Forward pressure - officially the worst

[CAS79]

Regular readers would know a bugbear of mine from time to time is this but today's HS in Melbourne has compiled a statistic of turnovers in each clubs forward half and resulted in goals.

We are equal bottom with Melbourne for turnovers in our forward half but they have scored eight more goals from their turnover than us so we rank last and it does not surprise me.

Too often this year and last year opposition teams have run the ball out of their back line with too much impunity and against Collingwood in particular but also against Hawthorn earlier this year and Richmond the lack of pressure allowed them to thrust forward with too little pressure to set up scoring plays. And a fortnight ago Melbourne seized on as a tactical weapon of mass advantage.

The teams at the top half of this table are Collingwood, Geelong, Frematle and the Bulldogs. Strange St Kilda are down the list but I believe they would just about have topped it last year. So the importance of stopping easy run outs of your own half is there to see by ladder position.

Luke Ablett was maligned on this board at times but even when he wasn't winning the ball playing as HFF would often crunch opposition plays and cause turnovers or stoppages in this area.

But sadly the likes of Moore, McGlynn (the only thing of him I'm critical of) Shaw last week and others when resting up forward are failing this duty and it's costing us.

I can see us making improvements up the ladder again soon with a few corrections, but this one must be corrected by Longmire immediately if were to move out of mediocrity in the next couple of years.

But who on our list can improve this problem, short of continually playing Bevan up there there and does he have the over pace. Perhaps the other is Mattner, return to Shaw to HBF and we know Mattner can tackle, the turnovers wont be so costly up there and he does have a good left foot to shoot at goal. I think it's time to redefine Mattner's role in the team and send him to the HFF.

 

[Hyphenator]

I think the some of the best forward 50 tacklers are guys who are quick. Our forward line this year has been quite slow at times.

The first bloke i would bring in is the speed demon Gary Rohan, he is a tackling specialist.

It will be interesting to see how TDL goes today with his pressure and tackling because he is quick and is a natural forward.

 

[BarneyBent]

With Rohan putting in a BOG performance for the ressies today, forward pressure being his speciality, and that being one area which we were only satisfactory in (rather than good or very good) today, it's easy to see him breaking into the side, though for who I'm not sure. Shaw looks out of form, and may need a shock drop to get him back, so we could see that change.

I also think it's largely psychological. I wouldn't say McGlynn has a problem, but guys like Shaw, Moore, even White, when their tails are up and they're confident, then it starts clicking. White, Moore and McGlynn were improved in this respect today. On the TV it looked like TDL was trying hard to be defensive but was getting a bit lost. Not that he should be dropped though, he did some great work offensively.

 

[bungee]

I agree we have to apply more forward pressure but is it merely a matter of speed ? Moore and McGlynn both have respectable tackle stats for forwards despite many claiming Moore is slow. Conversely White is supposed to be quick but rarely lays a tackle. I'd like to see White chase more and I suspect that's an area Roos may be unhappy with. The times when he does chase and tackle he often causes a turnover. BBB used pressure opponents into a turnover ! White has the physical menace to similarly intimidate defenders.

Mattner, for all his berating on this board, is a quick and fierce tackler. If he weren't such an integral part of our defence and providing a lot of our drive off half-back I'd support him going forward.

 

[bungee]

...Luke Ablett was maligned on this board at times but even when he wasn't winning the ball playing as HFF would often crunch opposition plays and cause turnovers or stoppages in this area....

A good example being his tackle last year that brought down 3 carlton players leaving 2 Swans forwards free of opponents and able to pop the ball through at leisure.

(Off topic, another favourite was a few years back when he walked through and over Glenn Archer like he wasn't there. Tough bastards those Abletts)

 

[liz]

I reckon it is actually good news that we're so poor at this currently because it is something that can be addressed with a tweaking of game plan and/or mindset. If we were top notch at this but still a middle of the road team, there wouldn't be such an obvious opportunity for improvement.

Agree totally that this is an area White needs to improve in. Him being big isn't really an excuse - when Hall was at his best (and as he is now with the Dogs) he was excellent at putting on forward pressure.

Rohan is an obvious candidate to improve the team in this respect in future seasons, while Johnston, too, seems to have been far better drilled to chase and tackle than White has.

 

[Big Blood]

Has the ring of truth. Our setups at opposition kick-ins have been woeful all year.

 

[floppinab]

I think you need to look up the other end of the ground to find the answer.

With Bolton, and LRT out of the side we are pulling back more defensive players that could play this role.

Bevan was slated as a defensve forward this year, he is one thats had to go down back to fill a hole.

 

[TheGoatBaron]

I am not surprised we are at the bottom regarding "forward pressure". Been saying it for sometime now, how many times during a game, do we concede the team going to at least their half-forward flank, without much pressure? And do we ourselves ever get coast to coast goals? Not only our forward pressure needs looking at, so does our kicking ins.

It's something we need to work harder on in my opinion.