astrovic
Premiership Player
My big concern is that we have trouble clearing our defensive 50. We're pants at it at the best of times and the Dogs' defence is built around pressing up to keep the ball inside 50 until they get a goal.
That type of defense is low probability (the congestion inside 50 means you'll have multiple entries inside 50 before you secure), but it also means that the other sides' prospect of scoring is a lower probability cos the ball just ain't getting down their end often enough or for long enough.
Meanwhile, while we get some good turnovers inside our forward 50 by great pressure work by our forwards (esp Waite), by and large we don't keep the ball up our end terribly.
The end result is that they'll have the ball more than us and have more inside 50's than us, and our defence will have to be at its best. It is also going to be critical that we get some pressure relieving goals by breaking their forward press and running the ball to the other end, and also obviously that we win critical clearances and one on one battles, so as to maximise our time in possession and get some quality entries inside 50 which our forwards are going to love against their undersized defence. We'll get out opportunities and I expect us to have periods when our midfield is on top and gives us the opportunity to create some scoreboard pressure through a series of quick goals. Hopefully we can do that early to create a bit of a buffer. We're much better than we used to be at defending leads.
Overall I think we match up badly against small, fast teams that rely on forward pressure to get our defenders to cough the pill up. This is easily our biggest test so far - their injuries help us but they'll cover them. It's also offset by the fact we're coming off consecutive 6 day breaks and from interstate. We're really going to find out whether our improved maturity, pressure under fire and fitness in fourth quarters is the real deal.
I'm confident but nervous. Anyone who can pick this game is a sage.
That type of defense is low probability (the congestion inside 50 means you'll have multiple entries inside 50 before you secure), but it also means that the other sides' prospect of scoring is a lower probability cos the ball just ain't getting down their end often enough or for long enough.
Meanwhile, while we get some good turnovers inside our forward 50 by great pressure work by our forwards (esp Waite), by and large we don't keep the ball up our end terribly.
The end result is that they'll have the ball more than us and have more inside 50's than us, and our defence will have to be at its best. It is also going to be critical that we get some pressure relieving goals by breaking their forward press and running the ball to the other end, and also obviously that we win critical clearances and one on one battles, so as to maximise our time in possession and get some quality entries inside 50 which our forwards are going to love against their undersized defence. We'll get out opportunities and I expect us to have periods when our midfield is on top and gives us the opportunity to create some scoreboard pressure through a series of quick goals. Hopefully we can do that early to create a bit of a buffer. We're much better than we used to be at defending leads.
Overall I think we match up badly against small, fast teams that rely on forward pressure to get our defenders to cough the pill up. This is easily our biggest test so far - their injuries help us but they'll cover them. It's also offset by the fact we're coming off consecutive 6 day breaks and from interstate. We're really going to find out whether our improved maturity, pressure under fire and fitness in fourth quarters is the real deal.
I'm confident but nervous. Anyone who can pick this game is a sage.
