Carlton's Contested Footy

[BM123]

Thanks for that. Sorry I just asked you for another stat.

On the Cats thing, once again this is reflective of their game style. The last I looked they were number 1 in the comp for play on footy, hence being near the top of the uncontested stat table.

Have mentioned this before but they set up from defense with an extra man and run the ball out with extra numbers or as you say rebound by taking possession from the opposition clearance, once again by using that spare man.

I'd go man on man with the Geelong and don't allow them any extra numbers anywhere.

Heavy 2011 Collingwood like press would work as well since it won't allow to them have that handball happy game too.

 

[SBYM]

The real test will come against teams like Hawthorn who have bullied us in this aspect in the past.

Throw Norf in there, and the return game against the Aints. In general, all three have really embarrassed us of late, and I have no doubt they looked forward to coming up against the Baggers as they reckon we're soft-*****. Round 7 did little to dispel that perception.

 

[BM123]

Throw Norf in there, and the return game against the Aints. In general, all three have really embarrassed us of late, and I have no doubt they looked forward to coming up against the Baggers as they reckon we're soft-*****. Round 7 did little to dispel that perception.

Return game against Richmond too since we have no reason to lose that one.

 

[Artie Bucco]

Turnovers - most important stat.

Absolutely

 

[SBYM]

Return game against Richmond too since we have no reason to lose that one.

But I would argue that Richmond did not beat us up like Whorethorn, Norf and those deadshits with one flag have repeatedly done in the recent past...

We play to our potential and we beat the Tigers by 8 goals (2 a qtr better side, easily). Even if we lose to Hawthorn etc, we need to go down swinging, rather than in a stink of meek....(I admit we only lost by 9pts to St Kilda, but some periods of that game were deplorable).

 

[gbatman]

It's an area we needed to get right and we have.

What's changed?
A dominating ruckman who not only wins taps but directs the ball to his smalls advantage.
Bigger stronger bodies playing on the ball. Cachia, Bell, Mclean, Curnow and Robinson specialise in the hard stuff. Judd is fit and playing pretty well. Murphy is having a decent season.
Tactics are different at stoppages. More shepherding. Less standing still, more momentum.

The other thing is we would really want to be good at contested footy! We don't play possession footy. We go wide, kick long and take risks. Not something you can do and succeed at if you can't win contested ball. This is likely why our turnovers are high, don't be mislead.

There are two main game plans in the AFL. There is the possession footy that Essendon, Richmond, North etc play that involves going up the middle. It involves high possession, lots of handball, short kicks and a reliance on not turning the ball over. It's great for carving up rolling zones as you can work your way through methodically with handball and short kicks and it puts you in a central position to enter the forward 50.

Then there is the style we play, we go up the wings, switch the play to find space, move it quickly, kick long and only center the ball to players on their own or deep in the forward 50.

One is high risk high reward, bring it up the middle and turn it over and any half decent team in the AFL will score against you where as when we turn it over it has to be in a position where we can easily defend and where the opposition struggle to score from.

Our style is not the best style to hit up short leads or find lose players but it should help us to defend.

The idea with our game plan is, come finals, when you play top side after top side and players give 100%, you will be lucky to succeed with possession footy and the moving the ball up the middle. The high possession game some teams play might come unstuck under high pressure and result in turnovers in bad areas of the ground. The idea is when everything is pressure pressure pressure and highly contested, that we will be used to it and still able to play our natural game plan.

really looking forward to playing Essendon. They play the up the middle possession footy very well but they rely on not turning it over and their big forwards marking it. I recon we can apply enough defensive running to undo their possession game and turn it over in the middle a lot and score big on the rebound as well as beating their tall marking forward line, not to mention match them in the contested footy.

 

[JustaBattler]

A good little player is always going to lose out to a good bigger player over 4 quarters.

Malthouse is introducing some players with a touch more competitive instinct (mongrel) and size as on ballers - whilst rotating the more experienced older players in order to preserve their energy to last 4 quarters. Getting the Bells/Cachias/Curnows of the side up to the required level of skill and experience doesn't happen overnight - it takes game time and the right sort of coaching. These rotations are a necessary part of the development of the side and for mine account for the so called 'lapses' we are having during the course of every game.

Managing the reality of developing a competitive on ball list whilst also preserving some of the older player's bodies is a major aspect of what is going on at Carlton. Malthouse has managed to keep Carlton fairly competitive with significant outs like Gibbs/Carrazzo/Waite/Yarran/Betts whilst introducing a lot of new blood into game time - like Cachia, Bell, Bootsma, White and Lucas.

At the same time he has encouraged players to adapt to different roles and field positions - Simpson ( as I had hoped ) has gone down back, Walker is now entrenched down back, Judd and Murphy are playing forward as much as on ball. Murphy has showed he can play as a small forward - the jury is out on Judd up front - he looks like he again has acquired a restricted kicking action.

The obvious less than winning moves to date have been trying Hampson out as a full time forward - Kreuzer gets a few more games up front to see if he is a better solution - but by years end I would put my money on Hamspon/Kreuzer being the starting rucks in the game - Warnock has a very delicate body and a very limited repertoire as far as anything else apart from being taller than most other ruckmen.

But I remind myself that all three are good ruckmen - which merely underlines the point that matters and that is that Carlton remains one or two genuine marking goal kicking talls short of a list ready to genuinely challenge.

 

[Sin City]

Big improvements over the last couple of weeks since Cachia, Robinson and Bell have all been in the team together.

Go the Bash Brothers.

 

[HBF]

Turnovers - most important stat.

Scores from turnovers might just eclipse that JaB.

 

[JustaBattler]

Scores from turnovers might just eclipse that JaB.

it is the scores that result - that has made them the most important stat - I agree ( best example I guess is Geelong for a low clearance side which smashes everyone on turnovers ) they are bottom four or five in clearances I think...

 

[sacamano]

Need to cut back of turnovers. Absolute priority!

 

[le dominateur]

Maybe we are better on the inside this year, but I'm not convinced we have found the right way to integrate this with our outside game so far this year.

Doesn't help when blokes like Simpson have had a poor start to the year, though he was better against the Lions.

 

[Juddalenko]

Am I reading into this wrong? If we are high in contested possessions, but low in uncontested possessions....then our players aren't finding enough space and we are kicking to more contests than the top teams do?

 

[jimsta10]

Very good to see that players are putting body on the line....Now its time to begin winning the contested ball.

 

[Blue since 72]

Am I reading into this wrong? If we are high in contested possessions, but low in uncontested possessions....then our players aren't finding enough space and we are kicking to more contests than the top teams do?

I believe you'll find it's as a consequence of the game style we're playing, I don't think it's a case of not fit enough or not willing or able to spread quickly enough to get into space.

 

[Azul]

our players aren't finding enough space and we are kicking to more contests than the top teams do?

Something like that.

Geelong, St Kilda and Collingwood all had higher uncontested possession counts. Playing loose footy when we don't have the ball gives the opposition an edge.