SPORT 27
MONDAY DECEMBER 5 2016
Daniher takes aim at
lifting kicking game
Impey in
hot water
as hit-run
is alleged
JON RALPH
PORT Adelaide footballer Jarman Impey has apologised for
an alleged hit-run car crash
that followed an afternoon of
drinking at teammate Angus
Monfries’ home, which his
club says will lead to consequences.
It took Power officials five
hours to find Impey, who is believed to have walked some
17km to a teammate’s house in
Grange after the crash on Saturday evening.
The 21-year-old was drinking at Monfries’ home during
the afternoon and left at 7pm
when he allegedly crashed his
white Holden Commodore
into four parked cars, including Monfries’ Audi.
Police were on the scene at
George St, Norwood, by 7.35pm
and began a search for Impey.
A teammate notified the club of
the incident about 8.30pm.
He was found soon after
midnight at a teammate’s
house by Port Adelaide football manager Chris Davies,
who took Impey to speak to
police on Sunday morning.
He was subsequently reported for driving without due
care, failing to exchange particulars and failing to report
the incident.
It comes a month after the
death of his father Glenn, who
Impey had described as his
“hero, mentor and best mate”,
and Port chief executive Keith
Thomas says he is mindful of
the young player’s welfare.
Last night, Impey said he
had made some “very bad decisions” and he apologised to his
football club and the wider
community.
“It was a mistake and I
spoke to police and I understand there will be repercussions for my actions,” he said.
“I’m willing to do anything
to ensure I’m not in this position again and I’m sincerely
sorry for what happened and I
couldn’t apologise enough.”
Witnesses said a car was
doing burnouts and driving erratically before the crash.
“Given the extent of the
damage to the car that he hit, it
would appear it looked reckless, it was a fair impact,”
Thomas said.
Impey will front Port Adelaide’s leadership group today
and Thomas said there would
be disciplinary action.
JOE Daniher wants Essendon’s army of fans to know he
is taking control.
He is aware of what they
want to hear – that over the
summer he will turn around
his kicking for goal and
become one of the AFL most
reliable kicks in front of the
sticks.
And that as the Bombers
surge up the table, Daniher will
nail goals from every angle
with rarely a blemish.
Unfortunately, the truth is
never that simple.
Daniher, who kicked just 43
of his 92 shots at goal in 2016,
has spent his off-season planning and scheming.
First, he and a group of
teammates spent their holiday
touring US colleges on a factfinding mission.
Now he and forwards coach
Hayden Skipworth are working on how to improve his setshot routine.
The surprise is that Daniher
does not plan on hiring a goalkicking coach after his success
with Essendon great Matthew
Lloyd in 2015.
But he wants fans to know
he couldn’t be working more
diligently to address all areas
of his game, including that
problematic goalkicking.
“We are not shopping
around,’’ he jokes after coach
John Worsfold’s admission he
had left the search for a goalkicking tutor up to Daniher.
“There are plenty around,
but I have a clear plan in place
with what I am trying to do
and the direction I am going
with that part of my game as
well as other parts of my
game,” Daniher said.
“Hayden is my direct forward coach and I will look to
him for a lot of guidance, but I
have got a lot of plans in place.
“At the moment it’s about
refining what I want to do and
making sure I am really comfortable with my technique.
“I will definitely be outsourcing and using different
sorts of people throughout, but
it won’t be a set in stone coach.
“It is something I will evolve
and adapt with, and I am looking forward to the challenge of
getting it (my kicking for goal)
to where it needs to be.”
Worsfold has suggested
Essendon's Joe Daniher will work with a range of experts to improve his kicking
that search might involve finding experts on technique,
performance psychology, visualisation and biomechanics.
Contenders include specialist coach David Wheadon and
English rugby union kicking
coach Dave Alred.
The summer’s toil will
involve plenty of repetition,
but also practising shots at goal
when fatigued.
The goalkicking woes draw
most of the media attention,
but his equal second place in
the Crichton Medal show
there is plenty he is mastering.
He and the man who beat
him to that trophy — Zach
Merrett — joined Heath
Hocking and Orazio Fantasia
in the US.
“Zach put the schedule together and we sourced out a
few people, sport trainers
whose brains we wanted to
pick,’’ Daniher said.
“We worked with four
different people from universities around the States and got
Picture: GEORGE SALPIGTIDIS
their thoughts on how they
prepared for playing at the
elite level.
“To bring back the way they
prepare is something quite different to our sport. We can
bring that back here and pass
on something which is good
for our learning but also the direction of the footy club.”
REECE HOMFRAY
Salem shows heart to conquer demons from horror season
JON RALPH
Melbourne’s Christian Salem
V1 - NTNE01Z01MA
CHRISTIAN Salem believes
he can beat a debilitating thyroid problem that saw his heart
rate rocketing to three times its
normal rate mid-season.
The silky Melbourne half
back endured a horror 2016
after missing 10 weeks with his
second episode of the issue,
which saw his energy levels
plummet.
Then after returning to the
Melbourne senior side for
Round 23 he needed surgery
on his lip and missed the VFL
grand final after a ferocious
preliminary final tackle.
It was his second concussion of a nightmare year,
but Salem believes he has the
thyroid problem in check with
medication.
The No.9 selection of the
2013 draft has looked a natural
in his 30 games so far but after
also suffering a 10-week ham-
string injury last year, cannot
take a trick.
“The weird thing is there is
no real cure or no way to sense
it coming except regular blood
tests but it could be from an internal virus or something you
ate with a lot of iodine,’’ Salem
said of the thyroid issue.
“But medication is keeping
it under control and it’s a matter of finding a balance with
medication because too much
or too little can change the
thyroid levels. I didn’t feel
great before the Dogs game
and went in for blood tests on
Friday, played on the weekend
and then got the results and I
shouldn’t have played.
“I was at risk, my heart rate
was triple what it was meant to
be and I had lost 3-4kg. It was
pretty frustrating but it’s all
part of learning.’’
During those 10 weeks off,
Salem did no exercise at all for
six weeks before progressing
from walking laps to building
up his fitness again.
After five VFL games,
Salem made it back for the disastrous Round 23 loss to Geelong but his 27 possessions
were a rare shining light.
The dramas of the year
weren’t close to over.
“I was meant to play Casey
Final but then I busted my lip
and missed the qualifying final
and then in the prelim I got
knocked out,” he said.