It's late in the second quarter of the biggest game of the year. Your side's 10 points down and the ball finds its way into the hands of the truest-kicking forward in your 22. He's 25-metres from goal about level with the right behind post, perfect for a left-footer. Already your mind has moved on to whether to make an early dash for the toilet queue or line up for a pie, safe in the knowledge there's only a goal in it at the main break. Just as you get ready to stand up, James Podsiadly shanks a wild hack out on the full and you contemplate your team's profligate 2.10 at half-time against the unbeaten reigning premiers.

This isn't just about Podsiadly or Geelong, because poor set-shot goal kicking is an increasingly familiar tale throughout the AFL. What makes the J-Pod interesting however is he is considered to have one of the most sound kicking techniques in the Geelong side. Asked by Channel Seven about the miss in the rooms after the game, Chris Scott was unconcerned by his forward's aberration, he was even able to find the humour in it, so convinced is he of the late-bloomer's technique.

According to Wayne Carey, however, technique is only part of the issue. As much, if not more importance, should be placed not on the kicker's foot, but between their ears.

"Once you have the correct technique it's all then upstairs. It's how you handle the pressure," the dual-premiership captain told BackPageLead. "The difference between two guys with the right technique, one that misses and one that kicks the goal, is purely how he handles the pressure. They both have the same thought patterns, they both don't want to miss, they both know the team needs the goal, they both have the same nervous energy as they're going back to kick the goal. The difference between the two is that one is able to execute the skill while feeling those insecurities while the other one can't."

If Carey is right, statistics would suggest that current players are less capable of handling high-pressure situations than their predecessors. Career conversion rates of the current crop of leading marksmen hover around the 60 per cent mark. This includes Nick Riewoldt, Lance Franklin and Bredon Fevola. Rewind a generation and Jason Dunstall's accuracy pushes 70% while Tony Lockett averaged three goals every four shots.

In the last twenty-or-so years the fabric of the game has changed dramatically. Sports science can be credited for the game being played by fitter, stronger athletes. Stadia have improved to reduce the influence of environmental factors on the result. Even the one-per-centers: the balls, the boots, the lights, have all developed to mitigate any factors that could undermine the spectacle. Yet, despite these improvements and an overall homogenisation of the competition, kicking accuracy remains an issue.

As Carey says: "Today they're playing in better conditions. A lot of games are under the roof at Etihad, grounds are in better condition, at the MCG in the 90s, half the turf would come off during a game, conditions were a lot worse years ago than they are now, so there's certainly no excuses on those scores - and the goalposts haven't changed!"

So what has changed, if anything, to wipe out the deadeyes of 20 or so years ago?

Carey suggests the answer is an increase in pressure brought about by the added scrutiny of the modern game.

"I think a lot of it is due to the pressure that players put upon themselves," he said. "Every game is now televised and every aspect of the game is scrutinised. Back in the day, twenty to thirty years ago, when there was only one game televised, there was less scrutiny. Now, every little action is captured by cameras and with the amount of media coverage, any faults are highlighted a lot more than they were previously."

Increased scrutiny equals increased pressure. Increased pressure equals increased uncertainty on the part of the kicker and a greater likelihood of their technique failing at the crucial moment. Which, as the vicious cycle that has stalked the likes of Nick Riewoldt and Jarryd Roughead their whole careers is wont to do, equals even more scrutiny and even more pressure.

It's a wonder any footballer that has ever missed manages to find the courage to ever take another shot at goal. Courage Carey thinks is underrated in modern footy.

"When you hear people talk about the courage of players of today compared to yesteryear, I would say they're probably more courageous now purely because they know that if they don't show courage at a particular time they'll be scrutinised," he explained. "No player wants to be known for not showing courage at the right time."

Back to Friday night's game. The word courage was thrown around a lot during and after the contest, particularly in Alan Toovey's direction for getting cleaned up by Tom Hawkins while running back with the flight. It notably wasn't used to describe James Podsiadly's kick six minutes from time.

As fate would have it, Podsiadly marked the ball about 25-metres from goal, level with the right behind post, some might say perfect for a left-footer. Sound familiar? At that point, J-Pod was 0.2 with a third out-on-the-full from his three previous shots. With his side four points in front, his triumphant goal ultimately sealed the most significant result of the season.

How's that for courage?

"On many occasions I've gone back and thought ‘I can't miss this, I can't miss this,' and those thoughts do go through your head," Carey said. "But then you reinforce yourself by going through your technique, saying to yourself, ‘If you go back far enough, if you walk in a straight line, if I kick through the ball, if I guide the ball down onto my foot correctly, then I should kick it.' You're always going to have negative thoughts, but it's about trying to put positive thoughts in their place by sticking to what is your routine."

For his ability to execute skill under extreme stress, knowing there's a close-up betraying every nervous twitch beamed into living-rooms throughout the country, Carey rates Tony Lockett as the man who he would want to kick to save his life. Perhaps more surprisingly, of the current generation, Alan Didak gets the guernsey.

"Tony Lockett is the best set shot for goal I've seen and he was very technically sound - hence why he was very good at what he did. I'd want the ball in his hands if my life was on the line," Carey said.

"Of the guys going around now, I like Alan Didak. He had a kick for goal a couple of years ago against Port Adelaide and I spoke to him afterwards and I asked him how he was feeling as he went back for the shot - because it was a goal he had to kick to win the game. He said he was shitting himself! So for him to appreciate the amount of pressure he was under and still be able to execute his skills is what it's all about for me."

There are myriad other considerations for why contemporary goal kickers are less successful than those of previous generations. These include, but are not restricted to: fatigue, greater use of the flanks and improved defences leading to more difficult kicking angles, the game's intensity demanding an all round athlete - not just a flat-track bully, lack of technique, too much technique, not enough practice, over-practicing and one theory even suggesting that as the size of the goalposts has increased at some grounds they have consequently intimidated goal kickers.

Football, like any human discipline, will always have a degree of inaccuracy. For modern goal kickers, that degree may just be above the shoulders rather than below the knees.