Jamal Fogarty admits he wasn’t blessed with a golden slipper as a halfback but hours spent honing his kicking game in the nation's capital has the in-form playmaker putting the NRL on notice.
Fogarty's footwork has long slipped under the radar since the 28-year-old playmaker debuted for the Titans in 2017.
But with the Green Machine having not won a match by more than an eight-point margin all season, Fogarty's composure and control with the boot when the game is in the balance has ensured his side come out on top of several close clashes.
Orchestrating two tries from pinpoint kicks aimed at the goalposts to down the Tigers in Round 14, before leading an aerial attack on Sunday night which left James Tedesco outcompeted on several occasions, Fogarty said there’s nothing lucky about his recent success with the boot.
Fogarty's fancy footwork
“It’s something I’ve worked really hard on in the pre-season and even as the season is unfolding. I do a lot of kicking reps with Ricky and Andrew Bishop our kicking coach,” Fogarty told jetwinvip.com.
“I know I’ve never been the most talented kicker but I do work hard at it.”
“And the outside backs will hang out with me and Jacko (Wighton) for as long as we kick after sessions, even when it’s chewing into our lunch break and freezing cold.
“I think it’s paying off in games. But it’s something I personally want to keep improving on, I don’t want to just have a couple of good games and think it’s just naturally going to happen.
A 40/20 for Fogarty
Having already slotted two match-winning penalty goals, forced 12 drop outs and averaging almost 400 kicking metres a game this season - alongside halves partner Jack Wighton - the Raiders halfback has emerged as one of the greatest attacking threats in 2023.
And following Fogarty's starring performance against the Roosters on Sunday, coach Ricky Stuart said praise still consistently eludes the halfback for his ability to control the game with his boot.
“He isn’t wrapped for his kicking. But he’s got as good a kicking game as some of the top kickers in the game,” Stuart said after the Round 17 win.
“He’s got height, he’s got distance, his management of the game with regards to his kicking has excelled and I think it kept us on the front foot for a lot of the game tonight.
“He’s so diligent in doing extras at practice. He’s always one of the last blokes out on the field.”
Wighton catch gives Tedesco nightmares
It was Round 11 against Parramatta when Fogarty first saw his hard-work pay off with his kicks creating opportunities to break the opposition's defence open, successfully setting up outside backs Seb Kris and Matt Timoko off last-tackle punts.
“It was the Parramatta game early in the year where I sort of realised how much of an impact I could have on the game with my kicks,” he said.
“I thought myself and Jacko got our team into some good field position and just little areas of the game where we kept pushing them down into their half.
“That’s something I need to base my game off, say it’s 12-12 and my kicking game really needs to stand up to put under teams under pressure.”
But with 10 rounds to go of the regular season and the Raiders known to never make life easy for themselves, Fogarty is refusing to become complacent with the evolution of his game management and the Raiders’ position on the ladder.
A field goal to finish
“Sometimes I catch myself falling out of the moment but I need to just not let that pressure off for 80 minutes.
“There’s time in gams where my kicking game is probably let them off the hook, kicking a couple dead or a couple of kicks not going to where I want them to is something I’ve got to keep working on.
“I still want to get my reps in at training, I’ve still got to be more dominant in games.
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“There’s definitely games at the start of the year where we should have won and we could have been a little bit higher on the ladder and to work our way to where we are now is really good.
“But if we don’t make the most of it in the last 10 rounds then it kind of means bugger all. We can be proud of where we are, but we’ve still got a long way to go to improve.”