The numbers game with free taking Ever since rules were amended in 1989 to allow free kicks in Gaelic football to be taken from the hand, much debate has centred on the art of free taking. Is it better to use the 'new' method or is the old-fashioned free from the ground the better option? What is beyond argument is the fact that free taking, from the ground or out of your hands, is an essential element for success in modern Gaelic football. I do not have any numbers to underpin such a conclusion for football back in the 40s, 50s and 60s but I expect the same was true then. Reading accounts of the winning teams from those eras, one is struck by the high profile enjoyed by the great marksmen of those times. Donal Keenan (Roscommon) in the '40s was the William Tell of his time, Cyril Dunne (Galway) in the '60s would put it into your eye and I remember watching Joe Corcoran from Mayo tapping over frees for fun at the beginning of the '70s. We could also include Jimmy Keaveney (Dublin), Tony McTeague (Offaly) and Mikey Sheehy from Kerry. Matt Connor (Offaly) was unerring in the '80s and Larry Tompkins (Cork) alongside Brian Stafford (Meath) were both accurate and prolific. Barney Rock and Charlie Redmond from Dublin might put together a winning total all on their own and all from converting frees. It appears every county had their main man when it came to punishing the opposition who stopped their progress by foul means. And opponents must be taught that if you foul us we will exact almost total revenge! Thus, the accuracy of the country's best free takers was often in the range of 75% and beyond and very often sustained over an entire season. This accuracy was usually the difference between victory and defeat. Then came the rule change, which came into effect in the winter of 1989, which allowed free kicks and sideline kicks to be taken from the hand. But it was some time before the deadly assassins made the changeover. These days the kickers are almost predominantly taking their opportunities from the hands but the debate now rages about which mechanical approach is best. The old method had fewer moving parts: place the ball, take a few steps back, plant your supporting leg beside the ball when you approach and strike with the preferred foot. The modern method is a different story. The ball moves, so does the kicker and the contact is much more difficult as the ball must be dropped down to meet the kicking foot on the way up. Because the number of fouls being committed within the scope of a competent free taker has increased dramatically in the past 50 years, we now have a situation where between 40% and 50% of a teams total is coming from successful frees and penalty kicks. Recently Emlyn Mulligan of Leitrim contributed 10 points from a winning total of 17 when they beat New York in the championship, representing almost 59% of their score. He went a little better when he cashed in with another 10 points from frees when they fell to Galway in the provincial semi-final. On that day it constituted over 62% of their total of 1-13. But what is perhaps the most interesting stat from Mulligan's performances is the degree of accuracy with his kicks from the hand. He executed 10 from 11 frees perfectly to give a 91% return. As we will see later, this is the exception! A recent analysis of Mayo's scoring ability in the 2008 NFL revealed some interesting numbers. The team scored a total of five goals and 92 points in seven games or a total of 107 points when converted. That gives an average of just over 15 points per game but here comes the really interesting bit-the free takers contributed almost 55%, on average, to each total. This percentage is particularly high and well above the average of 35%. It can be explained by the presence of two particularly good free takers in their ranks-Conor Mortimer and Austin O'Malley. Mortimer is left-footed and O'Malley right footed, giving the team excellent balance when it comes to converting frees from both sides. Interestingly their contributions to the team total worked out at approximately 33% for Mortimer and 21% for O'Malley. Both players use the free from the hands as the principle method for free taking with Mortimer able to take frees from the ground if he so decides. Analysis of the recent Ulster quarter-final match between Fermanagh and Monaghan sheds a little more light on the debate. Fermanagh were awarded nine frees, what we loosely term 'scorable frees'. All nine were taken from the hand. In an unusual departure they made use of four different free takers, perhaps reflecting the lack of success they were having on the day! Fermanagh converted three of the nine opportunities, giving them a 33% success rate from frees taken exclusively out of the hands. Indeed only one kicker got on the score sheet and Ryan Keenan notched all three points but from a total of five frees he personally took. This gave Keenan a 60% success rate, better than the team return of 33% but still well removed from the type of numbers any self-respecting free taker might expect. In the Leinster quarter-final involving Wicklow and Laois, Laois had a simple opportunity when Ross Munnelly had a tap over free close to goals. He opted to take it from the hands and missed the chance. Laois won the game by two points, a very narrow margin indeed. When Donegal faced Derry recently up in Ulster, Colm McFadden had two opportunities (in the second half) in a row to consolidate Donegal's position. One free was difficult, the other straightforward; both were taken from the hands and both missed. Donegal lost to Derry by two points. Already this season a team can point to their lack of success with frees from the hand as a factor in their championship exit. Who will be the next team to suffer? A study of each province might reveal some very interesting trends and I suggest matters such as fouling outside the scoring zone, the average number of frees awarded per game and teams that have a left footed and right footed free taker will occupy the minds of coaches. After all, if a certain aspect of the game can contribute between 30% and 40% of a score total, you would be crazy to neglect it. We have seen in recent years that the lack of practice concerning penalty taking in soccer has hurt England and English teams when it came to shoot outs at major finals. And of course there is a coaching nugget contained in the analysis. Examine the corollary to scoreable frees, and ask yourself as the opposing coach how you might counteract a brilliant free taker on the other team. The no brainer question will insist you cut down on the award of scoreable frees! That should help your team to the tune of at least two points and might well be the difference between winning and losing a tight game. In fact good free taking coupled with a disciplined defence that shuns giving away handy frees is the quickest two-step rule to improving any team. In this matter the numbers do not lie. Tweet

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