Checkside punt

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Also known as a banana kick, the checkside punt is a kicking style used in Australian rules football. When kicked, it bends away from the body and is usually used when a set shot for goal is lined up on a narrow angle.

The banana tends to move at 90 degree angle to the kicker and boot, whereas the true checkside is held at a lesser angle to the boot and has a curving effect through the air.

The punt first began to appear in the Victorian Football League in the late 1970s. Use of the kick was first popularised in South Australia in the 1960s. As SANFL players began to be recruited to Victoria in large number, the kick took on more widespread use at the top level by players such as Craig Bradley and Stephen Kernahan. It is now one of the most common techniques for goal-kicking from a narrow angle, and more recently has been used in field kicking with deadly accuracy by players like James Hird.

In rugby league, Newcastle Knight's half-back Andrew Johns began to pioneer its use mid way through his career, where it was used to confuse the defensive side. He popularised it and became the banana kick's best exponent in the code.

"Well, you know, I have seen footage of my father, St. Kilda player Bill Young using this kick in the late 1950's and early 60's. He first used this kick, which was unknown prior to him, with the Victorian country side Stratford, from which he was recruited for St. Kilda in 1956. Nervous about using this never before seen kick in VFL (now AFL) competition, Dad did not use it his first season. The next year, more confident, he did, and it became a trade mark kick of his up to his retirement in 1961."