Fear keeps Chris Mayne on track
Chris Mayne says a fear of letting his teammates down is the key to his phenomenal accuracy in front of goal
Mayne has kicked 70 goals and only 14 behinds across the past two years after kicking 61.44 in his four seasons in the AFL.
Mayne has worked exceptionally hard on becoming a better shot for goal because he felt he wasn't rewarding his teammates hard work up the ground.
"I felt in 2011 that I wasn’t trusted with the ball in hand," he said.
"Being a part of the forward group, you want to have that trust [from] your midfield, in that when they’ve done all that hard work you can just finish it off for them."
The 24-year-old, who plays his 100th game on Sunday against GWS, revealed he sought counsel from forward coach Peter Sumich and the club psychologist to improve his set shot routine.
Mental imagery has become a big part of Mayne's preparation.
"We work on things that are going to come up in games - types of conditions and how I want to be seen taking the set shot " he said.
"I try and visualise myself in that moment and the amount of times I can do that mentally kind of takes the load off when I'm out there physically.
"If I have 50 shots in my head, I only need to have a few out there and that helps me as well."
Mayne said he would still have 20 to 25 shots per training session, depending on how much the fitness staff would allow him to do in any given week, and he and his teammates were constantly trying to find that extra edge in their preparation.
"The amount of effort we’re putting out there on the training track is amazing and that’s where I try and work the extra 10-20 per cent mentally," Mayne said.
After finishing second in the Dockers' best and fairest in 2012, Mayne has backed it up with another impressive season to-date.
In 2012, he kicked 39 goals in a season when Matthew Pavlich slotted 69.
This season, Mayne has maintained that high standard, even with Pavlich absent for much of the year.
He is also adamant that goalkicking is secondary to his main role in the forward line.
"I made an oath at the beginning of the year that I wanted to keep the consistency from last year," Mayne said.
"For me, that was to focus on the little things that I did last year and that was my forward pressure, that was my relentlessness throughout the forward line, creating an option and being the kind of player that I want to be known for when I finish footy and that's selfless and relentless and a pressure player."