The Hawks Grand Final performance should set an example to other coaches on how to play the game

[Klaus]

2014 was a year dogged by extremely defensive coaching tactics and slow ball movement. Yet on Grand Final day (and throughout the season), it was fast ball movement and an all-out attacking mindset that won the Hawks the Premiership.

I now hope that other coaches can see the light and implement more attacking gameplan's for the good of the game. The Hawks played an exciting and entertaining brand of football all year, and it proved to be the most successful. Paul Roos, in particular, should take note that his ultra-defensive gameplan is dead; if he wants his team to have success (or at the very least, kick more than 7 goals on a regular basis), he needs to encourage them to move the ball fast and try to kick goals.

Attacking football is the way to go, not just for the fans, but also to achieve success.

 

[BobHawk]

Paul Roos doesn't have a forward line.

 

[vide0n]

Part of the journey with Melbourne is stopping the thrashing and the ultra defensive gameplan is a pretty great way to go about it when your personnel aren't really any good

 

[HolyRioli]

You have to know how to defend to win a premiership. Make no mistake that our team is more than mildly accomplished defensively

 

[HeavyPop]

Pies tried to move the ball quickly at times this year and it went straight back over their heads for a goal. It's no surprise that the team with the best skills in the comp is able to move the ball quickly with precision. Not all clubs have the personnel for that.

 

[juss]

There's no such thing as one gameplan fits all. The best gameplan is the one that works most effectively with your list and coaching structure. The Hawks have the list to play a certain way, doesn't mean that is the most successful strategy for every list.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Just KICK IT UP THE MIDDLE FERCHRISSAKES!

 

[madmug]

2014 was a year dogged by extremely defensive coaching tactics and slow ball movement. Yet on Grand Final day (and throughout the season), it was fast ball movement and an all-out attacking mindset that won the Hawks the Premiership.

I now hope that other coaches can see the light and implement more attacking gameplan's for the good of the game. The Hawks played an exciting and entertaining brand of football all year, and it proved to be the most successful. Paul Roos, in particular, should take note that his ultra-defensive gameplan is dead; if he wants his team to have success (or at the very least, kick more than 7 goals on a regular basis), he needs to encourage them to move the ball fast and try to kick goals.

Attacking football is the way to go, not just for the fans, but also to achieve success.

I thought the GF was well played by the Hawks.

The most notable tactics for me were their keepings off & a swarming defense. The keepings off was like watching soccer with the triangle set ups. That gives the ball carrier lots off opportunities to chip the ball & wait for the next opportunity. That went on a lot & wasnt much fun to watch.

The Swans were just lost on the day. Which surprised me. I though we were in for a good close game. Not to be. It was pretty boring in the end. Sad for the GF.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

The biggest threat to Hawthorns game plan is if they change the rules ( they wont - and im not advocating a change)

David Parkin ( ex Hawthorn premiership captain and coach) - must have heard him say at least 10 times on ABC radio and Fox Footy this year - that the 15 metre minium kick distance should be immediately increased to 30 metres

If they changed the rule to what Parkin is suggesting - that would throw a serious spanner in the Hawthorn game plan

I would love to know what Hawthorns average 15 metre kicks per game is - it would be stacks - and i reckon stacks more than most other top 8 teams- they get the ball - and you cant get the ball back off them

 

[Hawkk]

Paul Roos doesn't have a forward line.

This. Paul Roos set the precedent for this with that lock down crap gameplan that many of the pacesetters (including the Swans) continue to use to this day. His tactics are literally a cancer on the game...

 

[clivenator26]

This. Paul Roos set the precedent for this with that lock down crap gameplan that many of the pacesetters (including the Swans) continue to use to this day. His tactics are literally a cancer on the game...

Really ?

 

[Bluelegs]

Stop telling coaches how they should do their jobs on the basis of entertainment. Coaches work with what they have and not every team have the players capable of executing Clarksons gameplan.

 

[Despair]

David Parkin ( ex Hawthorn premiership captain and coach) - must have heard him say at least 10 times on ABC radio and Fox Footy this year - that the 15 metre minium kick distance should be immediately increased to 30 metres

What a geriatric campaigner.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Ok we will give Clarkson a list with the same quality of Melbourne and guess what he will do?

He would play the same shutdown tactics to lessen the stark quality of players and increase the chances of winning games.

 

[Davo23]

This. Paul Roos set the precedent for this with that lock down crap gameplan that many of the pacesetters (including the Swans) continue to use to this day. His tactics are literally a cancer on the game...

Roos game plan was based on the smaller SCG. He used multiple midfielders to crowd the play and force mauls and scrums to hold the ball in. It enabled the opposition to be cramped and frustrated, and prevented them from scoring.

His team only needed a low score to win, and made for very boring, defensive games, but I don't think it transfers to the MCG

 

[The Passenger]

When you are top in a game there are two things you gotta do - maintain momentum, and capitalize on it.

Conversely when the opposition is on top you need to minimize the damage they do, and you need to halt that momentum.

The Hawks are the best in the business at the first two. And by some distance. And probably the best at it I can remember since the turn of the century - 5 goals in 9m13s (2nd quarter burst) against one of the most miserly all ground defences in the game on GF day is the very definition of putting a team to the sword.

And whilst they are behind Sydney and Fremantle for the latter two (not that Sydney showed it on the weekend), the Hawks are still very good at damage maintenance. A good all round game plan, with a bit more focus on attack then defence.

These are team attributes that come down to how hard everyone works for each other, and the game plan that coach has put in.

 

[Big_Birdy]

I take it as an example to all the recruiters

I mean, the best kicking side in the comp also happens to be the best side in the comp. Well knock me down with a feather.....

 

[Shane Hird]

The biggest threat to Hawthorns game plan is if they change the rules ( they wont - and im not advocating a change)

David Parkin ( ex Hawthorn premiership captain and coach) - must have heard him say at least 10 times on ABC radio and Fox Footy this year - that the 15 metre minium kick distance should be immediately increased to 30 metres

If they changed the rule to what Parkin is suggesting - that would throw a serious spanner in the Hawthorn game plan

I would love to know what Hawthorns average 15 metre kicks per game is - it would be stacks - and i reckon stacks more than most other top 8 teams- they get the ball - and you cant get the ball back off them

Nah ...15mtrs is fine....remembering it took over 100 years before it was changed from 10 to 15...and before that we had this....

A 'little mark' was taken when a player passed the ball by foot at least two yards (1.83 metres), generally from a pack of players. It was difficult for umpires to pick out 'little marks' in scrimmages. It was abolished to help open up play.

 

[Paul Kersey]

The biggest threat to Hawthorns game plan is if they change the rules ( they wont - and im not advocating a change)

David Parkin ( ex Hawthorn premiership captain and coach) - must have heard him say at least 10 times on ABC radio and Fox Footy this year - that the 15 metre minium kick distance should be immediately increased to 30 metres

If they changed the rule to what Parkin is suggesting - that would throw a serious spanner in the Hawthorn game plan

I would love to know what Hawthorns average 15 metre kicks per game is - it would be stacks - and i reckon stacks more than most other top 8 teams- they get the ball - and you cant get the ball back off them

Are you advocating changing the rules because a team is too good?

 

[ming65]

I see this debate between defensive V attacking game styles from a different angle. I think we need to look at it from the perspective of effort V skill. With the dominance of sports science that started in the early 90's I think recruiters were seduced into thinking they just needed to seek-out players with the right athletic requirements in the hope they would be able to teach them the rest. More low-skill players in the game with elite running capability means game styles (I hate the term 'game-plan' - what, in the chaos of an Aussie rules game, ever looks like a plan?), that suit defensive running and low risk (ie hug the boundary) attacking styles. You can have the most attacking game style in the world. but without the skilled players to pull it off you'll just leak goals, because attacking game styles are high risk.

Alistair Clarkson saw through this early on in his post playing career and realized that if you just recruit guys with high skill and let the sports scientists work to make them the best runners/athletes possible, you get better results. Higher skilled players can pull off attacking methods that would seem high-risk to lower skilled players (eg attacking through the corridor). High skilled teams use less effort and need less fitness relatively (you never hear about Hawthorns brutal pre-seasons probably because they just train smart rather than indulge in the idiocy that some other clubs have tried). High skilled teams need to win less of the ball - Hawthorn often lose the contested ball count yet still win games - because of their higher disposal efficiency (80% in the GF - are you kidding me?)

As the rest of the AFL cottons on to this, in hindsight, screamingly obvious fact. I reckon we'll see more and more thrilling football as skill begins to dominate over effort/work-rate.

 

[ScoobySnacks]

Are you advocating changing the rules because a team is too good?

They've done it to us before

 

[The GOAT]

Ok we will give Clarkson a list with the same quality of Melbourne and guess what he will do?

He would play the same shutdown tactics to lessen the stark quality of players and increase the chances of winning games.

No he wouldn't. He didn't do that with Hawthorn, and we were a crap team when Clarko took over

 

[Mr Chuckles]

Pies tried to move the ball quickly at times this year and it went straight back over their heads for a goal. It's no surprise that the team with the best skills in the comp is able to move the ball quickly with precision. Not all clubs have the personnel for that.

It's an excellent point. Other clubs have a tendency to try to copy the premiers game style, but clearly that's going to be far easier to do in a single preseason when it relates to elements that are based on work rate (e.g. flooding, zoning, "two way" running) than skill (precision disposal).

 

[Shane Hird]

I see this debate between defensive V attacking game styles from a different angle. I think we need to look at it from the perspective of effort V skill. With the dominance of sports science that started in the early 90's I think recruiters were seduced into thinking they just needed to seek-out players with the right athletic requirements in the hope they would be able to teach them the rest. More low-skill players in the game with elite running capability means game styles (I hate the term 'game-plan' - what, in the chaos of an Aussie rules game, ever looks like a plan?), that suit defensive running and low risk (ie hug the boundary) attacking styles. You can have the most attacking game style in the world. but without the skilled players to pull it off you'll just leak goals, because attacking game styles are high risk.

Alistair Clarkson saw through this early on in his post playing career and realized that if you just recruit guys with high skill and let the sports scientists work to make them the best runners/athletes possible, you get better results. Higher skilled players can pull off attacking methods that would seem high-risk to lower skilled players (eg attacking through the corridor). High skilled teams use less effort and need less fitness relatively (you never hear about Hawthorns brutal pre-seasons probably because they just train smart rather than indulge in the idiocy that some other clubs have tried). High skilled teams need to win less of the ball - Hawthorn often lose the contested ball count yet still win games - because of their higher disposal efficiency (80% in the GF - are you kidding me?)

As the rest of the AFL cottons on to this, in hindsight, screamingly obvious fact. I reckon we'll see more and more thrilling football as skill begins to dominate over effort/work-rate.

What I've learnt from 10 years of junior coaching ( U6s to 14s ) is that 'A grade' kicking skills are a rare thing.

The last few weeks I've been watching my son play in development squad games where you're supposed to be seeing the best teenage players in the district play against the best from other districts. I could count on one hand the number of players who have 'elite' kicking skills.

Plenty know how to get the ball in packs, quick handpasses and take marks, but outstanding kicking skills are few and far between.

This filters right through to colts level and draft age players. Many are excellent kickers with flawless techniques, but to not many have the talent to have that ultra consistent skill of being able to pin point a pass that's required at League level.

 

[Scatter]

I think Clarkson's gameplan is extremely effective against the 'defensive' Sydney/Freo type gameplans. Ross Lyon had recognised this (after numerous defeats to them) and we played a more attacking gameplan v Hawthorn later in the year and beat them. Longmire obviously didn't take note I would imagine. I was quietly confident we would be at least competitive against Hawthorn if we made it through to the Prelim, although Clarkson probably would have devised something different after the earlier defeat to us.