Throw the ball properly, and you can terrorise defenders almost as much as a corner, which sounds wild, I know, but once you see how Premier League analysts squeeze xG out of a simple throw-in, it clicks. In this guide, I walk you through the basics so you stop giving away soft fouls, then show you how to turn your long throw into a genuine attacking weapon your mates hate defending against. By the end, you’ll see why your next big assist might start right on the touchline.
What’s a Long Throw?
Throw-ins vs. Other Set Pieces
In a world where Premier League analysts track every corner, I find it wild that throw-ins – especially long throws into the box – still catch teams out. Unlike corners or free kicks, you can’t be offside from a throw, so you can stack runners on the keeper and attack second balls in a way you just can’t from a dead ball. It’s basically a moving, more chaotic corner that starts from the touchline rather than the byline.
The Importance of the Long Throw
Across a full season, a proper long throw can be worth several goals, which in the Premier League can be the difference between mid-table and Europe, or survival and relegation. When you’ve got someone who can regularly hit the 18-yard box from 30-35 metres, you’re adding a repeatable, high-impact weapon without spending a penny in the transfer market. It’s free xG, if you like that kind of language.
What really jumps out to me is how repeatable the payoff is once you build a plan around it: Delap’s Stoke reportedly generated over 20 goals in two seasons from long throws, Brentford routinely load the six-yard box and crushes opponents on first and second contacts, and sides like FC Midtjylland have literally recruited players partly for their throw distance. You’re not just lobbing it in and hoping, you’re choreographing blocks, screens and movements like an NFL play, forcing defenders to face their own goal, defend flick-ons and deal with awkward bounces in traffic. If you’re a smaller club, or your squad lacks elite creativity, this is one of the few areas where you can genuinely punch above your weight, because the gap between elite and average is about coaching, timing and bravery, not transfer fees.
The Basic Rules of Throw-Ins
Understanding the Laws of the Game
If you want your long throw to actually count, you need the basics nailed. Law 15 sounds dry, but it shapes what you can and can’t get away with: both feet on or behind the line, ball delivered with two hands from behind and over your head, taken from the exact spot where it left the pitch. You can’t score directly; your opponents must be at least 2 metres away, and if your technique slips, you gift them possession instead.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Most foul throws happen for boring reasons: lazy feet, dodgy arm action, or drifting a few yards up the line to steal ground. You’ll see players lift a heel, twist their body so the ball doesn’t really come from behind the head, or shuffle forward during the motion. At youth level, I’ve seen some teams rack up 3 or 4 foul throws in a single half, which just hands momentum to the opposition for free.
What catches you out more than anything is rushing. You’re under pressure, you hear team-mates shouting, so your front foot pops up, your hands split, or the ball leaves your forehead rather than actually travelling over it. I like to coach a tiny checklist in my head: spot – feet – hands. Get to the right spot, plant both feet, then lock your wrists on either side of the ball. If you tidy up those three details, you kill off 90% of the usual throw-in disasters, and suddenly your long throw becomes a real attacking weapon instead of a lottery.
How Not to Be Cautioned for Foul Throws
Staying out of the referee’s book is mostly about looking in control. You don’t fake taking the thro, then drop it for teammate, you don’t argue while standing on the line, and you don’t keep edging forward after being told to go back. Referees rarely care about an extra 20 centimetres, but steal 5 metres, and you’re asking for a caution for delaying the restart or for persistent dissent.
The smart approach is to act like you know exactly what you’re doing. Get to the ball quickly, move to the correct spot, and set yourself without all the drama – no theatrics, no sarcastic clapping, no strolling away then wandering back. If you want to squeeze distance, use your run-up and technique, not gamesmanship. When you show you’re trying to follow the law properly, you massively reduce the risk of a cheap yellow card, and you keep your focus on launching that long throw where it hurts.
Mastering the Technique
Step-by-Step Guide to a Perfect Throw
If you want your long throw to actually trouble defenders, the technique has to be rock solid, not just “get it in the mixer and hope”. I always tell players to think of it like a standing jump combined with a chest pass – your legs, core and upper back all firing together. Keep both feet grounded at release, drag your back toe if you like that Delap-style glide, then drive your hips forward as the ball comes from behind and over your head. Finish tall, arms long, eyes on your target, not on the touchline.
| Step | What you actually do |
| 1. Grip | Place your hands at 3 and 9 o’clock, fingers spread, with a firm but relaxed grip so the ball doesn’t slip when you accelerate through the throw. |
| 2. Stance | Set your feet shoulder-width apart, part of each foot behind or on the line, knees slightly bent so you can load power through your legs. |
| 3. Run-up | Use a 2-4 step approach like Delap or Brentford’s takers, staying straight behind the line and timing your last step so both feet are grounded at release. |
| 4. Back arch | Lean back and open your chest, loading your core and shoulders like a spring so the ball is driven forward rather than simply lobbed. |
| 5. Arm path | Bring the ball from fully behind your head to fully over it in a smooth, fast arc, keeping your elbows high to stay legal and generate velocity. |
| 6. Release | Let go just as the ball passes above your forehead, flicking with both wrists to fine-tune direction and give the ball a flat, penetrating flight. |
| 7. Follow-through | Finish with your body weight moving forward, step into play quickly and be ready to receive a lay-off, turning the throw into a proper combination move. |
Tips for Improving Power and Accuracy
Power and accuracy basically come from the same place: how well you coordinate your whole body, not how far you can heave a ball with your arms. I love using simple gym work like medicine ball overhead throws and banded rotations because they mirror the long throw pattern and build repeatable strength. Short, focused sets of 6-8 max-distance throws in training, tracked with rough yardage marks, help you feel what actually works. Recognising how a tiny tweak in your release angle can shift the ball 3-4 metres is where your real gains hide.
- Build throw-specific strength with medicine ball slams, overhead heaves and rotational throws, 2-3 times per week, to mimic the exact movement pattern.
- Dial in accuracy by aiming at cones, mannequins or zones in the box, logging how many out of 10 land in your intended area each session.
- Protect your shoulders and back using proper warm-up routines and limiting max-effort throws to small, high-quality blocks rather than endless reps.
- Use video to track your release angle and body position, comparing your best throws to clips of specialists like Gronnemark-coached players.
- Recognising how your body feels on your longest, straightest throws helps you build a repeatable throwing “signature” you can rely on under pressure.
Power work for long throws doesn’t mean turning you into a bodybuilder; it means making you efficient. I want your hips, core and shoulders doing the heavy lifting, so your arms just guide and fine-tune. That’s exactly why elite clubs track throw distance and landing zones in training – Brentford-style data can show you that a 5 per cent increase in distance or a slightly flatter trajectory leads to way more shots from your throws. And if you train with that mindset, you start treating each long throw like a mini set piece, not a desperate hoick.
- Anchor a simple strength routine around 3 key lifts: deadlifts, rows and overhead presses, keeping reps low and quality high.
- Use targeted mobility work for the shoulders and thoracic spine so you can arch and extend without feeling tight or strained.
- Blend technical throws with video review, pausing at the release frame to spot any lazy footwork or dropped elbows creeping in.
- Practise hitting specific zones in the box that your coach wants, like near-post flick areas or penalty spot chaos zones.
- Recognising which technical cues unlock your best throw – maybe it’s “big chest” or “fast hands” – lets you quickly reset in live matches.
Drills to Sharpen Your Skills
Skill drills are where your throw stops being a party trick and starts slotting into proper team tactics. I really like competitive games like “crossbar throws” from 18-25 metres, where you get a point for hitting the bar or a small target zone, because they bring that match-like edge. You can also copy Premier League routines – 3 attackers, 3 defenders, one long throw into the six-yard box, play live for 10 seconds – to link the technical work to real chaos. Recognising that your decisions before and after the throw are as important as distance will separate you from most throwers.
Game-realistic drills turn you into a threat the opposition has to plan for. Try pairing up: one thrower, one runner, and work on late movements like near-post darts or blindside peels to simulate Brentford’s patterns, counting how many clean first contacts you create out of 20 throws. Then flip it and add defenders, time limits and set scoring rules so every throw feels like a mini scenario. Once you’re tired, throw a few more from 30 metres – if your technique still holds up, you’re getting close to true long-throw level.
The Tactical Advantage of Long Throws
Why They’re More Than Just Throws
Across Europe right now, you can see analysts clipping every single throw-in, because long throws have quietly turned into a set-piece weapon, not just a way to restart play. When you launch the ball 30 to 40 metres into the box, you effectively create a moving corner that defenders hate to track, forcing them into chaotic second and third balls where xG numbers spike and your team suddenly looks far more dangerous without changing formation at all.
Creating Scoring Opportunities with the Long Throw
In the final third, a proper long throw lets you attack like Stoke under Pulis or Brentford under Thomas Frank, with the ball landing in that horrible six-to-eight-yard zone where defenders panic. You can stack near-post runners, screen the keeper, or isolate your best header on a smaller full back, turning a simple restart into a high-value chance. Because the delivery is flat and fast, it is harder to defend than a floated corner, and any misjudged clearance instantly becomes your shot opportunity.
What really changes the game for you is how repeatable this is over 90 minutes – every time you win a throw-in that attacking channel, you can run the same routine with tiny tweaks, so opponents never feel settled. I like using three basic patterns: a near-post crowd where one player peels off for the flick, a late-arriving edge-of-box runner for cut-backs, and a back-post overload where you drag the keeper towards the flight, then attack the blind side, all of which create clean shooting positions from what used to be low-value restarts. Add blockers who subtly impede markers, one player positioned for recycled possession, and a rehearsed press for the opposition clearance, and your long throw suddenly gives you both immediate xG and a platform to pin teams in their own third for long spells.
Premier League Success Stories
The Long Throw Legends
What always makes me smile is that some of the great long throw heroes weren’t superstars in the usual sense at all. Rory Delap effectively turned Stoke’s throw-ins into 24 goals in just two Premier League seasons, Ian Hutchinson’s looping rocket decided the 1970 FA Cup Final, and Andy Legg’s 44.6 metre effort at Swansea literally broke records. When you add in wild technicians like Leah Fortune with the flip throw, you start to see how long throws quietly shaped big moments you and I still talk about.
What Brentford’s Doing Right
What Brentford have nailed isn’t just finding someone who can chuck it far, it’s treating every throw like a mini set piece. With analysts like Bernardo Cueva and coaches such as Gianni Vio, Nicolas Jover and Andreas Georgson, they’ve built data-led routines that turn simple touchline restarts into repeatable chances. When short throws in the final quarter sit at around 0.010 x, but long throws into the box jump to 0.022 xG, you get why they’re all in.
In practical terms, I love how Brentford choreograph the chaos – they’ll stack 4 or 5 bodies on the keeper, screen markers, then free up a back-post runner your centre backs really don’t want to track. Because they’ve drilled those patterns, you see second-ball traps as well, with midfielders already positioned on the edge of the box to recycle possession and shoot. It’s not just “launch it and hop;”, it’s a scripted attacking phase that mirrors a corner routine but comes from a throw, which means you can copy the same logic in your own team sessions, even without Premier League resources.
How Other Teams Are Catching On
What’s crept up on a lot of fans is how many Premier League sides now quietly copy bits of the Brentford model. Liverpool brought in throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark and saw fewer lost possessions from their 40-60 throw-ins per game, while Arsenal hired former Brentford specialist Nicolas Jover and immediately sharpened their dead-ball output. You’ll spot similarly packed six-yard boxes and choreographed screens cropping up everywhere, because the numbers on xG simply bully coaches into taking this stuff seriously.
If you pay attention on a weekend, you’ll notice more sides calling centre backs up for attacking throws in the final third, just like they’d do for corners, and that’s not by accident. Clubs are tracking outcomes per throw, testing different blocking schemes, and even using video to coach the timing of runs for the flick-on zone. Once one or two teams turned long throws into a consistent source of goals, the rest almost had no choice but to copy or get left behind, and that’s exactly the trend you can lean into at your level, too.
My Take on Throw-In Specialists
Are They Really Worth It?
When Rory Delap directly contributed to 24 goals in two Premier League seasons, he basically answered this question for every analyst in the game. I still think you only justify a throw-in specialist if your team actually commits to the idea – rehearsed routines, blockers, data on trajectories, the lot. Otherwise, you just end up with a lad who can chuck it far and no one attacking the second ball. If you buy in properly, though, you get a repeatable, low-cost source of xG, which is gold at any level.
The Future of Throw-in Coaching
With clubs already hiring specialists like Frank Anderson and building models around those 40-60 throw-ins a match, I think we’re only at phase one of this trend. You’re going to see throw-ins treated like line-outs in rugby – choreographed blocks, decoy runners, zonal vs man-marking battles, all driven by tracking data. And if you coach youth players to see throw-ins as structured opportunities rather than dead moments, your team gains a small but constant tactical edge over the season.
In practical terms, I expect more clubs to log every single throw-in in training and games, then tag things like target zone, body shape, opposition press and outcome, very similar to how top sides already tag corners. Because once you can say “this flat 25 metre throw to the near post generates 0.03 xG on average”, it suddenly becomes a proper weapon, not a gimmick. I’d also bet you’ll see academies bringing in athletics and javelin coaches to help kids squeeze out an extra 3-5 metres safely, while sports scientists track shoulder load so you don’t break players chasing that extra distance. Over time, that blend of data, biomechanics and rehearsed patterns is what will separate teams who just chuck it long from teams who actually dominate games from the touchline.
To wrap up
Summing up, the mad thing about long throws is that you can turn a boring reset into a proper goal threat, and you don’t need Delap-level power to make it work. If you nail the basic rules, tidy up your technique, then nick a few ideas from Premier League routines, you suddenly give your team an extra weapon. I want you thinking of everto thinking throw as a mini corner, with movement, screens, second balls, the lot. Do that consistently, and your long throw becomes part of your game identity.
