Coaching Footy Accountability

[Michaels]

Hey all,

Last couple of games my U/16's have lost both games due to not being accountable for their direct opponents which resulted a lot of soft, easy, cheap goals. We have spoken about this for the last 3 weeks, but nothing has improved.

They seem to do it ok at training when doing game simulation, but what im wanting to know, is there any specific drills that can be run to teach accountability?

I think a lot of it is a mental aspect but im just wondering if there is anything else i can try with these guys?

Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated

 

[cptkirk]

i think you need to determine who exactly isnlt manning up and why that is, usually its the midfield cos they're kick chasing

maybe pair them up at training and they need to run with each other for the whole session?

reprimand who doesn't man up

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Hey all,

Last couple of games my U/16's have lost both games due to not being accountable for their direct opponents which resulted a lot of soft, easy, cheap goals. We have spoken about this for the last 3 weeks, but nothing has improved.

They seem to do it ok at training when doing game simulation, but what im wanting to know, is there any specific drills that can be run to teach accountability?

I think a lot of it is a mental aspect but im just wondering if there is anything else i can try with these guys?

Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated

Accountability has a huge amount of facets , such as accountability at clearances or in general play .
Without the specifics and solely assuming from what you've posted I gather the acountability issue you are having is in general play once
the ball is turned over ??
If so , it can be a result of,
1. To many running forward of the contest to receive the footy rather than being on the defensive side of where the ball is kicked to ?
2. Not spreading from contests , all going to the one position to receive ?
or
3. An over attacking or high posession game plan which isn't able to be matched by the skills of the players ?

Training drills can be structured for any of these scenarios but it is very important know which of these is relevant ?

 

[Michaels]

Will definitely be doing that cptkirk. As i said though, they seem to do it fine at training which is frustrating on game day.

PTF, it is mainly when the ball is turned over. we win a lot of centre clearances, its after that when people get sucked in. Even around the ground ball ups gets way too crowded.

So probably a combination of 1 and 2.

We have a reasonably quick side with decent skills (most of the time) so the game plan is basically take it wide from defence then try bring it back inside once we get to the attacking half of the wing.

They just need to realise that not everyone can stream forward for the ball.

 

[neng]

Accountability is a mindset thing. Anyone can go stand on their opponent for the day, but essentially that isn't going to win the game of footy, the problem is kids know this and try to do it all themselves. Arrogant kids are going to not man up at all, but the disciplined ones will if you ask them.

Drills that teach running to the next contest will aid in teaching kids to keep running down to the backline as some of them just aren't fit enough to be able to run from the forward line to the back line these days, get their fitness up and make sure they understand they need to run back as hard as they run forward otherwise they will never win games.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Will definitely be doing that cptkirk. As i said though, they seem to do it fine at training which is frustrating on game day.

PTF, it is mainly when the ball is turned over. we win a lot of centre clearances, its after that when people get sucked in. Even around the ground ball ups gets way too crowded.

So probably a combination of 1 and 2.

We have a reasonably quick side with decent skills (most of the time) so the game plan is basically take it wide from defence then try bring it back inside once we get to the attacking half of the wing.

They just need to realise that not everyone can stream forward for the ball.

Once again this is based on my interpretation of your posts ? At training structure your training on continous ball handling , if you do game sense drills, especially full length drills at training always try to place a player on the mark
when a player takes the mark . Encourage quick ball movement , and penalize if they hang onto the ball for more than 2 seconds , also encourage the increase of spread , make a rule at training then when the ball is within a players hand no player can be within 10 Metres of another. Once the ball is in transit , being kicked to a player , still encourage players to get to the fall
of the ball .
Also might be an idea to insist later transfere into the middle of the ground , kick into the centre of the ground once beyond half forward and consider moving your CHF to FF and vice versa .
What your experiencing is quite common and extremely common in sides that have a 5-6 dominant players , those run of the millers are reluctant to
kick to anyone else but those 5-6 , and as such those 5-6 feel the need to always be the option and run forward of the ball .
Quick ball movement and enforcing spread significantly reduces that problem .
Hope this is of some help and not to confusing .

 

[cptkirk]

nominate 2 onballers to stay back each quarter once the ball is in your 50?

 

[The Passenger]

under 16's is where you really start to learn about accountability and where you start to learn that the majority of your running actually has to be done when you don't have the ball.

one good drill is to do circle work in teams and each person has a man and has got to stay with that man and put some shadow pressure on. after a while you swap so those in defence then go into attack. depending on how big your squad is this may not be feasible. circle work with 20 blokes is tough enough, let alone if you divide them into 2 as attackers and defenders.

but you can condense it into a smaller kicking drill if need be and the same principles apply.

as someone said it's a mindset thing. so you just need to get used to running without the footy. so you should have a team rule in training that when your part of action in a drill is done you don't just dawdle and half jog/half walk to the back of the queue. sprint back as if you were running into defence and then take your rest at the back of the queue.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Sorry black thunder , but the use of ' Circle Work ' is the biggest waste of time , and one of , if not the worst drills a coach , far less junior coach , could ever use .
The amount of kids who fail to reach their potential , due to going to the boundary and along the line, every time they get the Footy is truly astonishing .
It's also the hardest things to get out of players and hides poor skills in juniors .

 

[Michaels]

Got training tonight with them.

looking at doing a full ground game with the ground zoned off into 3rds (netball style) just to try and get them into the habit of staying in positions.

im also going to be putting a line of cones down both wings, the ball must go into that section before it can go inside 50. wanting them to stay wide for as long as possible.

Im hoping this forces players to have to kick to other team mates, bringing them into the game.

Will be enforcing the 10m rule PTF as well as quick ball movement (which we try to do anyway).

I saw a drill that involved having two teams playing against each other on a slightly smaller scale ground. In order to be able to score a goal (maybe just have it as handballing to a injured player at the end of scaled ground) everyone from the attack team needs to be in the front half of the ground. So when a turn over occurs, its a quick break either way and will force everyone to push hard to man up.

Looks good in theory i think?

EDIT: This seems like a good drill to help promote spread from a turn over as well?

 

[neng]

I'm not sure about your philosophies but I believe that by about the U16 age you need to work hard on using the corridor, forcing wide kicks is what they have done for years, as when you are young you don't have as good vision as what they should be developing.

I like the sound of the drill except for the keeping the ball wide, I hate that, it's defensive football, I know you are having accountability problems, but if you can move the ball better and faster through the middle of the ground to get a shot on goal accountability shouldn't matter. I was taught this around that age and became a much better footy player because of it.

What I do with my team is place cones basically half way on the oval, on the edge of the centre square on each wing and telling the player (using handball for run and carry) to make sure you end up in there and not out on the wing. They definitely focus on faster and more direct play.

Not sure if any of this helps, but defensive football will not necessarily win you every game, aggressive football with a strong defence will.