Jamie Gillan

[londonblue]

Totally agree on the injury Kartonoman. You simply cannot kick well with any groin injury no matter how minor. The touchback issue with Gillan is a fair one and it is at least in part due to the technical pros and cons of rugby style punting.

Touchbacks are a slightly surprising issue for a rugby style kicker and reflects Gillan perhaps being slightly too in love with distance given he has a 'big' leg. He may also be struggling with the narrow field (49m vs 70m) meaning he tends to kick too centrally.

As context, in rugby the regular drop punt is traditionally primarily to 'kick to touch'. The rugby field is a lot wider (70m vs 50m) so we often compromise maximum forward distance for sideline distance when we 'kick for touch'. We also tend to kick at a lower angle to help accuracy. We only care about 'hang-time' on shorter 'kick to chase' in field kicks.

The narrower NFL field requires much more precision, which in rugby kicking is usually about body angle/core stability and making ball contact slightly higher in the drop. We can be almost side-on when kicking to a precise target which is not feasible with an NFL ball.

Gillan also grew up holding the ball fundamentally differently. The longer, thinner, lighter rugby balls is most stable for kicking when held straight and end forwards with hands symmetrically placed along the sides relatively centrally or with a slight bias forward. We tend to drop outside our body frame to give us the angle to kick to sidelines or corners. Gillan typically angles his body and drops outside his frame.

The shorter, heavier NFL ball is most stable when held with a palm at the back of the ball and the other hand slightly forward, tending to position the ball at a 30 degree angle (depending on hand size) which naturally facilitates kicking slightly more towards corners/sidelines from a more straight on stance.

Gillan like most rugby style kickers will have to continually work to find the right technical compromises to optimise his accuracy.