William Caresser
Club Legend
- Mar 25, 2022
- 1,973
- 5,449
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
They brought in outside run and focused on running in preseason and mistakenly thought we'd become a fit enough side to handle a high press?Yeah, our contested work is dreadful, both on the ground and in the air. But our pressure and the broken or not attempted tackles are infuriating (hi Dyl). But what amazes me is how, knowing this, we have adopted a game plan that requires manic pressure and elite endurance. We try to press as high as Collingwood but don't have the players or will to make this work. It is like we are trying to expose our own weaknesses.
But our players don't do themselves any favours even at their current fitness level. When the ball is in dispute (both in and out of stoppages) they regularly overcommit forward thinking we're going to win it (despite weeks of evidence suggesting otherwise). They play like delusional optimists in that way and are so far out of position, they can't man up when the opposition wins the footy. The defence is then under pressure and players in the zone often roll the dice, push up in an equally hopeful way.
If they were more realistic when the ball is in dispute we'd stop the opposition a lot more even with our sub-standard conditioning.