Kicking drill
Find the Gap Grubber
Execute a grubber inside a live attacking shape against real defenders.
- Time
- 25 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 10 players
- Intensity
- High
- Equipment
- Ball, cones
- Space
- 15m x 10m grid
- Positions
- Halfbacks, fly-halves, centres, wings
Setup
A 15m x 10m grid, six players - three attackers and three defenders - and one ball.
How to run it
- Attacker one runs out and passes to attacker two, who grubbers through the defensive line towards attacker three, who gathers and scores behind them.
- Work through the progressions in order: reverse the direction, then use the weaker foot, then let attacker one kick to either two or three, then let attacker two kick to three or back to one.
- Finally have a defender feed the ball in and immediately rejoin the line, so the kicker does not know in advance who they are.
- Five reps per attacker per progression, then rotate attack and defence.
- Attacker three must stay behind the kicker at the moment of contact or they are offside.
Coaching cues
- Ball bounces within 1m of you with end-over-end rotation
- Use the inside or outside of the foot to bend it
- Everyone must be behind the kicker at contact
Common mistakes
- Kicking too early before the defenders have committed, straight into their hands
- Chasers offside - the most commonly ignored fault in unsupervised kicking practice
Related drills
- Cross-Kick to the CornerBuild the flat cross-field kick and the one-handed leaping catch that finishes it.
- Aerial Noughts and CrossesTrain kick selection, accuracy, contested catching and chase decisions all at once, competitively.
- Target Kicking LadderBuild punt accuracy across increasing distances with a scoring system you can beat.
- Spiral Punt DevelopmentBuild the long, low spiral that finds touch and makes the 50:22 possible.
- Box Kick with StopwatchBuild a box kick with the hang time to actually be contested, not just distance.
- Grubber Through the GateMaster the low end-over-end grubber that travels through a defensive line.