PRACTICE, practice and more practice - and 20 years of it - is the ‘secret’ of Dean Rock’s success.
The 26-year-old has not only had to follow in the footsteps of his famous father Barney but also that of current goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, Dublin legends both. He did so with such success this season that he finished as overall top scorer in the Championship, with 1-58 from seven matches, and also earned his first Allstar.
In one sense, though, Rock says he isn’t doing anything special: “It’s just practice. I think anybody can probably be a free-taker, but [and here’s the kicker] you have to just work hard at it.”
He’s literally been doing that for decades, recalling: “I have always prided myself on being a free-taker. I’ve kicked frees probably from the age of five or six when dad was going off training teams or whatever, I’d always be just practising frees.
“He was playing with Garristown at the time and I would have known that he was a free-taker with Dublin. I wouldn’t have been going kicking ball on the run, I would always just be kicking frees so it’s kind of ingrained in me.”
Dublin boss Jim Gavin’s knowledge of Dean from U21 days was obviously a factor in handing him the freetaking role over Cluxton, who had kicked the winning points in the 2011 All-Ireland final and Dublin’s final score in their one-point win two years later.
“I suppose I would have kicked frees under Jim for three years for the U21s, so he obviously had a lot of faith in my ability to do that and do a job for the team. I work hard on the skill and I always practise, practise, practise.
“You do get great confidence from him having that trust in you because obviously Stephen has kicked those winning points and kicked many scores for Dublin. Sure, it saves him having to jog up the pitch. It’s nice to have a cornerforward that can kick a few frees.”
Rock’s value was shown when he had an off-day in this year’s drawn All-Ireland final, missing more frees than he scored, which was extremely unexpected: “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. 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 90 per cent from frees. But I would have finished up with probably 95 per cent or so had it not been for the drawn game.”
The wet conditions had an adverse effect, but Rock hasn’t reached his high level by merely blaming circumstances: “Yeah, it was very difficult but I would look back at all my tapes and 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 [against Mayo]; 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…”
Such self-belief is justified by his form - and the concern for all Dublin’s opponents is that he expects to be even better next year: “I’d have enough confidence in my own ability… 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… 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.”
