Get it through the sticks - goal kicking performance in Australian football: Research and implications for practice design

First posted 27/03/12. Updated 2/02/22 and 03/03/26

The footy pre-season is underway and goal-kicking is on my mind. Specifically, the factors that affect goal kicking performance and the implications they have on the preparation of players for this task. This is not a straight forward reflection as goal kicking can be from a 'set shot' resulting from a mark or free kick, or from a kick resulting from the dynamics of play as it unfolds - a quick 'snap' at goals, a kick on the run, a kick forced onto the non preferred leg due to defence action or defence pressure restricting time to position onto a preferred kicking leg. Brown and colleagues found shot accuracy was 50.4%, and Anderson and colleagues (2018) found that at the elite level (AFL) set shot success is around 55% and decreases by up to 13% in wet conditions. Modelling the AFL seasons 2018–2020, Murray et al (2020) found an overall goal rate of 47%. Free throw shooters in basketball can achieve 90%+ accuracy. How come Australian football goal kicking success rates are not higher? Not surprisingly as they probably practice goal kicking more than other players, Anderson and colleagues (2018) found key forwards are more accurate set shots than other players.

The biomechanics of kicking - 'technique' for success
As a phys-ed teacher I am well aware that biomechanics affects performance efficiency. To consider the mechanics of kicking in Australian football I looked at the work of Kevin Ball. He has researched the biomechanical aspects of kicking and set shot accuracy in AFL football and found the following technical factors influence set-shot accuracy:
- the approach line (the least accurate kicks in the study had a curved approach that did not conclude in a straight line before the kick)
- ball movement during the approach (should be minimised)
- ball position at drop (drop the ball in line with the kicking thigh)
- ball contact
- follow through position (leg should point towards the goals)
While comparing the kicking mechanics of elite juniors (U18) to one of the more consistent set shot kicks of recent times, Matthew Llyod, Ball found that Llyod was more upright, guided the ball down further and released the ball closer to the ground than most of the U18 players. He also found that Llyod maintained his vision through the goals while approaching his kick - he did not look toward the ground or at the player guarding the mark which U18 players were prone to.

Blair and colleagues (2018) found distance from goal influenced kicking technique, with increased knee extension of the support leg, and increased foot speed, shank and knee angular velocities occurring in longer kicks. It is worth noting that while technique is 'individual' to the player, and players usually have different technical error profiles, the biomechanics of the things 'that matter' in successful set shot goal kicking is usually fairly consistent: approach line, ball position at release, ball contact, and follow through (read Kevin Ball discussing his work here). More recently, Blair and colleagues (2020) seemed to confirm that 'technique matters' as accurate goal-kicks were characterised by a straighter approach line, with less kick-leg joint range of motion (knee and hip), lower linear velocity (centre of mass, foot speed), angular velocity (knee and shank), and less support-leg knee flexion during the kicking phase compared to inaccurate goal-kicks.

Implication 1 - Coaches need to pay attention to the mechanics of players set shot kicks during practice and to the visual display of the players as they approach the kick

"Once you have that routine, it all becomes habit and once you get to that stage, it all becomes comfortable." Jeremy Cameron (ABC News 9 June 2020, David Mark's article here)

Fatigue, Conscious Control and Perception
Ball also found that in a relatively 'self paced' skill like a set shot at goals, fatigue and an attempt to consciously control the kick can lead to changes in technique that are detrimental to performance. Although NFL field goal kicking was the context, Witt & Dorsch (2009) found that kickers who made more successful kicks perceived the goals to be further apart, while the more kicks that are missed the narrower the goals were perceived.

Elliott and colleagues (2020) used think aloud to reveal players cognitive processes during set shot goal kicking. The verbalisations showed that players gather information, plan and describe the outcome. Self-doubt emerges in the player cognition prior to the kick as the task difficulty increases. Closer to goal players were more likely to think about their mental readiness and performance routine prior to taking the kick compared to 'long range' set shots.

Implication 2 - Coaches should assist players develop a routine that provides time to lower heart rate and 'calm the mind' so the set shot routine becomes more 'instinctive' rather than robotic

Asymmetrics
Nicholls, Loetscher & Rademacher (2010) reviewed AFL goal kicking data from the 2005-2009 seasons to consider whether one side of the goals was favoured when a point was scored rather than a goal. They found more right points than left points were scored (left or right were considered from the kickers perspective), and that there was a clear interaction between the side the kick was taken and side of the 'miss' (a point scored instead of a goal). That is, kicks from the right side were more likely to result in right 'point' scored, and vica-versa for the left. I think we would expect that, but what I found most interesting was that the research found that when players aimed for the mid-point between the goal posts there was a bias toward a right deviation with the kick. Right foot players may shift their spatial attention to the right when estimating the mid-point of the goals in 'far space'.

Implication 3 - Coaches need to consider where they tell players to 'aim' when kicking as it may not be quite as simple as telling players to 'kick it through the middle'

Angles of Opportunity
Galbraith & Lockwood (2010) performed a mathematical deconstruction of two parameters that affect set shot difficulty - angle and distance. While the goal-width (post-to-post) is 6.4m, they found that the available goal width changes with distance and angle. No surpises there, but while the central corridor from goal-to-goal is considered the most favoured place to be when kicking for goal they suggest the mathematics points to this perception being an illusion as mathematically there are many positions, some at quite a substantial angle, which afford better opportunities (The key variable being distance from goals. For example, a kick from directly in front of goals/90degrees from a distance of 50m provides only a 7degree angle of opportunity - the same as a kick from 30m at 45degrees).

Implication 4 - Gallbraith & Lockwood suggest creating 'circles of opportunity' using markers to create specific target locations with respect to distance and angle for set shot goal kicking....all points on a given circle define the same goal angle and so are points of equal opportunity for a successful kick. By putting this idea into practice in forward entry play-practices and goal kicking drills coaches open up goal kicking spaces more expansively and are not restricted to a 'hot-spot' directly in front of goal - making it harder for opposition defenses to get organised.

There is little research pertaining specifically to goal kicking performance in Australian football emerging from the dynamics of play. Brown et al (2022) developed a conditional inference tree that illustrates groupings of similar opportunities to score which can be used to educate players decision making on shot opportunities that have an increased likelihood of success. “For instance, a player may be passing the ball off to someone they think is in a better location to shoot from; however, they may be equally likely to be successful, therefore, they should take the shot themselves and not increase the chance of a turnover by making an additional pass.” (p. 10).

From other sports, Button et al (2003) looked at basketball shooting and concluded movement solutions need to be developed under realistic task constraints. Wende (2005) investigated water-polo shot outcomes and found the removal of a defender and goalkeeper in practice results in changes in the relative coordination and timing of the shot, so shot practice needs to replicate defensive game pressure.

Implication 5 - Coaches need to replicate the potential movement solutions that occur in a game during practice in order to rehearse optimal team and individual movement responses - goal kicking should be practiced under variable defensive pressure similar to what can be expected in game situations

A 2018 study by Anderson and colleagues found Australian Football players were, on average 2.6 times more likely to score a goal from a set-shot when the angle was less than 30°, compared with more acute angles. This suggests angle affects task difficulty of the set shot, with increased task difficulty influencing success rates. Recently, Brown and colleagues (2022) confirmed location was also a major influence on goal kicking performance from set shots. From a strategic viewpoint, creating marking opportunities for set shots from angles less than 30 degrees seems desirable, which then leads to consideration of coaching forward player running patterns for forward entry targets.

Implication 6 - coaches need to teach player running patterns and forward player coordination-relationship dynamics to enable possesion in areas of the ground where goal kicking success is more likely.

One of the interesting recent developments for those interested in game-based coaching is Bonney and colleagues (2019) development of a a valid and reliable 5v6  Australian football small-sided game kicking proficiency assessment. 

Conclusion
The research literature on Australian football (AFL) goal kicking is growing. This review of literature has provided 6 clear directions for planning of goal kicking practice. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading this blog. If you would like to connect with the ideas here or any of the ideas I have blogged about, you can contact via my email here

References

Anderson, D., Breed, R., Spittle, M., & Larkin, P. (2018). Factors affecting set shot goal-kicking performance in the Australian football league. Perceptual and motor skills, 125(4), 817-833.

Ball, K. (2008). Biomechanical considerations of distance kicking in Australian Rules football. Sports Biomechanics, 7(1), 10-23.

Blair, S., Robertson, S., Duthie, G., & Ball, K. (2020). Biomechanics of accurate and inaccurate goal-kicking in Australian football: Group-based analysis. Plos one, 15(11), e0241969.

Bonney, N., Berry, J., Ball, K., & Larkin, P. (2020). Validity and reliability of an Australian football small-sided game to assess kicking proficiency. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(1), 79-85.

Browne, P. R., Sweeting, A. J., & Robertson, S. (2022). Modelling the influence of task constraints on goal kicking performance in Australian rules football. Sports Medicine-Open, 8(1), 13.

Button, C., Macleod, M., Sanders, R., & Coleman, S. (2003). Examining movement variability in the basketball free-throw action at different skill levels. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 74(3), 257-269.

Elliott, S., Whitehead, A., & Magias, T. (2020). Thought processes during set shot goalkicking in Australian Rules football: An analysis of youth and semi-professional footballers using Think Aloud. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 48, 101659.

Galbraith, P., & Lockwood, T. (2010). Things may not always be as they seem: the set shot in AFL football. Australian Senior Mathematics Journal, 24(2), 29-42.

Murray, H. S., Drovandi, C., Carr, E. J., & Corry, P. (2022). Statistical modelling of goalkicking performance in the Australian Football League. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25(8), 690-695.

Nicholls, M. E., Loetscher, T., & Rademacher, M. (2010). Miss to the right: The effect of attentional asymmetries on goal-kicking. PLoS One, 5(8), e12363.

Van Der Wende K. (2005). The effects of game-specific task constraints on the outcome of the water polo shot. New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology.

Witt, J. K., & Dorsch, T. E. (2009). Kicking to bigger uprights: Field goal kicking performance influences perceived size. Perception, 38(9), 1328-1340.