Um ok I see what you mean. I don't think the years have anything to do with it, just the decoys. Alot of guys catch low to prevent the dog from flying or from doing a flying catch, but I agree with other members, there is usally a hard collision with a hard charging dog. If the dog is off the ground then this is safer with alot of decoys for the dog. Some might disagree. I find a lot of strong guys go for the low catch and muscle the dog a bit. It is tougher ont he dogs kneck for sure. I will see if I have the tapes and watch them.

If you compare Bernhard Flinks with Packo in the 1995 BSP vs. Ivan Balabanov and Django in the 2001 USA Nationals in the courage test, you can really see a huge difference in the helper's style and more importantly,the way the dog hits the sleeve.

Their are no define rules to trial helper work, but their is a set of guidelines written by the AZG. The most important thing is the safety of the dog and the helper. The next is how much pressure is put on the dog by the helper and correct trial procedure, maybe not in that order. Here is where helper style comes to play.
The dogs also have their own style when it comes to the courage test. Some dogs will leave their feet at a distance (the flyers), others will stay on their feet and come up low, this group is also made up of dogs that hit the brakes when they come in. But, the last group of dogs can be the hardest to catch when they come fast (my opinion). The thing that I have noticed with this group is it doesn't matter where you have the sleeve on some of these dogs they aren't leaving their feet till the last step, so you can have it up at your head and it still won't get them to fly into the catch.

I can't comment on Flink's dog, but I have seen Ivan's dog work and he is not a flyer, but he comes fast. The problem at the Nationals was the dog gathered a bit, because the helper (who is a personal friend) does do a "hook" type catch. So, he side steps at the end and when the dog stays on their feet they can adjust to that last side step and gather some. You won't see this with the flyers, because they have left their feet before this last side step. Here is one way to look at it, how many of you have played football? What were you taught to watch when you are closing in to make a tackle? The hips right? It is easy to fly in and make a tackle if the runner comes straight at you and does not waver. If you ever played against a shifty runner and he sides steps to get you to miss, you tend to follow his hips and his side step along with him, right? You aren't going to leave your feet and fly in on him, he will side step you and you will be laying on the ground looking for him. This is kind of what happened to Ivan's dog at the National. Some dogs get jammed real hard by helpers that use this method and aren't athletic enough to get themselves out of trouble when it happens. The dogs follow the helpers last move and the dog ends up right in front of you anyway, and your foot work is messed up to make a clean catch.
The "hook" catch with flyers works as long as the helper keeps the sleeve their and does not pull it around along with his body. The problem is when that happens the dog is in the air and his target is being pulled away from him, so he may not make the bite or get a shitty bite and come off.
With the "stop" catch the helper stays until the dog makes contact and then lets the dogs momentum turn him, this makes for a less flashy catch but sometimes a safer catch.
Their are many other things to watch and look at, these are just some of my opinions.