Saskatchewan Roughriders' kicker Brett Lauther knows the smallest details matter for a field goal to be perfect in the CFL.
"It's so minuscule. I don't know how many times I feel like I hit a perfect ball, 99 percent of the time you look up it's dead middle and it catches some wind or pushes out," Lauther told voice of the Riders, Dave Thomas.
"Especially in the open end of this field it's very difficult, but also trying to reverse that. It's our biggest advantage with this home field. Not everyone gets to practice here as much as we do and you have to take advantage of these windy days."
The 34-year-old Lauther is meticulous when it comes to studying his previous work entering a new game.
"I overthink things, so I try not to go too crazy about it. I try to watch with guys and correct things, but after we do the practice and stuff in video, I like to let the guys be free. Whatever happens in the game happens. I feel like if you're on point and nitpicking a little in practice and other stuff, you should be a lot more comfortable come game time and we do a ton of different things, watch film with the coach, watch film on our own," Lauther said.
"There are so many things, whether you're on the right hash, left hash or in the middle. If we're offsetting and if we need a little lean or if we're into the wind or with the wind in different spots, you can go down a rabbit hole talking about it. I'm not sure if anyone's interested, but there's a lot that goes into it. People just want to know if it's good or not, so that's all we're trying to do is make every kick."
Lauther is without his old holder Adam Korsak due to retirement. He knows there is a need to find a similar chemistry with the new guys.
"A lot of it comes from practice, reps, and time, which you don't have a lot of. You get really used to a guy and even what he looks like down there, his cadence. You know a guy's stuff and right now we're trying to get used to things and speed up," Lauther said.
"The guys are young that are in right now and we're doing everything we can on the sidelines, getting extra reps, doing as much as we can to get on the same page because every time we're going on the field, we're trying to score points and it's a big play in the game."
Lauther ranked third in the CFL last year when it came to field goals made with 53, Toronto Argonauts' kicker Lirim Hajrullahu was second with 55 and Ottawa Redblacks' kicker Lewis Ward was first with 58.
The Green and White begin the regular season on Thursday, June 5. Catch the pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates at 4 p.m. while Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 7 p.m. You can hear everything on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
