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Does any one else think that it's not the players but how we set up and position and who we go to when entering our forward line that is causing us problems?
Just a few points I've noticed with how we position and how we set up in the forwardline.
1. Delivery.
When we kick long into the forwardline we kick long to the boundary. I am guessing this is a defensive ploy that makes the forward press more effective because we can make the zone heavier because the ball is on the boundary. The only problem is it's causing us to have a lot of shots from really ordinary angles and it's causing there to be stuff all space for our players to move when the ball hits the ground. Should we be going long to the top of the square and not the boundary? I'm going with yes.
2. Our Targets.
We are kicking to ball at our smaller players in the wrong situations. We often bomb it long to Eddie Betts. Sure he marks a few of them but we really get hurt when he doesn't for a number of reasons. When we kick it long to our smaller players it means two things. 1 they are unlikely to mark it and 2 if they are going for the mark, who is crumbing at ground level? When our best crumber Betts is wrestling at the top of the square for a mark, who is running past to receive the spill? Kreuzer/Hampson are at times. This is not going to work very often. We are so much more dangerous when we go long to a tall target like Hampson/Waite and have the smalls like Betts running past because 1 he's likely to mark it and 2 the good crumbers are at ground level crumbing and 3 when a tall is spoilt it's more predictable to the ground level players where the spoil is going to go.
One thing that really bothers me is that we have gone too far with this whole pre-fev unpredictability thing where we tried to have no focal point. The best sides have a few players they always look for and target with long kicks. Looking back at past premiers, the cats always look for Pods/hawkins/mooney, collingwood for cloke/dawes, hawthorn for franklin/roughead. We need to start looking for the big guys when we are going forward and especially when we are kicking it long. I have no problem looking for the smaller guys with short passes or if they get lose but we aren't selecting who we are kicking it to when we are going to a contest up forward.
3. Positioning
It's really bloody ordinary. Our talls aren't positioning properly at all. There should always be a tall target to go to in a central position and there should always be a tall target to go long to at the top of the square and most of the time there isn't. Most of the time when we kick to the hotspots there is only a small like Betts or only opposition players and it's marked or taken away easily by the opposition. Our talls need to stay away from the boundary and leave that area for guys like Walker who might be able to do a hard lead and mark. I just don't recon guys like Waite, Hampson and Kreuzer are positioning themselves deep enough and positioning and leading to the right areas to make a contest in the hotspot in front of goal. I'd rather have Hampson standing in the square and Betts in a position to be at his feet, not the other way around like it has been. The areas we lead to (across the face of goal to the boundary) and where we position aren't right either.
Another problem is when we break clear from defence, especially on a quick break we find ourselves with no targets in the forward line to kick to. This is causing us problems. We are having to slow the play down, hang onto the ball and it's causing turnovers before we have a chance to send it forward. It's a big part of the reason why we are turning the ball over a lot around the center because we are forced to hold onto it too long and it's putting us under pressure. This happens too often and needs to be fixed. It's killing our momentum.
4. The Solution
A) Our tall forwards are Waite, Hampson, Kreuzer and at times it might be Rowe, Mitchell and Casboult. One of these guys must be positioned in the goal square and positioned to go for a mark at the hotspot (15-20m directly in front of goal). We are kicking it long into our forward line a lot, we may as well kick it long to a more dangerous spot and direct kicks to a tall player in a good spot rather than kicking it to no one in particular in the pocket.
B) There should always be a tall forward who does more leading than the guy waiting at the goal square (full forward). This is the modern CHF role. Both talls start deep but the CHF leads out at the ball carrier and the FF stays deep and looks to contest closer to goal and also looks to work into any space created by the leading CHF. The CHF should make sure that he is giving us a moving target and leading into space when it's available but unlike what we are doing, he needs to keep away from the boundary and pockets and be in a more dangerous central position.
C) Predictability. All the good sides are predictable in terms of who they are going to be looking for when going forward. They usually have two or three players they look to all the time. Predictability is a good thing, not a bad thing like we have been lead to believe. The players need to be more predictable to each other. If we are targeting 1 or 2 tall players then the smalls like Betts, Garlett etc can look to position around these guys and "hunt" our key targets. If our smalls know where we are going they can be in the right spot more often than not and it makes their job easier and improves their effectiveness. If the forwards aren't sure on where the ball is going to go and who it is going to go to then how can the crumbers get to the right places at the right time? They can't they are just guessing most of the time.
D) Barker. He's the forward line coach. St Kilda and Hawthorn used to have their tall forwards leading towards the boundary line when he was there and it was ugly and returned poor results. Both sides played in grand finals the year after getting rid of Barker. I had a bad feeling when we got him, I never liked how he set up forward lines at the saints and hawks and our forward line is the same dysfunctional mess with leading/kicking to the boundary and no one sticking to their roles. It's concerning.
Perhaps there is a lack of leadership in our forwardline and that might have a bit to do with why guys are getting into poor positions and why guys are getting themselves into playing the wrong roles like betts being a long target at the top of the square and the talls not being in good positions to kick long to.
Just a few points I've noticed with how we position and how we set up in the forwardline.
1. Delivery.
When we kick long into the forwardline we kick long to the boundary. I am guessing this is a defensive ploy that makes the forward press more effective because we can make the zone heavier because the ball is on the boundary. The only problem is it's causing us to have a lot of shots from really ordinary angles and it's causing there to be stuff all space for our players to move when the ball hits the ground. Should we be going long to the top of the square and not the boundary? I'm going with yes.
2. Our Targets.
We are kicking to ball at our smaller players in the wrong situations. We often bomb it long to Eddie Betts. Sure he marks a few of them but we really get hurt when he doesn't for a number of reasons. When we kick it long to our smaller players it means two things. 1 they are unlikely to mark it and 2 if they are going for the mark, who is crumbing at ground level? When our best crumber Betts is wrestling at the top of the square for a mark, who is running past to receive the spill? Kreuzer/Hampson are at times. This is not going to work very often. We are so much more dangerous when we go long to a tall target like Hampson/Waite and have the smalls like Betts running past because 1 he's likely to mark it and 2 the good crumbers are at ground level crumbing and 3 when a tall is spoilt it's more predictable to the ground level players where the spoil is going to go.
One thing that really bothers me is that we have gone too far with this whole pre-fev unpredictability thing where we tried to have no focal point. The best sides have a few players they always look for and target with long kicks. Looking back at past premiers, the cats always look for Pods/hawkins/mooney, collingwood for cloke/dawes, hawthorn for franklin/roughead. We need to start looking for the big guys when we are going forward and especially when we are kicking it long. I have no problem looking for the smaller guys with short passes or if they get lose but we aren't selecting who we are kicking it to when we are going to a contest up forward.
3. Positioning
It's really bloody ordinary. Our talls aren't positioning properly at all. There should always be a tall target to go to in a central position and there should always be a tall target to go long to at the top of the square and most of the time there isn't. Most of the time when we kick to the hotspots there is only a small like Betts or only opposition players and it's marked or taken away easily by the opposition. Our talls need to stay away from the boundary and leave that area for guys like Walker who might be able to do a hard lead and mark. I just don't recon guys like Waite, Hampson and Kreuzer are positioning themselves deep enough and positioning and leading to the right areas to make a contest in the hotspot in front of goal. I'd rather have Hampson standing in the square and Betts in a position to be at his feet, not the other way around like it has been. The areas we lead to (across the face of goal to the boundary) and where we position aren't right either.
Another problem is when we break clear from defence, especially on a quick break we find ourselves with no targets in the forward line to kick to. This is causing us problems. We are having to slow the play down, hang onto the ball and it's causing turnovers before we have a chance to send it forward. It's a big part of the reason why we are turning the ball over a lot around the center because we are forced to hold onto it too long and it's putting us under pressure. This happens too often and needs to be fixed. It's killing our momentum.
4. The Solution
A) Our tall forwards are Waite, Hampson, Kreuzer and at times it might be Rowe, Mitchell and Casboult. One of these guys must be positioned in the goal square and positioned to go for a mark at the hotspot (15-20m directly in front of goal). We are kicking it long into our forward line a lot, we may as well kick it long to a more dangerous spot and direct kicks to a tall player in a good spot rather than kicking it to no one in particular in the pocket.
B) There should always be a tall forward who does more leading than the guy waiting at the goal square (full forward). This is the modern CHF role. Both talls start deep but the CHF leads out at the ball carrier and the FF stays deep and looks to contest closer to goal and also looks to work into any space created by the leading CHF. The CHF should make sure that he is giving us a moving target and leading into space when it's available but unlike what we are doing, he needs to keep away from the boundary and pockets and be in a more dangerous central position.
C) Predictability. All the good sides are predictable in terms of who they are going to be looking for when going forward. They usually have two or three players they look to all the time. Predictability is a good thing, not a bad thing like we have been lead to believe. The players need to be more predictable to each other. If we are targeting 1 or 2 tall players then the smalls like Betts, Garlett etc can look to position around these guys and "hunt" our key targets. If our smalls know where we are going they can be in the right spot more often than not and it makes their job easier and improves their effectiveness. If the forwards aren't sure on where the ball is going to go and who it is going to go to then how can the crumbers get to the right places at the right time? They can't they are just guessing most of the time.
D) Barker. He's the forward line coach. St Kilda and Hawthorn used to have their tall forwards leading towards the boundary line when he was there and it was ugly and returned poor results. Both sides played in grand finals the year after getting rid of Barker. I had a bad feeling when we got him, I never liked how he set up forward lines at the saints and hawks and our forward line is the same dysfunctional mess with leading/kicking to the boundary and no one sticking to their roles. It's concerning.
Perhaps there is a lack of leadership in our forwardline and that might have a bit to do with why guys are getting into poor positions and why guys are getting themselves into playing the wrong roles like betts being a long target at the top of the square and the talls not being in good positions to kick long to.
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