged during a game though occasionally a team will have a “long distance” expert who will take over from the regular kicker. The right footed kick from a round-the corner exponent on the right hand touch line looks extremely difficult but people like Thurston and Al Mazri make it look like child’s play. I’d love to see the conversion rate from some of the old toe-kickers such as Mick Cronin and Mal Meninga, to compare them with the modern style.
MyGeneration said | November 24th 2009 @ 6:27am | Report comment
This link shows percentages since 1986. Mal’s only 61.66%; Cronin at 50% but he only got 30 kicks in after the cut-off date. It’s noticable that kickers of recent times have generally significantly better percentages.
http://stats.rleague.com/rl/scorers/overall_sc1.html
There must be more extensive stats somewhere, but I don’t know where. I seem to remember kicks missed in the 1977 grand final that we’d consider pretty straightforward nowadays, without a hue and cry being made.
Mick from Giralang said | November 24th 2009 @ 7:01am | Report comment
Thanks MG. I’ll put my rose coloured glasses away now.
Pippinu said | November 24th 2009 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Where the right footer has a natural curve from right to left, it makes good sense that you use a left footer from the right hand side (especially near the touch line).
If anyone has ever trained indoors (aussie rules), you’ll note that for some reason the natural curve on your kicking is accentuated (even if you think you are kicking directly).
This phenomenon manifests itself under the roof at the Dome, where players have learned to use the natural curve of their drop punts (I’m not talking about snaps and boomerangs, just straight ahead punts).
The kicker will know intuitively whether a particular angle is close to impossible for his natural curve.
In a situation where you can choose the kicker, as in League, it’s common sense that you go with the natural advantages of your kickers to optimise conversion.
Thurston should be professional and knowledgeable enough to confirm this when the time comes, and to call over the left-footer if the situation warrants it (what they call in the modern game “player empowerment”).
oikee said | November 24th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
You could be onto something their PIP, i am going to send this straight to Qld rugby league head-quarters.
cheers.
Jay said | November 24th 2009 @ 8:33am | Report comment
Thurston is a better kicker than Cam Smtih left or right side.
Smith’s kicking performance in big games (especially grand finals) is poor.
Pippinu said | November 24th 2009 @ 8:41am | Report comment
If Smith is poor under pressure – well, that’s another consideration again.
ScottWoodward.me said | November 24th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
I bet on Rugby League to put food on my plate and I would rather have my last sausage on Thurston kicking from the right side than Smith.
Thurston kicked beautifully in the 4 nations final from both sides. I would suggest that Cam Smith has actually a better record kicking from the left.
Greg Russell said | November 24th 2009 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Thurston has kicked beautifully for years now, not just in the 4N (not that this is news to Scott).
Compare Thurston at the very end against NZ with Giteau at the very end against Scotland last weekend. Both were attempting a conversion from exactly the same spot. Ian Millward on the radio commentary I was listening to screamed “I’ll tell you something for free – Thurston’s going to kick this over the black dot”. He did, and a loss was averted. Giteau never looked like making his kick, and a terrible loss was not averted. Sometimes isolated events do say an awful lot. (And yeah, yeah, I’m aware that for Thurston this was kicking on his favoured side, for Giteau not.)
The other thing is that in the same match NZ tried the policy suggested above: the left-footed Bryson Goodwin took kicks from the right, while the right-footed Issac Luke took conversions from the left. Luke missed a relatively easy conversion that ended up being crucial.
One would have to ask goalkickers this, but my gut feeling is that they like either to do it all or not do it at all. I’d suggest it’s a mental thing, including their mental preparation for a match.
South African rugby this season was one exception, but their demarcation was distance rather than side of the field: Morne Steyn took anything within 50 m of the posts, but Francois Steyn took penalties beyond halfway. It worked, especially against NZ in Hamilton, after which match the Bok captain called FS “a rocket launcher”.
oikee said | November 24th 2009 @ 11:22am | Report comment
Be a sad day when rugby league resorts to kicking goals from 50 metres out.
Jay said | November 24th 2009 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Francois Steyn is an absolute gun. He can kick goals and field goals from anywhere!
Pity he wont be playing for the boks..
oikee said | November 24th 2009 @ 9:38am | Report comment
I have to admit, its a good point Jordon has brought up, and having the option of kickers, maybe its something that in big games like origin, and kangaroos, can be looked into. If we need to make a kick from the sideline to tie a game, giving a chance to go extra time, i would prefer to see the curve going our way. It must give you at least another 10% chance of making the kick.
Michael C Jordan said | November 24th 2009 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Thanks for the comments. It was just an idea.
If you would like to read more of my articles please visit my blog at http://www.thefinalsiren.blogspot.com and let me know what you think.
Thanks
Michael C Jordan