Western Bulldogs great and current goalkicking coach Brad Johnson has offered an insight into why LIV golfer Lucas Herbert was brought into Whitten Oval to help with the club’s set shots.
As first reported by The Age, Herbert – one of golf’s best putters – spoke to multiple players and coaches earlier this week about the routines he employs on the green.
On face value, the project certainly worked. The Western Bulldogs recorded a 60-point win against St Kilda to open Round 6, kicking 19.5 with a further five rushed behinds.
It was a win that gave the club some breathing space after a disappointing loss the week prior and Johnson – who commenced as a goalkicking consultant earlier this year – said he was happy for his players.
“Conversion is king, we’ve seen it this year. The Dogs were on fire last night… I must admit, I was sitting back really enjoying what was put on display,” Johnson said with a laugh on AFL Nation.
“Especially from Aaron Naughton (six goals straight), I honestly am really proud of him and all of them, to be honest, because they’ve put the work in. You put the work in and you can the reward, I’m massive on that.
“Naughton looks really calm now when he’s having his set shot now, really controlled with that. That was evident last night.. even the Bont (Bontempelli), who has put in a truckload of work over the summer, kicks his three.
“I know he missed a couple on the run, so we might have to go to work on some general play goals and not set shots, but outside of that, it’s reward for effort off what was a poor week.
“They’ve been able to grind and put in some more work this week.”
As for Herbert’s incursion, Johnson remarked that it “had a really positive impact from a conversion point of view.”
Herbert joined LIV Golf earlier this year on a contract reported to be seven figures and is a lifelong Bulldogs fan. He is currently ranked 5th on the breakaway tour for his putting.
“I’ve known Lucas for some time, seeing his development as a young a man in golf, he's turned professional and then taken the next step to winning on the world stage and becoming a reasonably consistent performer on the world stage, it has been enormous,” Johnson continued.
“He’s had to adjust his game along the way and take aspects of his game extremely seriously. His analytics and knowledge around the way he sees his game and where he needs to land on the green, where he’s best on the green… I think helped. If he gets within 12 feet he knows he has to nail those ones, but if he just misses from outside that, he doesn’t lose confidence on that either because he knows where it sits statistically for him and I think that’s something the players can take.
“Yeah, you can skim over the analytics of where you’re having your shots from but the importance of really diving a little bit deeper into that I think is quite important also.”
Prior to the win over St Kilda, Luke Beveridge’s Bulldogs had kicked 9.13 in a loss to Essendon that had critics lining up.
But their recent win sees the ledger evened up at 3-3 before a clash with Fremantle next weekend.
