AFL Rd 12 2023 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Melbourne

[Thryleon]

I was interested in something Harry said in his latest podcast, he says those headphones he wears in the pre game warm up are not playing music, they are noise cancelling to block out the noise from the fans. That doesn't make sense to me. We often talk about how the pressure at training is different (non existent) to playing in front of crowds from a noise perspective. I've often thought that shots for goal practice at training could be done wearing headphones playing loud crowd noise to help simulate the environment (maybe they do this already). Sure the pressure of the game itself is not there but the noise would be at least. I would have thought Harry would be taking the opportunity to practice his goal kicking in the warm up with the crowd noise (and distraction) as opposed to cancelling it.

Depends.  Everyone is different.

When I was playing, I had some routines and rituals that I liked not because of anything tangible but how it made me feel.  Washed, but I had my match day socks, my match day bike shorts which helped with chafing.  Ultimately it was about building consistency and feeling comfortable through repeating a familiar process.  Not doing it was worse, than any perceived flaws in what I was doing.

Harry's kicking has gotten worse lately, but there was a time I was confident he would convert even with the kick around the corner.

Thats gone and he's recognised the problem.  His approach was inconsistent and ergo, his kicking a bit erratic.  It took a couple of years of fev misfiring before he became a really straight kick because he started changing things (notably his grip on the ball) and now Harry is fixing it.  Will take time but he'll finish the year better than he started.