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Parramatta coach Steve Kearney yet to decide who'll take on kicking duties
- From:The Daily Telegraph
- February 09, 2012
PARRAMATTA coach Steve Kearney is yet to decide who'll take on kicking duties for the Eels, with Chris Sandow and Luke Burt to battle it out ahead of the start of the 2012 NRL season.
Burt has been the Eels' regular kicker for over a decade, establishing himself as one of the best in the game with a 82.7 per cent success rate last season.
However, the arrival of Sandow from South Sydney has put his kicking position under pressure.
The diminutive halfback booted 84.5 per cent of his goals in 2011 and has a success rate of 81.4 per cent for his career with Burt trailing behind with a record of 77.1 per cent.
Both are likely to be given the opportunity to stake their claim in Saturday's trial clash with Wests Tigers at Gosford.
We are fortunate to have two great kickers available to us but I haven't made up my mind yet," Kearney said.
"Chris was almost 85 per cent last year and Luke in the low 80s also, so we'll just see how we go."
Burt's involvement at Bluetongue Stadium against the Tigers could be limited after he hobbled out of training with a hamstring strain on Wednesday.
Kearney played down the significance of the 32-year-old's early departure from the session and the absence of skipper Nathan Hindmarsh.
"These guys are at the 30-plus mark and it's just a case of that, nothing more than that," he said.
However, the New Zealand Test coach was more forthcoming about an injury to utility Reni Maitua that'll see him miss the season opener against Brisbane on March 2.
"Reni has a bit of an injury," Kearney said.
"He had ankle surgery and that has been disappointing for him, but he will hopefully be back soon."
Eels prop Justin Poore says he'll use the new season to honour the club's strength and conditioning coach Sean Burns, who died late last month.
Burns' death rocked the club and Poore admits he and his team-mates are still coming to terms with the loss.
"It's been tough, he'll be fondly remembered by us all," said Poore, who paid tribute to the contribution Burns made to his career.
The former St George Illawarra and NSW front rower credits Burns, whose funeral was on Monday, for getting him fit for the start of the new campaign for the first time since arriving from the Dragons in 2010 following a long-standing knee problem.
"He was so helpful to me and instilled confidence that I'd never thought I'd get back," Poore said.
"I owe him a lot and want to show that I can achieve the goals he set for me for this season."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/parramatta-coach-steve-k...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Fyno on -
Sandow is the future, there's no point giving him a cold year or two.
Plus Sandow is incredible.
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Permalink Reply by Jarryd Burt on -
Burt is a better kicker. His kicking averages date back to 1999 when he was a 17 year old so that's why they are in the 70's however he is by far the best goal kicker in the NRL now.
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Permalink Reply by jamesy on
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why don't the two of them have a goal kicking duel each week at training. the winner gets to kick that weekend. simple and fair. It also encourages them to practice more and also gives them kicking under pressure practice.
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Permalink Reply by blueNgold on -
I think we can be thankful that we have two of the better kickers in the game. Both were in the top few in the league on percentages last season. It really is a diffcult position and there are a lot of factors SK will have to factor in when making the final decision.
Personally I'd still back Burty in a clutch situation, but in saying that Sandow kicked some screamers last season and looked like he hadn't lost it in the all-stars game.
It really is a difficult situation, Burty is incumbant and has done nothing wrong to have the duty taken away from him, but if he retires at the end of this season (which I think he will) then as Fyno stated above Sandow would be the future and having him not kick for a long period of time it can be difficullt (though not impossible) to get your groove back (just ask D.Lockyer).
As they are both different footed kickers there is the argument to let them take it from there stronger side and it is a logical argument, however it has been a very rare occurance in the past including at Parra recently where we had Inu who was also shooting at 80% and was only a backup behind Burt. This leads me to believe that either coaches want one designated kicker probably for a myriad of reasons or/and the kicker themself either want total responsibility or not at all.
Imo we give it to the man who wants it the most, I know Burty loves it, perhaps if Sandow didn't have the pressure of the job plus the extra training he could become more productive in other areas of the game i.e put more training into other areas and during games it could help him focus. In saying that Chris probably loves the job as well and may thrive off the pressure of it and having a pumped up playmaker after just nailing one from the sideline is only a positive for us.
I wont be complaining either way SK goes for.
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Permalink Reply by Moray Eel on -
What a wonderful problem for sk. 2 class goal kickers in the same team! It just doesn't seem fair! I would give the foot of Burt the kicking duties from the right side and the right foot of sandow on the left. Hindmarshhands can take the kicks from in front.
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Permalink Reply by James Begley on -
Either way we have two awesome kickers!
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