There may be no position in football where the highs and lows are felt more than a kicker, but for Saskatchewan Roughrider Alex Hale, neither one has changed his approach.
“You just got to take it one kick at a time, assess what went wrong or right and then improve it and then move on,” said Hale.
Hale has experienced both sides through the first eight games of his CFL career. The Australian has converted on 14 of 19 field goal attempts this season, good for a 73.7 per cent success rate, while also handling kickoff duties.
The numbers, however, don’t tell the entire story.
“He’s such a good kicker and he’s got all the things you need from a kicker and you know I just got confidence in the guy,” said punter Oscar Chapman.
Hale opened the season making three of four field goals against the B.C. Lions before going two for three against Calgary. He then put together back-to-back perfect performances against Toronto and Ottawa, going four for four across the two games. But the consistency became harder to find as the season went on.
Entering Saskatchewan’s Aug. 7 matchup with Ottawa, Hale made 12 of 17 field goals and just one of five attempts from 40 yards or longer. For Hale, a miss doesn’t change the next kick. His focus has remained on keeping the same routine and mentality regardless of what happened on the previous attempt, as Roughriders special teams coordinator Kent Maugeri tells us.
Get daily National news
“Alex is stone cold, he is the same guy no matter what he can go out make everyone, miss everyone he is the same which is what you really want so it’s never too big, never too low he’s just very even which is great.”
Chapman added, “He’s got such a good like goldfish memory when it comes to kicking, kick it and no matter what happens be able to move onto the next thing, he’s really, really good at it. You know, I think he’s got one of the best mindsets and that’s why he’s able to keep bouncing back each time.”
That ability to stay even-keeled became even more important when the Riders added another kicker to the mix. Saskatchewan signed Canadian Dawson Hodge on Aug. 6, creating competition at the position.
“I expect them both to compete and to get equal reps and to do really well,” said Maugeri.
“It’s good to have competition. You have to elevate your level to compete so it’s always good to compete against someone,” Hale added.
Hodge spent five seasons at Wilfrid Laurier, where he made 51 of 76 field goal attempts and scored 419 career points. Hale’s response to the signing came on the field.
Against the Redblacks the following night, he was perfect, connecting both of his field goal attempts from 35 and 15 yards while also making all six converts in Saskatchewan’s 42-20 victory. The performance improved him to 14 for 19 on field goals this season.
“It’s great to see him respond. Nobody has more pride in his performance than Alex; he wants to obviously make them all,” Maugeri said.
“It’s always nice to make kicks. I just take it one kick at a time and try and put the external factors aside and just try my best at each kick and try and help the team as best as I can.”
The competition isn’t necessarily over, though. Head coach Corey Mace said Wednesday that the Riders are really doing their due diligence before making a decision.
“I thought both those guys had a good day today and we’ll continue to it until we feel we want to make a decision, whether that’s week to week or over a certain span of time,” said Mace. “But you know competition, nothing wrong with that, man, it was good to see them both out there.”
For Hale, that’s simply another part of the job. Whether he’s coming off a miss, a perfect game of facing competition for his spot, his mentality remains the same: refusing to let the result of any kick alter the next.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.