Inaugural Richmond ‘Immortal’ and the man widely regarded as the greatest Tiger of them all, Jack Dyer, also was a football revolutionary. It’s thanks to Dyer that the drop punt has become the kick of choice for all AFL players today. In a chapter of his popular 1965 book ‘Captain Blood’, Dyer provided a footy clinic, which included pointers on how to properly execute the range of kicks that existed in the game back then – the stab kick, torpedo punt and even the dying art of the place kick. But it was his instructions on how to perfect the drop punt that makes for fascinating reading 55 years on. Here’s what Captain Blood had to say about the drop punt . . .
“I had most of my success with the drop punt, a kick I developed and perfected with years of practice. It can be used for long distances but is deadly accurate from distances up to 40 yards.
I am given credit for developing the drop punt. I was the first to use it as a set kick but I picked it up from the Collier brothers (Collingwood’s Harry and Leeter). They used a version of the kick for lobbing the ball over an opponent’s head whenever somebody got between them. They used it to eliminate the hand pass. It was a clumsy kick but I realized its potential because of their accuracy, and I set to work modifying the kick and developing it for distance. The Colliers used it solely as a 10 yard pass. I spent many a lonely hour in an assortment of paddocks working on the kick. I had to do something, until now I wasn’t noted for my accuracy in kicking for goals. What an asset the drop punt became! Instead of passing the ball to a team-mate rather than have a shot myself, I developed confidence and unerring accuracy. And that’s another important feature of kicking, confidence. You can’t go wrong when you are confident. That gives poise and balance and only practice can give confidence.
There is no excuse for missing a goal from 40 yards with the correct use of the drop punt. The kick requires a tremendous amount of patience and practice but learn it properly and I’ll give you my personal guarantee, if you can take the marks you will get the goals. You will become so accurate, you won’t talk to yourself for months if you miss a goal.
Why is it so accurate?
There is hardly any way at all to spoil the kick. There is a gap of 21 feet between the goalposts and it is impossible to spray the kick so far off target. As a matter of fact if you practise enough shooting at a post from 40 yards you will find yourself hitting it time and time again.
Its use is not limited to goal shooting. It can be mastered as a calculated kick or as a running kick.
The run-up is not as vital as for all other kicks but there is a difference in your body movements. It is imperative that the body is kept still. The ball is held so that the point of it is pointing directly at the instep of your boot. The run-up is slower and you must run in a direct line to your target. Pick out an object behind the target and kick at it.
As you run to the kicking point, unlike a drop kick where you lean back, the body arches forward over the top of the boot. If you are going for distance it is different, then you lean back.
The ball is not dropped to the ground. The leg after completing the downswing must be bent on the way up. You place the ball on your boot and it does not make contact until the boot is almost at the top of the arc. The ball is virtually placed point first on to your instep when the foot is a bit more than a foot above the ground. With your body bent, your hands release the ball only inches from the uprising boot. The ball back spins off the instep and travels in a perfectly straight line.
In print it sounds awkward and difficult to master yet it is easily demonstrated and the easiest kick in the game.
The more adept you become with the drop punt, the more valuable a player you become. I found it could be used for short passing, goal kicking and distance kicking.
Coaches do not teach this kick to their players for one reason. They cannot do it and have never bothered to learn its fundamentals.”
