St Kilda’s Tim Membrey admits he had goalkicking yips but his radar is back through hard work

SAINT Tim Membrey knew his job was to kick the goals but as his radar let him down, the pressure grew. Now back on target, JON RALPH asked him how he overcame his goalkicking woes.

Tim Membrey kicks at goal at training. Pic: Michael Klein

BILLY Brownless imagined a little man on his shoulder whispering constant expressions of doubt.

Travis Cloke seemed a victim of paralysis by analysis, a thousand goalkicking remedies unable to cure what ailed him.

Tim Membrey never thought it could happen to him.

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If set shot goalkicking remained one of the few AFL skills unimproved over time, he was the AFL’s best exponent.

A man who played his solitary game at Sydney as a late replacement for Lance Franklin had mastered the AFL’s version of putting for dough.

His 44.18 in 2016 was followed by 38.14, the AFL’s most lethal goalkicker also a triumphant recruit picked in late 2014 as a delisted free agent.

Then it happened.

As St Kilda’s season fell down around them in a contagious hail of missed shots and botched chances, Membrey caught the bug.

Tim Membrey couldn’t find the target for a period earlier this season. Pic: AAP

Finally back on track again after 19.5 in the past seven weeks after starting the year with 6.15, the Saints full forward now admits he caught the yips.

“Yeah, it was probably just a bit of the yips, I reckon. I have been someone who has been reliable for quite a while now,” he tells the Herald Sun.

“Obviously it wasn’t going well at the start of the year and it was a little bit frustrating. I know it wasn’t anything too serious, I had to get the rhythm and feeling back.

“But when everyone around you is struggling with goalkicking the pressure can build and you feel like you have to be the one to turn it around.

“It was more expectation. This is my job, I am supposed to kick these goals. Some of them were relatively easy. “

Against Fremantle in Round 8 it was 1.5 for the day, followed by 0.3 against Collingwood in another wasteful Saints loss with more points than goals.

Membrey never stopped wanting the ball, never stopped flying for contests, and yet the harder he tried the worse it got.

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If a single flash of inspiration or cathartic moment would make his story more dramatic, it was simple hard work that actually got the job done.

Membrey leant on goalkicking coach Ben Dixon and mindfulness expert Emma Murray but mostly got back to what he knew worked best.

“One thing I had done well was I always wanted to take the shot, I always wanted to have that pressure and I knew if I kept whacking away at it, it would turn,’’ he said.

“It started at training getting that rhythm. I was poking at them a little bit and not kicking through them.

“It’s not what I do. I got that feeling back at the top of my mark and reminded myself to kick through the ball.

“I knew I had done it in the past and it wasn’t anything technical, it was just backing myself in. Ben helped me get that feeling back, he was big in turning it around.”

“For me it’s not having any stutters in my run-up. I get back off the mark where I am comfortable and just walk in and then run a few steps and kick through it. There is no real science to it.”

The frustration within St Kilda is its off-season investments — defensive coach Henry Playfair, Murray’s performance coaching, Dixon’s goalkicking training — are yet to be fully realised.

Tim Membrey: “I always wanted to have that pressure and I knew if I kept whacking away at it, it would turn.” Pic: Michael Klein

Dixon has left Membrey’s technique alone but force-fed shots into the forwards and refined techniques — Jade Gresham still kicks with a slight arc, Josh Battle keeps the ball low.

Murray has been credited with helping Richmond’s players stay centred, in particular helping Dustin Martin flourish at Punt Road.

“When things aren’t going your way, not necessarily with goalkicking but winning games, you tend to start trying new things,” says Membrey of her techniques.

“It has helped a lot of guys. Some guys like to visualise before a game, some guys like to do it with a bit of meditation before games and at home.

“A lot of guys training are telling themselves to stay in the moment. Working with Emma, I tried to have positive thoughts in my routine.

“But I knew it wasn’t anything, it was something I knew I could turn around pretty quickly.”

In last year’s stunning win over Richmond Membrey kicked five goals straight then was suspended for a fortnight after collecting Dylan Grimes high.

In Round 10 this year Richmond hit back in a 28-point win, Membrey kicking two goals and again expecting to play against Alex Rance on Friday night.

Tim Membrey has gone from this ... Pic: Getty Images

... to this. Pic: Michael Klein

“Yeah, I might get Alex. It’s certainly a big challenge and something I will look forward to if he does come to me,’’ he said.

“We have got a few things we will try. Obviously he is a great interceptor the ball so we will try to take that away.

“Whoever he does go to, we have got some tricks there so we will see how we go early.”

Bulldogs great Charlie Sutton famously spoke of his determination to initiate rugged contact as “going shopping early to avoid the rush”.

That stuff doesn’t wash today but the proactive sentiment still applies to the club’s turnaround with his improving ball movement.

“The guys are buying into the way we want to move the footy. It’s pretty much doing it from the start. Throw the first punch,’’ Membrey said.

“We were waiting until we had our backs up against the wall before we started to move the footy the way we wanted.

“Play the way we want straight away and not waiting until we cop a spray from the coach at quarter time.”

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