Creating options down the middle

[juddsentant517]

This is a general query as my knowledge on defensive/midfield structures is pretty poor (as I never properly played the game)

Players seem to be reluctant to create an option down the middle when the ball is coming out of the defensive fifty. I understand that going long down the wing is the conservative approach, and switching it backwards is a way to create an overlap. But when we are down by 4-5 goals, the most effective way to score would be for Kreuzer/Warnock and other midfielders at their feat to switch to the middle, and kick it long. It's obviously a risky play, but i'd imagine it would be the most effective way to score a goal.

I'm not suggesting to bomb it down the middle when the other team is protecting the corridor, but to switch the set up.

I don't think the OP is very clear, but hopefully someone can try to answer my poorly articulated question and explain it to me. It is probably the opposition zone/ the corridor being clogged up which would result in a lack of space, that would prevent this

 

[thylacine60]

All I know is both sides banged a couple down the middle from kick-outs today and they worked beautifully. Love it.

 

[gbatman]

All I know is both sides banged a couple down the middle from kick-outs today and they worked beautifully. Love it.

Yeah this was good to see. Jamo has a fair roost on him. Can't wait for Watson to get going and start to land them near the center circle! WOOF

 

[blues4flag]

Kicking it long down the corridor is the sort of game Essendon played last year. Looks great when it works but crumbles under pressure and can be extremely costly if you stuff it up.

On a fast break from a turnover with players out of position, you can get away with going through the corridor but from a kick in or congested situation, it's unlikely to work. Even if you have the ball 100 metres from goal in the corridor, in most situations you're not going to find an easy target at CHF.

What we've done very well thus far this season is move the ball on quickly by hand and kicking longer once we get to about centre wing. Unfortunately we struggled to find that short option on centre wing and struggled to win the stoppages against the Weagles. Were forced/decided to bomb long down the line to no effect.

 

[gbatman]

I recon where we went wrong a lot was going long to half forward. Turnovers really hurt there but when you go long and deep, say 15-20m from the goal face you're dangerous to score and you can get a lot of numbers behind the ball with a forward press so turnovers are easily defended. I feel we are going long to the wrong areas at times but there is always the fine line between posession footy and taking the game on. Our forwardline pressure and crumbing deep in our forwardline is second to none.