AFC'S Emphasis On Effective Tackling????

[Bicks]

After watching last nights game against Freo and our recent NAB game against the Power I am dismayed at how far in general our ability to lay a successful tackle has slipped, the number of times the opposition was able to simply "brush" our blokes off completely or still get off an effective handdball when tackled was very disapointing and is a facet of our game I feel we must seriously address. As I live interstate I obviously don't attend training sessions and I wonder how much emphasis is put on it at training??? Do we need to follow some of the other clubs that have utilised the services of Rugby coaches to instill effective tackling skills into their players???? Watching several of Tony Armstrong's attempts at tackling last night were to put it mildly pathetic, and he wasn't Robinson Crusoe there either. Some of our players should have a look at Sloane, he's a tackling machine!!!

 

[ams4crows]

Sloane tackle on Sandi was Epic!

but you're right there were hardly any effective tackles last night.

 

[King Elvis]

It's even more odd considering we're widely considered to be one of the biggest/strongest teams in the comp.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Our tackling was indeed poor. I wonder if it simply was a mindset thing or if we actually have a deficiency of skills in this area? Hopefully it is the former as that can be turned around in a week no problem.

The worry is that if we're slack with our tackling then all our 'match simulation' training we have done all summer has been a complete waste of time, because the ball carriers haven't been practising under the same pressure as they will cop in a game.

 

[Mismatched]

Our tackling was indeed poor. I wonder if it simply was a mindset thing or if we actually have a deficiency of skills in this area? Hopefully it is the former as that can be turned around in a week no problem.

The worry is that if we're slack with our tackling then all our 'match simulation' training we have done all summer has been a complete waste of time, because the ball carriers haven't been practising under the same pressure as they will cop in a game.

Well quite frankly this is exactly what we appear to be seeing at the moment. For all our supposed "competitive work" at training, our ability to perform and execute basic skills, let alone our complex gameplans, is absolutely deplorable.

I'm really not sure what it is, but we really don't seem to be able to lay a quality, bone crunching tackles(Sloane/Dangerfield and maybe 1 or 2 other exceptions). We give nice big bear hugs, which give the opposition a chance to either break the tackle, or at least get their arms free and dispose to the advantage of a teammate. At this level, you have to make your tackles stick.

The other thing I noticed is we also seem to get caught into the trap of too many players getting drawn to the ball in a contest, as opposed to having a couple of players waiting on the outside, to either collect the spilled ball, or man up on opposition players waiting on the outside. Hell how many times in the centre square ball ups would we create a contest only for the ball to spill out to 3-4 un-marked Freo players who then had a paddock of space to work in. It was the same when we went to tackle, 4 blokes would go at the ball carrier, tackle him, ball would spill out and because all our players had committed to the tackle, there'd be a bunch of Freo players waiting to clear the footy.

 

[King Elvis]

Good call James; one of the keys to the zone working is knowing when to hold your position and knowing when to rush into the contest - last night, we looked like we weren't sure when to do either.

 

[dplggr47]

After watching last nights game against Freo and our recent NAB game against the Power I am dismayed at how far in general our ability to lay a successful tackle has slipped, the number of times the opposition was able to simply "brush" our blokes off completely or still get off an effective handball when tackled was very disappointing and is a facet of our game I feel we must seriously address. As I live interstate I obviously don't attend training sessions and I wonder how much emphasis is put on it at training??? Do we need to follow some of the other clubs that have utilised the services of Rugby coaches to instill effective tackling skills into their players???? Watching several of Tony Armstrong's attempts at tackling last night were to put it mildly pathetic, and he wasn't Robinson Crusoe there either. Some of our players should have a look at Sloane, he's a tackling machine!!!

to be fair, Armstrong was like our skinniest player out there...and it was his first official game for the Crows, and he wasn't that great anyway...and with the team having to play quite a few youngsters due to injury, our team did look a lot weaker physically.

we need guys like Symes back...

 

[smoovy]

What annoys me isn't necessary the tackles that slip, it is the tackle that we do may make, yet the opposition is still able to get an effective handball away.

We need to focus on being able to strip the ball or pin the arm. Holding onto a torso or around the shoulders isn't going to help one bit.

 

[dplggr47]

What annoys me isn't necessary the tackles that slip, it is the tackle that we do may make, yet the opposition is still able to get an effective handball away.

We need to focus on being able to strip the ball or pin the arm. Holding onto a torso or around the shoulders isn't going to help one bit.

i agree; i remember watching 3 Crows tackling a Docker with the ball, and the Freo player still managed a handball out.

 

[Allbetsroff]

Yeah we really, really need Symes.

 

[cmndstab]

The other thing I noticed is we also seem to get caught into the trap of too many players getting drawn to the ball in a contest, as opposed to having a couple of players waiting on the outside, to either collect the spilled ball, or man up on opposition players waiting on the outside. Hell how many times in the centre square ball ups would we create a contest only for the ball to spill out to 3-4 un-marked Freo players who then had a paddock of space to work in. It was the same when we went to tackle, 4 blokes would go at the ball carrier, tackle him, ball would spill out and because all our players had committed to the tackle, there'd be a bunch of Freo players waiting to clear the footy.

This is one that stuck out to me. I wonder if it's a gameplan thing, where we're assuming that the tackle will stick and the spilt ball will come out and we need players there to work it into space, or if it was merely a case of everyone going to the ball and not thinking about guarding their own player?

Either way, it was stark.

 

[jackster83]

Yeah we really, really need Symes.

Symes and Knights are probably our two best tacklers...

 

[WALL-e]

There'll be a 'Symes Thread' much like the 'Bock Thread'. This guy has so much heart and puts in 100% every week, yet he copped(cops) it relentlessly because he isn't flashy.

He would have been handy.

 

[Cap]

you knew we were in trouble when Dogga missed a few tackles, like Symes and Knights doesn't often get broken.

 

[WALL-e]

Yep, it's a mindset. Most of our players didn't have the mindset to tackle on Sunday.

 

[Sekaj]

According to Pro-Stats:
Tackles: Fremantle 65, Crows 52
Effective Tackles: Fremantle 51, Crows 36
% Effective Tackles: Fremantle 78.5%, Crows 69.2%

 

[arrowman]

According to Pro-Stats:
...Effective Tackles: Fremantle 51, Crows 36

Pro-Stats are clearly using a different definition of "effective" from the one I find in my dictionary

 

[Bicks]

According to Pro-Stats:
Tackles: Fremantle 65, Crows 52
Effective Tackles: Fremantle 51, Crows 36
% Effective Tackles: Fremantle 78.5%, Crows 69.2%

I hope and pray The Crows Heirachy don't utilise Pro-Stats for their statistical info then because clearly Pro-Stats = NFI!!!!!

One only has to look at the replay again to know they must have pulled them stats out of their derriere!!!!

 

[beartoo]

Come back, Shirls!

 

[krankychops]

It seemed to me that not only were Freo better at making their tackles stick than they used to be, but also they were better at getting out of opposition tackles than I remember them. It all makes sense though if you think about their seeming adoption of the St Kilda pressure plan, i.e. if you internally practice making tackles you're also implictly practising how to break them.

For example, I noticed many of their players lifting their arms the moment they sensed an imminent tackle, giving them the freedom to dish off.

 

[Bicks]

I asked Bocky today on his Live Chat blog on Adelaide Now re our poor tackling...

Q : Hi Nathan, I have been disapointed with the quality of our tackling in both the Power game and last Sunday, some of our tackles were too easily brushed off by Freo and most times they were able to get off an effective handball, ....Do we do much practice at this important skill at training?? All the best for an injury free run during the 2010 season mate.

Nathan's reply....

A :

Nathan Bock:
yeah good point, we have realised that tackles are being broken too easily. We have done a lot of practice over the pre-season and sometimes it can come down to a mindset not a technique thing. Hopefully we can change that this weekend




So it wasn't just us that saw this on last Sunday, obviously the coaching staff did too!!!

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Poor tackling has been a by-product of the introduction of a lot of kids with immature bodies

Good tackling is primarily about intent and technique .......for many youngsters out of the U18 comp tackling is a not as heavily focussed on as in the AFL

Don't care what the stats say .....at vital parts of the game we fail to break tackles and we fail to lay tackles

One stat talked about on the coverage Sunday was that Freo had got 7 out of 9 goals from Adelaide turnovers .........some of those turnovers were skill errors caused by pressure and some were turnovers caused by Freo's tackling