Dean Rock believes that he can be a better place kicker in 2017 than he was this season when the reliability of his performance was a major factor in Dublin's back-to-back All-Ireland success. His statistics were skewed by his one off-day, the drawn final against Mayo, but overall they depict an impressive haul.
Following in his father Barney’s footsteps as a place-kicking All-Ireland winner and now an All Star, he has the obsessive attention to detail of someone on the front-line of the game’s loneliest challenge.
“I certainly know that up to the first [Mayo game], I was 46 out of 48 or maybe 38 out of 40, something like that,” he said speaking at the end of the GAA-GPA All Stars trip to the UAE. “And then I was only three from seven in the final, so I missed four, but then I was seven from seven in the replay, so I think I finished up with maybe 89 or 90pc from frees. But I would have finished up with probably 95pc or so had it not been for the drawn game.”
Wet and slippery
Conditions for that first final in September were wet and slippery and Rock said that it affected him.
“Yeah, it was very difficult. I would have looked back at all my tapes. It was all down to technique, pretty much. There was a change in the weather; we hadn’t played in as bad a weather as that. The semi-final against Kerry was perfect. You were wearing studs this time; the run-up to the kick is not as fast; you’re being dragged down by the studs and then with the weather conditions as well.
“So all those things added up and, looking back now, I could have maybe rectified a few things, or thought in my head that I have to run up a bit quicker. But you know yourself, in the heat of the battle . . .
“Certainly it’s one of those things that I learned from going into the next day. And something I’ll learn from going forward. Touch wood, I don’t think I’ll ever miss four frees in a game again.”
His involvement with Dublin has been slow-burning, having observed the rites of passage of winning an All-Ireland under-21 medal under the management of current senior boss, Jim Gavin. Ballymun Kickhams had a club run in 2013 and injuries intervened another year but this season saw him pin down a regular starting spot in the team and a third senior All-Ireland medal.
Primary duties
The quality of Rock's place-kicking allowed captain and goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton to concentrate on his primary duties.
“I’d have enough confidence in my own ability,” he says. “I study my kicks all the time, and video my free-kicks and learn different ways how to do it. I model myself on a lot of the rugby guys – how they move, I suppose, from the collective team game into an individual [mindset] when you’re kicking frees.
“You’re going to have to shift the focus onto yourself, and once the ball is kicked you’re back into the team thing for the kick-outs.
“As a free-taker you’re always developing, you’re always getting better and learning new things. For me, I was a better free-taker in 2016 than I was in 2015, and I’d like to think I’ll be a better free-taker in 2017 than I was in 2016.”
