Clarko's 2018 Gameplan

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The 8 man setup behind the ball was a temporary stop-gap measure while Birch, Stratts, and Chip were out. I expect us to return to the traditional one on one setup with Birchall as the loose. I'm liking Burto through the midfield, I think Clarko will be under no illusions to the fact our mids looked slow and pedestrian in 2017. Jaeger will help us win the contested ball but what we really need is pace, that's where JOR comes into the equation. He was drafted at #2 for a reason, plain and simple. Gunston returning to the forward 50 will lead to more direct entries, as the mids will have the confidence to go down the line if necessary. Puopolo must and will play deep forward, once again forming a solid partnership with Breust.

Make or break for TOB and I'm backing him to make the cut, he'll kick 35-45 at CHF after a massive pre-season in the gym. Just watch how Liam Shiels and Isaac Smith perform with assistance in their respective roles.. both looked mentally fatigued towards the back end of 2017 and will benefit massively from the inclusions of JOM, JOR, and Impey. Let's face it, neither Shielsy nor Smithy were cut out to take the next step like Clarko hoped at the beginning of this year. Clarko knows this now and we've recruited wisely so that both can return to play their supporting roles of yesteryear.

Watch our kick to handball ratio regain respectability again. The first half of 2017 was necessary trial and error for the coaching group - from a gameplan perspective and a list management perspective. For the first time in Clarkson's career he was reactive, our attempts at replicating the Bulldogs handball heavy transition style of 2016 was simply ineffective for 2 reasons; every club in the comp had devised a plan to counter that style, plus we didn't have the pace to burn in order to pull off such a high octane style of game plan. It was evident by round 7 that the authentic Hawthorn uncontested style was back in vogue. I copped heaps of s**t for suggesting we'd give the competition a scare post-bye, but 99% of the time I'm right and this time was no exception (I'm a humble lad).

We could potentially tear the competition a new one in 2018 provided our gameplan harnesses our aforementioned list strengths. We must continue improving our contested ball figures, as returning to the + column in contested possessions was one of the biggest reasons behind our late season revival. Another 2017 style utensil-up will set the club back at least 5 years. Over to you Clarko.
 
In Hawthorns history, every premiership season has had us averaging well over 100 points and knowing Clarko, the way he keeps talking about the Clubs past and the Hawthorn Way, I truly believe that that's what clarko will be working on.
How do we turn stopages into scores like 2014?
How de we move the ball cleanly and at
blistering speed ( 'ball movement ' ) that renders opposition set ups useless like 2012 - 2015?
How do we get our inside /outside mids to hit the scoreboard more often like when Burgoyne (2013) Lewis (2012-13) , Smith (2013-15), Hodge (2015) did??
The gameplan will be altered to make sure we score relatively heavy to force this low scoring era of teams to play us on a way they aren't comfortable with.
 
Clarko is gonna mix it up like a NutriBullet:

B: rioli Gunston hardwick
HB: birchall Burton breust
C: JOM mitchell smith
HF: impey schoenmakers obrien
F: Puopolo frawley Sicily
Foll: mcevoy Roughead Shiels
Int: Burgoyne Howe Ceglar Glass

Nobody will have any idea what’s happening for the first 6 rounds as we blow out the cobwebs and then eek out 4 wins from with a couple of losses.

The gameplan will focus on zigzagging the ball out of defense. 50m kick on a 45, then a handball to a runner who kicks 50m on the other 45 degree.

Our defensive game will make everyone’s overuse of small forward a liability by loading up on contested marking players in the back half including mcevoy drifting back.

From that point in the season we will start to play everyone back in the normal roles even if they’re killing it because Clarko won’t allow anyone to get an AA jumper, it’s against his ethos. Except rioli - he’s going to go close to a brownlow as everyone gets excited about him playing the McGrath role so well.

We will lose a couple of games in the middle then storm home with 9-1 in the last 10 games (shock loss to Brissy in tassie in round 17 or whatever it is).

We’ll finish the season 14-8 and totally unrated by experts.

It’ll be great.
 
yougobacha said:
The 8 man setup behind the ball was a temporary stop-gap measure while Birch, Stratts, and Chip were out. I expect us to return to the traditional one on one setup with Birchall as the loose. I'm liking Burto through the midfield, I think Clarko will be under no illusions to the fact our mids looked slow and pedestrian in 2017. Jaeger will help us win the contested ball but what we really need is pace, that's where JOR comes into the equation. He was drafted at #2 for a reason, plain and simple. Gunston returning to the forward 50 will lead to more direct entries, as the mids will have the confidence to go down the line if necessary. Puopolo must and will play deep forward, once again forming a solid partnership with Breust.
Click to expand...
8-man defence was as much about protecting the midfield as it was protecting the defence & allowed us to quickly transition defence into attack.

Whilst I don't think we'll play 8-D again, I think we'll play 7-D until our midfield wins more often than not. Even then, I can see us developing this style of footy for a few years.

Forwards are naturally disadvantaged in most contests as they're facing away from their objective (the goals), with a player between them & their objective, whom is allowed to tackle them. Save for a lead/mark - which in today's game with zoning etc., is a low percentage option, it is far safer to run at speed & in numbers toward the goals than it is to kick to a guy being chased as he runs flat out, away from his objective.

I think we'll stick with an extra player around/behind the ball & look to create opportunities to use our kicking skills, to get runners into space. Lots of switching from side to side etc.

Ideally, we'll want the ball carrier to cross the centreline & hit the edge of the square at pace as this creates options: the kicker can reach the top of the square so defenders have to pay it credit & anchor back there, but then mobile forwards are released to lead at the ball carrier on numerous angles; &, the fact that the ball carrier has hit that location at speed means that defenders won't have had the chance to flood back & fill all the holes. Of course, if it doesn't quite work, we're better than any team at kicking it long to savagelunchbox's mate in the Forward Pocket, as a defensive & lock-in type move.

Roughy to play CHF, not FF. Keep him in the game & as up the ground as possible. He isn't a monster forward & isn't a strong pack-marking player, so don't play him like one.
TO'B at FF to fly for the high-ball (& rest so he can Ruck) & bring it to the feet of Cyril, Popeye or Brooster. Ideally, these guys will lead (or dummy) at the ball carrier, then follow the flight of the ball as it goes long to TO'B, so that they hit it at full pace when charging toward goal.
Gunners to be given free reign (again), to play between HF - HB & link up wherever possible. Get our best players where the ball is & into as many possession chains as possible. Kinda makes sense. Also, keeping him up the ground disrupts opposition rebounds, which forces them to kick high or to a contest & invites Sicily & Brand to intercept marking opportunities.
 
yougobacha said:
The 8 man setup behind the ball was a temporary stop-gap measure while Birch, Stratts, and Chip were out. I expect us to return to the traditional one on one setup with Birchall as the loose. I'm liking Burto through the midfield, I think Clarko will be under no illusions to the fact our mids looked slow and pedestrian in 2017. Jaeger will help us win the contested ball but what we really need is pace, that's where JOR comes into the equation. He was drafted at #2 for a reason, plain and simple. Gunston returning to the forward 50 will lead to more direct entries, as the mids will have the confidence to go down the line if necessary. Puopolo must and will play deep forward, once again forming a solid partnership with Breust.

Make or break for TOB and I'm backing him to make the cut, he'll kick 35-45 at CHF after a massive pre-season in the gym. Just watch how Liam Shiels and Isaac Smith perform with assistance in their respective roles.. both looked mentally fatigued towards the back end of 2017 and will benefit massively from the inclusions of JOM, JOR, and Impey. Let's face it, neither Shielsy nor Smithy were cut out to take the next step like Clarko hoped at the beginning of this year. Clarko knows this now and we've recruited wisely so that both can return to play their supporting roles of yesteryear.

Watch our kick to handball ratio regain respectability again. The first half of 2017 was necessary trial and error for the coaching group - from a gameplan perspective and a list management perspective. For the first time in Clarkson's career he was reactive, our attempts at replicating the Bulldogs handball heavy transition style of 2016 was simply ineffective for 2 reasons; every club in the comp had devised a plan to counter that style, plus we didn't have the pace to burn in order to pull off such a high octane style of game plan. It was evident by round 7 that the authentic Hawthorn uncontested style was back in vogue. I copped heaps of s**t for suggesting we'd give the competition a scare post-bye, but 99% of the time I'm right and this time was no exception (I'm a humble lad).

We could potentially tear the competition a new one in 2018 provided our gameplan harnesses our aforementioned list strengths. We must continue improving our contested ball figures, as returning to the + column in contested possessions was one of the biggest reasons behind our late season revival. Another 2017 style utensil-up will set the club back at least 5 years. Over to you Clarko.
Click to expand...
Nice post.
 
OzJohnnie where are you?

During the last few rounds of last year it was discussed by a few posters we were employing a diagonal zone that was something that seemed to be working, we also went with the wings back at the centre bounce. There were a few other interesting tweaks, but I’m no good at noticing that stuff. I would expect a few of those structures to continue.
 
There's no way that Clarko copies any of what Hardwick has done. Hawks pioneered the short, mobile and high pressure forward line - only difference between us and Richmond is that we were so good everywhere else they didn't talk about it every 5 seconds.
 

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crazywildhorse said:
OzJohnnie where are you?

During the last few rounds of last year it was discussed by a few posters we were employing a diagonal zone that was something that seemed to be working, we also went with the wings back at the centre bounce. There were a few other interesting tweaks, but I’m no good at noticing that stuff. I would expect a few of those structures to continue.
Click to expand...
Yeah thread needs more OZJ and Brishawk
 
Brant said:
8-man defence was as much about protecting the midfield as it was protecting the defence & allowed us to quickly transition defence into attack.

Whilst I don't think we'll play 8-D again, I think we'll play 7-D until our midfield wins more often than not. Even then, I can see us developing this style of footy for a few years.

Forwards are naturally disadvantaged in most contests as they're facing away from their objective (the goals), with a player between them & their objective, whom is allowed to tackle them. Save for a lead/mark - which in today's game with zoning etc., is a low percentage option, it is far safer to run at speed & in numbers toward the goals than it is to kick to a guy being chased as he runs flat out, away from his objective.

I think we'll stick with an extra player around/behind the ball & look to create opportunities to use our kicking skills, to get runners into space. Lots of switching from side to side etc.

Ideally, we'll want the ball carrier to cross the centreline & hit the edge of the square at pace as this creates options: the kicker can reach the top of the square so defenders have to pay it credit & anchor back there, but then mobile forwards are released to lead at the ball carrier on numerous angles; &, the fact that the ball carrier has hit that location at speed means that defenders won't have had the chance to flood back & fill all the holes. Of course, if it doesn't quite work, we're better than any team at kicking it long to savagelunchbox's mate in the Forward Pocket, as a defensive & lock-in type move.

Roughy to play CHF, not FF. Keep him in the game & as up the ground as possible. He isn't a monster forward & isn't a strong pack-marking player, so don't play him like one.
TO'B at FF to fly for the high-ball (& rest so he can Ruck) & bring it to the feet of Cyril, Popeye or Brooster. Ideally, these guys will lead (or dummy) at the ball carrier, then follow the flight of the ball as it goes long to TO'B, so that they hit it at full pace when charging toward goal.
Gunners to be given free reign (again), to play between HF - HB & link up wherever possible. Get our best players where the ball is & into as many possession chains as possible. Kinda makes sense. Also, keeping him up the ground disrupts opposition rebounds, which forces them to kick high or to a contest & invites Sicily & Brand to intercept marking opportunities.
Click to expand...

Only problem is, once we have gradual build up from defence, playing a possession/keeping's off style, as opposed to a quick counter attack, teams just let us have a kick to kick and flood back eventually forcing us to kick to a contest.

Then our lack of contested marking options became evident.

With Frawley, Stratton, Birch and Mirra as defensive options I think Gunston and Burton will be released into more offensive positions.
 
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rogiebear93 said:
There's no way that Clarko copies any of what Hardwick has done. Hawks pioneered the short, mobile and high pressure forward line - only difference between us and Richmond is that we were so good everywhere else they didn't talk about it every 5 seconds.
Click to expand...
Was Richmond that good this season or do you think the other clubs were weaker than previous years?
 
Lebbo73 said:
Was Richmond that good this season or do you think the other clubs were weaker than previous years?
Click to expand...

Richmond clicked at the right time of the season. With Hawthorn and Sydney taking the first 7 rounds off, their job was probably made a little easier. Sydney had burnt their petrol tickets making finals after their horror start, and we had both a shocking start and a terrible year for injuries. Sydney and Hawthorn in peak condition would have given the finals a very different look. Having said that, Richmond were one of the few sides to get comfortable wins against post-bye, so they were playing a fairly successful brand of footy, but it is hard to imagine them having the same dream run with injuries again in 2018.

I suspect Richmond will be similar to Hawks 2008 and Dogs 2016 who both partly won on the back of game plans that others hadn't worked out a way of countering yet. While 2009 was about more than a figured out game plan, it was certainly a factor in us not making finals. Personally I think with a normal injury list, and the work other teams will have put into countering Richmond, they'll struggle to make top 4 in 2018. I'd like to add flag winners fixture to the list of factors dragging them down next year, but compared to what we had to put up with when we won flags , they have a pretty good run with their draw.
 
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hk89 said:
Richmond clicked at the right time of the season. With Hawthorn and Sydney taking the first 7 rounds off, their job was probably made a little easier. Sydney had burnt their petrol tickets making finals after their horror start, and we had both a shocking start and a terrible year for injuries. Sydney and Hawthorn in peak condition would have given the finals a very different look. Having said that, Richmond were one of the few sides to get comfortable wins against post-bye, so they were playing a fairly successful brand of footy, but it is hard to imagine them having the same dream run with injuries again in 2018.

I suspect Richmond will be similar to Hawks 2008 and Dogs 2006 who both partly won on the back of game plans that others hadn't worked out a way of countering yet. While 2009 was about more than a figured out game plan, it was certainly a factor in us not making finals. Personally I think with a normal injury list, and the work other teams will have put into countering Richmond, they'll struggle to make top 4 in 2018. I'd like to add flag winners fixture to the list of factors dragging them down next year, but compared to what we had to put up with when we won flags , they have a pretty good run with their draw.
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Their injury situation was unbelievable. Only 1 (no name) player was unavailable in the end.
 
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89Adopter said:
OzJohnnie cancelled his account - so unlikely that you will see contributions unfortunately (unless he has rejoined under another moniker).
Click to expand...
What happened?
 
If we knew the answer to the following queries, it would help to determine the 2018 game plan:

1. How many rucks are we playing and what combination? 2 permanent rucks (BB and Cegs) or 1 and a part timer (Schoey/TOB)

The answer to the above goes some way to answering:

2. What will our forward line look like? Are we going to copy Richmond and go a mosquito fleet of smalls? Rioli may come in late, Poppy is 30 and Breust hasn't been at his best for a while. Do we have enough capable talls to play? Can those talls take contested marks to make it worth while? Big years ahead for TOB/Schoe. Can Roughy recapture his form or is he now moving to a wing/mobile forward role. Where is Gunston playing?

The answer to the above goes some way to answering:

3. How many defenders are we go to set up with? The +2 was effective last year due to young players and protecting them, but will it work longer term? Does the fewer numbers up forward limit our scoring power (we only averaged 90 last year, lowest for a long period).

The answer to the above goes some way to answering:

4. Who goes into the midfield to help Titch? Is JOM past his injury concerns? Can the young players step up (JOR, Lovell, Cousins)? Is that midfield going to win enough contested ball? Does Clarko thing contested ball is vital?
 
crazywildhorse said:
Their injury situation was unbelievable. Only 1 player (no name) player was unavailable in the end.
Click to expand...

And it wasn't just that they got all their players on the park at the right end of the season, they enjoyed a tiny injury list for the entire season. Very unusual run of luck. Still, you have to hand it to them, they crushed all-comers during the finals with a list very few rated at the start of the year.
 
Posters here talking about the 8 man backline yet how often was no one down back leading to easy over the back eddie goals.
At least fix this first and we'll be heading in the right direction.
 
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