Strategy Is This The Key To Our Threepeat Chances?

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Jack Riewoldt



Tom Lynch

So far after 4 games Lynch averages 5.3 marks with only 2.8 marks per game inside 50, with Jack averaging 4.3 marks and 2.3 marks inside 50 per game. For 2 players whose strengths have been their marking ability we seem to be not playing in a way that maximises their strengths. Instead we seem happy with them not getting out marked and bringing the ball to ground for our ground ball players to go to work, but that hasn't been working either.

As you can see from the heat maps above, both Jack & Tom are getting most of their possessions inside the F50, but as I said they are not doing so in terms of clunking marks, but more getting handball receives or gathering the ball when it hits the ground.

The trouble with this is that it works into the oppositions hands in terms of them defending our entries into F50 as they know where it's going and so far this year have been very good at rebounding it out and opening us up on the rebound.

So how do we fix this?

I would have thought the stand rule would have played into our hands a bit more with our chaos style of play, but so far this season we've rarely taken the game on with quick ball movement which would have created more 1-1 contests for us inside F50. Having Houli come back into the line up will no doubt help in that area as he and Short will get on their bikes and attack more.

However that alone won't solve the issue, for mine we need to see our forwards actually getting on the front foot and start leading at the ball carrier and encourage our players up the ground to start lowering their eyes and honouring the leading option to start putting doubt in terms of how the opposition defends. Another option I want to explore is a return to the 3 tall forward structure that we played with in the early 2010s when we had Jack Griffiths and Vickery often stationed forward. Bringing in CCJ would also allow us to stop using Balta/Astbury in the ruck. Having seen plenty of him at VFL level, CCJ is a player who can clunk it when forward, can play ruck when Nank needs a break and as a 3rd genuine tall forward would really stretch the oppositions back 6 and may well stop them double teaming Jack/Tom with a 3rd coming over the top when they are contesting inside F50.

HF: Castagna Lynch Bolton
F: Martin Riewoldt CCJ

I'd like to see us trial the above structure with CCJ having finished his suspension. Castagna and Bolton are good enough to provide the pressure at ground level, Martin is Martin, while the 3 talls can alternate through CHF and deep forward, with the highest forward being the get out option that pushes to the wing, then one of the 2 deep guys provides a leading option, while the other stays at home as the marking option down in the square.

 

[tunksy]

Adapt to the times and give our forwards every chance 1v1

 

[Bojangles17]

My plan would be add another tall, give CCJ first crack
Baker to midfield
Dusty more midfield
Lambo more forward , he’s our best goal kicking mid after dusty
Give Hugo a run in place of aarts
I’m ok with jack and lynch , Tom could convert more but I’m not really worried about them . I think we need to monitor our supply line as last 2 games we have conceded i50 battle which is very rare for us , you really don’t W games with a i50 deficit whereas you rarely lose with a surplus, makes perfect sense huh
Shuffle the decks to add some grunt and connection to midfield and we will progress

 

[Oshka]

Would be nice to have some small forwards that knew how to crumb. We’re so reliant on Lambert, Bolton and Dusty at Lynch/Jack’s feet. Guys like George, Rioli and Aarts aren’t even on the screen when the ball hits the deck and the opposition have so much time to clear the ball because their positioning is so awful.

Also wouldn’t hurt if the umpires gave Lynch a free he rightfully deserves every now and then.

 

[Bojangles17]

Would be nice to have some small forwards that knew how to crumb. We’re so reliant on Lambert, Bolton and Dusty at Lynch/Jack’s feet. Guys like George, Rioli and Aarts aren’t even on the screen when the ball hits the deck and the opposition have so much time to clear the ball because their positioning is so awful.

Also wouldn’t hurt if the umpires gave Lynch a free he rightfully deserves every now and then.

I too am frustrated that our smalls don’t seem to be at heels of key forwards however I’m pretty certain that they push up to create a defensive zone in middle of the ground and are generally a fair way from goal

 

[JR82]

Decent delivery would be nice, give them at least half a chance & have some smalls around them to crumb instead of being too far away from the contest. It will click pretty soon, it usually does in season.

 

[Phar Ace]

My plan would be add another tall, give CCJ first crack
Baker to midfield
Dusty more midfield
Lambo more forward , he’s our best goal kicking mid after dusty
Give Hugo a run in place of aarts
I’m ok with jack and lynch , Tom could convert more but I’m not really worried about them . I think we need to monitor our supply line as last 2 games we have conceded i50 battle which is very rare for us , you really don’t W games with a i50 deficit whereas you rarely lose with a surplus, makes perfect sense huh
Shuffle the decks to add some grunt and connection to midfield and we will progress

Too much sense Bo!

 

[Nostradumbass]

Nothing will change next week, they'll just keep bombing it into our 50.

 

[Oshka]

I too am frustrated that our smalls don’t seem to be at heels of key forwards however I’m pretty certain that they push up to create a defensive zone in middle of the ground and are generally a fair way from goal

But I don’t see them involved further up the ground either. Not taking the piss but I genuinely forget they’re playing sometimes. That’s how often they are missing. Meanwhile Port’s smalls were everywhere. Butters cut us up through the middle, Rozee always a threat at half forward, Fantasia always involved in transition, Motlop kicked three in the first half, Gray essentially won the game for them, etc. Then look at Sydney’s last week. Papley, Gulden, Wicks, etc. destroyed us. St Kilda’s smalls tonight were also so dangerous. Butler another three goals. Ours need to get more involved. Playing Castagna and Aarts then guys like Martyn and Mansell, we were really up against it. Did so well to be in a position where we should’ve won.

Our bottom six is usually a strength of ours. They’re the ones letting us down this season. Need to sort that right out. Lynch needs to start clunking marks as well and getting separation on his opponent. So slow and mistiming his leads. His goal kicking was unforgivable.

 

[Bojangles17]

My personal thoughts in light of the game having less stoppages that 3 role playing small forward is too many , 1 will do in George , the other two can be taken up by an extra tall and a hybrid mid , maybe Hugo who knows

 

[BringOn2017]

Outs : Picket, two debudants

ins: BigKmart, CCJ and Hugo

 

[sante]

Nothing will change next week, they'll just keep bombing it into our 50.

This is our problem. We need to stop doing it

 

[Bojangles17]

Outs : Picket, two debudants

ins: BigKmart, CCJ and Hugo

Pickett won’t be dropped don’t think he’s in the problem range at the mo . Inside mids need to work harder , Jack g , shedda both need to get more of it 15/16 touches when direct opponents get 25+ explains everything why the lopsided i50 ,,,,it really is that simple

 

[G String]

However that alone won't solve the issue, for mine we need to see our forwards actually getting on the front foot and start leading at the ball carrier and encourage our players up the ground to start lowering their eyes and honouring the leading option to start putting doubt in terms of how the opposition defends.

This is the main problem at the moment most of our turnover is coming when we are looking for leads - we dont have any fast mid sized lead up options who can take a good clunk on the lead and our keys are too deep. Thats why our mids are getting caught with the ball often as they head into the 50 - they are looking up but no ones presenting so they delay too long looking for options.

HRS played this role as a junior so it might be worth giving him a chance there - or Caddy - and/or get JR to lead up more often

 

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This is the main problem at the moment most of our turnover is coming when we are looking for leads - we dont have any fast mid sized lead up options who can take a good clunk on the lead and our keys are too deep. Thats why our mids are getting caught with the ball often as they head into the 50 - they are looking up but no ones presenting so they delay too long looking for options.

HRS played this role as a junior so it might be worth giving him a chance there - or Caddy - and/or get JR to lead up more often

That is why I want to see us bring in CCJ as the extra marking forward who can be the lead up target, which still allows us to maintain the go to plan of having 2 deep marking targets to bring the ball to ground. It also works in regards to stretching the opposition back 6 which then creates more space for us to work in.

 

[Bojangles17]

This is the main problem at the moment most of our turnover is coming when we are looking for leads - we dont have any fast mid sized lead up options who can take a good clunk on the lead and our keys are too deep. Thats why our mids are getting caught with the ball often as they head into the 50 - they are looking up but no ones presenting so they delay too long looking for options.

HRS played this role as a junior so it might be worth giving him a chance there - or Caddy - and/or get JR to lead up more often

Reasonable point that , prob underlines my case for an extra tall in absence of med type options . Have a feeling it will happen this week, under the roof is prob a good start

 

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To add to the mix of things that need fixing in our threepeat quest, it was mentioned yesterday that we are the only team in the AFL to have not scored from a kick in so far this year and that we've only managed to take a kick in all the way to our F50 only 7.8% of the time, which is quite alarming given the new rules supposedly make it easier to move the ball but we're seemingly becoming stuck around the midfield as I mentioned in the OP with neither Jack or Lynch getting a heap of the ball up the ground around the wings.

We have a handful of genuine weapons in terms of rebounding half backs in Houli & Short, plus Baker can move the ball well when he gets the chance, and both Jack & Tom can take a contested grab, so it makes you wonder why we're not utilising one of the leading up to the wings to be the link between the defensive unit and moving the ball inside 50 where the other marking target can be used in 1-1 contests more often.

If we're not going to use Tom & Jack up there then surely a mobile tall like CCJ, who also chops out in the ruck, or a mid sized option like Caddy who can mark on the lead, would be the go to option to be the link up in the middle of the ground that can give us the marking target that gets the ball moving quickly towards the F50 and giving us the ability to get Jack & Tom isolated in 1-1 contests inside 50 with 1 hitting up on the lead towards the 50 and the other being around 15m out where they become very dangerous as a marking option or a point where the small forwards know they need to get to to crumb and create havoc.

 

[_RT_]

Teams have been trying for years to unravel the mystery of how to beat us and it's starting to become clear that if you're willing to take the heat and not panic, and use quick clean ball use to get out into space you can open us up and hurt us on the spread as all our pressure is focused in at the contest. Swans did it to us in round 3, Port also used the same tactics against us in round 4 and now the Demons have exposed us again.

So far this year we're ranked 18th for mark differential average at -27 per game ranked 15th for uncontested possession differential at -28 per game yet we're ranked 2nd for tackle differential at +8 per game. So our pressure is right up there in terms of putting the opposition under the pump, but sides are seemingly handling it better and starting to take advantage with clean ball use opening up us.

The question is do we continue to back in our proven structures to be able to overcome this tactic or do we need to go to work and develop an updated structure that can help contain sides from getting out into space and hurting us on the spread?