"You know what I loved about Zaharakis' (goal)? He takes the mark, goes straight back and runs in and kicks the goal. He doesn't allow himself any time to think."
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Essendon veteran David Zaharakis kicked a crucial goal from just inside the 50-metre arc and commentator Jonathan Brown was impressed.
Zaharakis' clutch goal leveled the scores with five minutes to go in the Bombers and Gold Coast round 11 match. It eventually ended as a draw.
Should players take this no-nonsense approach to goal-kicking all the time?
AFL Hall of Famer and Warrnambool product Brown is well qualified to offer his perspective with 594 goals from his 256 matches for the Brisbane Lions.
While many aspects of of our beloved game have changed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing remains the same.
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Players are consistently missing what should be attainable set-shot goals for professionals.
The top-tier team hurting the most from this part of the game is the second-ranked Lions.
Their four goals and 17 points against Richmond in round 10 arguably kept them from being in the contest to the end.
Brisbane's scoreline of 10.23 (83) against Adelaide in round four was their worst to date.
Commentators have been talking about goal-kicking woes all season.
Some have suggested the best way to deal with the problem is to get shots closer and in front of goal.
It's a great point but shouldn't we expect more of players who are paid well to work on their kicking skills in pre-season and in-between matches?
Perhaps the oval-shaped ball is just to hard to handle consistently.
But there is one player this season who has shown goal-kicking can be improved significantly with hard work.
Carlton's Levi Casboult has been widely praised for his improved play but particularly his kicking for goal.
He's booted 14 goals this year at an average of 1.3 per game.
Casboult managed just 15 goals from his 20 matches last year.
Hi goal accuracy average is also up three per cent to 51.9.
Impressed goal-kicking great Matthew Lloyd, in June, asked Casboult on the Sunday Footy Show about his improvement.
Casboult explained former AFL forward and NFL punter Sav Rocca had helped with his technique.
"Working with Sav he was really good for that, he understands my kick and he was really good at picking up on those little things," he said.
"Not trying to change big technical things but just minimising the margin for error."
The Blues forward feels more in control of his kicking.
"I've now got a good understanding of my action and what works for me," he said.
"At training and during games, as soon as I kick it I know what I've done well and what I've done wrong."
Numerous AFL players could take a leaf out of Levi's book if they're haven't already.
Find a goal-kicking mentor and get to work.
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