Ask Andrew Walker what he’s done differently with his goalkicking technique and he’s man enough to admit: “Where do you want me to start?”.

Since his return to Visy Park for the 2011 pre-season campaign, and after it became known to him that the Carlton forward line beckoned, Walker has taken it upon himself to nail that area of his game.

With the assistance of the club’s Development & Academy Manager Darren Harris, with whom Walker has spent the best part of an hour’s work on a weekly basis for months, the 110-game player has been chipping away “to get the repetition of kicking for goal right”.

“As soon as I knew the forward line was going to be my go I hit ‘Harro’ (Harris) up straight away,” said Walker, currently equal 9th on the AFL’s goalkicking list with the return of 15.6 from seven matches at 71.4 per cent.

“I got onto it pretty early and from then on I’ve been trying to get 15 shots on goal every day. It doesn’t sound like many, but when you’ve managed 10-15 every day until now you get your rhythm right.

“I’ve compared film footage of how I’m kicking now with how I used to kick and it’s completely different. I’ve basically restructured everything - how long I walk for and how long I run for in my run-up, how I settle myself before I kick the ball, and even how I make contact.”

For any budding footballer struggling with his set shots for goal, Walker advises that there is no easy solution other than repetition. As he said: “The key to goalkicking is to work at it for as long as it takes until it feels comfortable and natural, and you don’t even think about it when you’re running in”.

Walker subscribes to the popular view that goalkicking is the one skill left behind in an ever-evolving game. Asked of the team’s fortunes so far, and he admits “I know we’re five and a half wins out of seven, but we could have done it a lot more comfortably if we’d kicked the ball straight”.

So when he lined up for that crucial set shot from the pocket in the closing moments of the St Kilda match at Etihad Stadium, Carlton’s No.1 rightly knew that if he stuck to procedure he’d go pretty close.