A set shot at goal from 40 metres or more out directly in front. The best place to take as shot at goal … unless you are the best small forward in the game. It is the last place Eddie Betts wants to take a kick.
A man who appears to know no limitations on what is possible for the ball to do near goal accepts only one limitation on himself – he can't kick it very far. He can bend it, he can curl it, he can dribble it. He can turn opponents inside out one after the other. He can keep the ball in play. He can kick it in every direction. He is a conjurer in big shorts. He just isn't a reliably long kick at goal.
Betts has only taken three shots from 40 metres or more out from goal this year and kicked just one goal.
That is not a criticism. Peter McKenna famously only led out as far as he knew he could kick the goal. Even before the 50-metre arc arrived he intuitively knew his range.
Last year's goal of the year finalist was taken from the paint of 50 at the boundary and tumbled through, proving he has length in his repertoire, he just prefers to stay closer to goal. He is a true forward pocket.
Betts prefers his shots from the pocket not the corridor. He is slightly better from the right pocket to the left one, but from both pockets he is better than from the corridor. From both pockets he is alarmingly better than the AFL average. Of course he is. He is far from average.
In part, this should be expected of a forward pocket, they get their chance only after others have had a turn. The ball gets kicked to a pack and falls to a side.
"He is in career-best form and is the best small forward in the game at the moment," said former St Kilda goal sneak Stephen Milne.
"It doesn't surprise me he is so accurate from the pockets. You take your set shots at goal in training but every time you are coming on and off the ground at practice you take shots from the boundary. You practice the fun stuff. He is the best small forward at the moment."
Betts plays football like it is fun. He turns a hyper-coached game, one that seeks to remove randomness, into a game that is played on instinct and intuition not instruction. He makes watching football fun.
His goal-of-the-year-contending goal at the weekend illustrated everything that makes him different in the game. He was so wide he was outside the boundary and the ball was tickling the idea of joining him. He had gathered a loose ball, he did not mark a ball that was passed to him. He had to harass and beat multiple opponents. He had to find space, to turn and kick across his body.
Even among his own long highlight reel this might have been his best. Better than when he announced himself as more than fluky against Collingwood 10 years ago or against Port Adelaide in 2013 (there was only one opponent he made look silly that day). For degree of difficulty it was a 9.8 to the 9.7 of last year's left-foot check-side torp from 50. It was similar but better even than the one he kicked for the Blues against Essendon five years ago that also saw him dance and dodge and evade two players before snapping it through.
Betts is arguably the best forward in the game. He is not leading the Coleman Medal, in fact he is fourth on the goalkicking list. But those ahead of him on the goalkicking list are all tall forwards who have the ball directed to them as targets. Betts is an incidental target, or at best a second or third choice. His best work is often done after someone else has already had their turn
Only Jake Stringer and Paul Puopolo have gathered more loose balls inside 50 than Betts. Only Jamie Cripps and Chris Mayne have laid more tackles inside their forward 50. None of them or any other non-tall forward has kicked more goals or set up others for more scores than Eddie Betts.
