Analysis Game Plan and Team Mentality

[leemo]

A lot of this will have already been said but I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can post general thoughts on our "game plan" and issues with the team's attitude rather than clogging up other threads.
Please note that I am not basing all of this on the West Coast game or even just off this season, but from the last 3 or 4 seasons.
There are a number of issues with our game plan that need to be addressed ASAP if we have any hope of turning our season around.

TACKLING
Have we done ANYTHING over the past few seasons to improve our tackling efficiency? I don't think there is another team in the comp that lets their tackles get broken as easily as ours. Is it a size issue? Is it a strength issue? Is it an attitude issue? Either way, we need to start making them stick and aiming to take the opposition to the ground EVERY time. Should be a non-negotiable. As a sub-heading to this, why do we STILL empty the Terry Wallace basketball techique of waving our hands in the air trying to corral the opposition, instead of coming right at them and taking them down?

SLOW BALL MOVEMENT
If you move the ball quickly, you have a better chance to score. One of the only times we won the ball out of the centre last night and kicked it directly into the f50, Riewoldt was double teamed yet he had enough space to knock the ball forward where Rioli ran onto it and scored. This is not just an issue out of the middle but mainly off half back. We are too focused on trying to find a teammate in space, instead of trying to break the lines and play direct. Nearly everytime we get hands on the ball in a contest, our first option is to look behind and get an easy handpass out back. This can be a good strategy if the second or third possession is a long kick that hits a target, but instead we handball backwards and laterally 4-5 times. Every handball to a teammate under pressure should be punished in my opinion- if you've got time to handball the ball and it's going to a teammate with a defender breathing down his neck, I would much rather see a rushed kick going FORWARD to a contest, than a backwards handball to a teammate about to be tackled.

KICK IN STRATEGY
What is it? When was the last time we went coast to coast from a kick in. Our kick in strategy seems to be- short kick to player in space 30 metres out. Mark. Next? Bomb it to a contest on the wing. What is the point?! I understand that it is difficult to waltz the ball out of your back line, but we don't seem to have any strategy in place. I would like to see something like our tall forwards gathering to one side to draw the opposition over, and then leading hard and fast into space either towards the kicker or to the opposite wing to free up space. Whenever we are kicking the ball up from D50, we look completely static- like our players are just waiting for the bomb to the wing as an inevitability rather than presenting as an outlet option. On the reverse side, we seem completely unable to contain the ball in our f50 from opposition kick outs.

KICKING TO THE WING AND PLAYING ALONG THE BOUNDARY
This seems to be our basic "game plan" if you can call it that. But why is this the case?
1- we are not a good contested ball winning side
2- we do not have elite ruckmen
3- we constantly turn the ball over out of packs.
So why is the basis of our attack to try to force the opposition into boundary throw ins and ball ups?

SHEPHERDING
Or lack thereof. It is something that our players NEVER do. I believe that the bloke with his head over the ball should be able to go for it without having to immediately worry about disposing it without even getting a chance to look up. Especially with the way the holding the ball rule is officiated in today's game, you can not gather the ball and try to break a tackle and hit a target if you are under pressure as it will be a free kick. All of our players seem to be running ahead of the ball looking for the cheap handball out into space, instead of running towards the ball and blocking the chaser. If the guy already has the ball or is about to pick it up they are a better chance of getting in space if the shepherd is available and it's one less thing they have to worry about (ie quick under pressure handball). Give them a chance to gather the ball and look forward instead of a pointless sideways handball. I believe it has been coached out of our side and another thing that if corrected would help our game style enormously.

FORWARD SET UP
It's been spoken about by nearly every poster on here, but there has been no improvement. Jack and Ty continually lead to the same spot and get in each other's way. I also believe we have not found the ideal structure in terms of balance of talls/smalls. We have too many mids playing as resting forwards rather than genuine forward goal threats. This is why I am happy to keep someone like Lloyd in the team even if he has a game where he goes goalless or has few disposals- he has goal sense. I also believe we are lacking another decent mid sized leading tall, not so much for their goal kicking but to provide an outlet leading towards contest. Riewoldt constantly does it and is great, but then he marks the ball 70-80m out and we have nobody else to kick it to. This is a role I believe someone like Lennon or Griffiths would be suited to- playing in the f50 but not necessarily to kick bags of goals, just as a leading option playing more half forward rather than deep. Instead, we have played these players either in the goal square or in the back line. I'm not saying these two guys are the answer but I just think we need someone to play this TYPE of role.

LEADERSHIP
I realise we have had a lot of important players out for the first few rounds, but I believe our players don't do enough to try to control the momentum of games in crucial stages. What I mean by that is- wrapping up and forcing contests/flooding the backline to stem the flow when the opposition has the ascendancy or has kicked a few on the trot, and on the flip side, putting the foot on the throat when we have the ascendancy. This I something that I believe shouldn't necessarily have to come from the coaches box but should be reactionary to our senior players. There is no way a team like Hawthorn or Sydney would have lost that collingwood game as they would have found a way to at least slow collingwoods momentum when they had it in the last few minutes. We showed a complete lack of composure and kept trying to play on and kick the sealing goal instead of chipping the ball up forward and forcing contests in our f50. This is just an example, but I mean more during the middle stages of games rather that at the end. Momentum and tempo is huge in today's game and this is why us as a supporter group never relax even when we are 6 goals up- we know the opposition are always on for a comeback.


I have tried not to talk about individual players or skill levels/skill errors in this post and more about The general playing style of the team in this post, purely for the reason that I really do believe that with our best team on the park we have the cattle to go deep into the finals- not necessarily win it, but to mix it with the best sides for sure. But the above needs to be rectified and as much as I have backed Dimma I believe most of it is a coaching issue.
Do you agree/disagree with any of the above? What else is the issue with our game style?

 

[Bojangles17]

I honestly don't recognize our game plan right now as we are completely on the back foot. It used to be a patient build up , controlling the use of the ball. I thought I noticed some increased tackling intensity r1 , that has since abated. Whether oppo have worked us out or we have pulled some different levers , it's broke. In last two weeks we ve played like a cellar dweller
I'd intro a few more kids and play a man on man type style , what's old is new again, why not

 

[Komrade_Tiger]

oh boy this is going to go well!

 

[TheDyerLegacy]

 

[TheProwler]

Well said in the OP, I have asked some of these points in recent seasons but the topic soon shifts to other subjects.

My 2c worth:

Tackling - surprises me this has never been one of DH KPI's given how he played the game. Tackling can be seen as a responsive action from being beaten to the ball but I like to think that it's a measure of your teams intensity and determination to win the ball back from the opposition. It's just as crucial in today's game as ever and I would think the coach should have benchmarks for each player/role.

Ball movement - fast can introduce errors, turn overs and opposition scores. Slow movement becomes static, allows the opposition to get numbers back in front of forwards and execute zone defence. Both methods of ball movement require different levels of skills and fitness/endurance. Risk & reward vs precise static = higher scoring, physical taxing, lower disposal skill vs lower scoring, reduced impact on endurance, greater degree of disposal efficiency. The current theme seems to be the risk & reward footy ala dogs, crows, Eagles, cats, GWS.

Kick in strategy, haven't seen us have one for several years, we often kick in to the opposition ruck. The Houli kick in vs Freo could just as easily won the game as lose it, don't think Houli has done that at any time in any game since. Is that good or bad?

Shepherding - doesn't matter how good a player you are but you can lay a shepherd. Frees up your team mate with a few seconds of space and time to execute the kick. Why don't we do this more?

Forward setup - I am old school and would love to see fwds kick 100+ a year again but coaches don't like that nowadays. Not sure that works if your forwards natural ability is to present Mark & kick goals. JR for instance was more dangerous when he was the focal point and kicking five plus each week. Yes it's easy for the defence to double or triple team but that's where our players need to be smarter and lower the eyes. Still the current vogue is to share the scoring so it comes down to how many is too many tall forwards and what level of med/small fwds are avail. The 2 tall, 2 med, 2 small Resting ruck and resting mid rotating through is a good base but it depends on the opposition setup

Leadership - Ability aside the strongest most vocal and natural leader should be your captain. Your highest draft pick, best talent doesn't make him a leader. As good as Cotch is I would have JR my captain at present. When the chips are down and momentum is the other way you need someone to do something special and swing the game. Leadership doesn't stop with your captain though, your generals (experienced players) need to organise the troops when things aren't working. You often see Rance & Chaplin do this from defence with Jack doing same from fwd zone.

Mental focus - we have so many mentally fragile footballers seeming to be second guessing what they need to do which ultimately ends up in turnovers. This plants negative thoughts for the next contest resulting in more yips by hand or foot. Our players seem to play best when they go into a game with low expectations of victory but trip over the games everyone expects them to win. We are a tipsters knightmare. Has to be mental approach, relaxed, complacent attitude even. Something the current and any future coaches need to work on.

 

[RichoRocks2006]

Lack of tackle pressure is manageable when you smash it in the contested possession, which of reccent years we have. Problem is, and this is my main knock on dimma as a coach, is there is no plan b. We get done in the coal face ww are screwed. No matter how good our defenders are one on one we can't win a game because we have no other attacking weapons.

 

[Achilles Heel]

Well said in the OP, I have asked some of these points in recent seasons but the topic soon shifts to other subjects.

My 2c worth:

Tackling - surprises me this has never been one of DH KPI's given how he played the game. Tackling can be seen as a responsive action from being beaten to the ball but I like to think that it's a measure of your teams intensity and determination to win the ball back from the opposition. It's just as crucial in today's game as ever and I would think the coach should have benchmarks for each player/role.

Ball movement - fast can introduce errors, turn overs and opposition scores. Slow movement becomes static, allows the opposition to get numbers back in front of forwards and execute zone defence. Both methods of ball movement require different levels of skills and fitness/endurance. Risk & reward vs precise static = higher scoring, physical taxing, lower disposal skill vs lower scoring, reduced impact on endurance, greater degree of disposal efficiency. The current theme seems to be the risk & reward footy ala dogs, crows, Eagles, cats, GWS.

Kick in strategy, haven't seen us have one for several years, we often kick in to the opposition ruck. The Houli kick in vs Freo could just as easily won the game as lose it, don't think Houli has done that at any time in any game since. Is that good or bad?

Shepherding - doesn't matter how good a player you are but you can lay a shepherd. Frees up your team mate with a few seconds of space and time to execute the kick. Why don't we do this more?

Forward setup - I am old school and would love to see fwds kick 100+ a year again but coaches don't like that nowadays. Not sure that works if your forwards natural ability is to present Mark & kick goals. JR for instance was more dangerous when he was the focal point and kicking five plus each week. Yes it's easy for the defence to double or triple team but that's where our players need to be smarter and lower the eyes. Still the current vogue is to share the scoring so it comes down to how many is too many tall forwards and what level of med/small fwds are avail. The 2 tall, 2 med, 2 small Resting ruck and resting mid rotating through is a good base but it depends on the opposition setup

Leadership - Ability aside the strongest most vocal and natural leader should be your captain. Your highest draft pick, best talent doesn't make him a leader. As good as Cotch is I would have JR my captain at present. When the chips are down and momentum is the other way you need someone to do something special and swing the game. Leadership doesn't stop with your captain though, your generals (experienced players) need to organise the troops when things aren't working. You often see Rance & Chaplin do this from defence with Jack doing same from fwd zone.

Mental focus - we have so many mentally fragile footballers seeming to be second guessing what they need to do which ultimately ends up in turnovers. This plants negative thoughts for the next contest resulting in more yips by hand or foot. Our players seem to play best when they go into a game with low expectations of victory but trip over the games everyone expects them to win. We are a tipsters knightmare. Has to be mental approach, relaxed, complacent attitude even. Something the current and any future coaches need to work on.

Well analysed pretty much spot on and the majority of these can be addressed by coaching

 

[Achilles Heel]

A lot of this will have already been said but I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can post general thoughts on our "game plan" and issues with the team's attitude rather than clogging up other threads.
Please note that I am not basing all of this on the West Coast game or even just off this season, but from the last 3 or 4 seasons.
There are a number of issues with our game plan that need to be addressed ASAP if we have any hope of turning our season around.

TACKLING
Have we done ANYTHING over the past few seasons to improve our tackling efficiency? I don't think there is another team in the comp that lets their tackles get broken as easily as ours. Is it a size issue? Is it a strength issue? Is it an attitude issue? Either way, we need to start making them stick and aiming to take the opposition to the ground EVERY time. Should be a non-negotiable. As a sub-heading to this, why do we STILL empty the Terry Wallace basketball techique of waving our hands in the air trying to corral the opposition, instead of coming right at them and taking them down?

SLOW BALL MOVEMENT
If you move the ball quickly, you have a better chance to score. One of the only times we won the ball out of the centre last night and kicked it directly into the f50, Riewoldt was double teamed yet he had enough space to knock the ball forward where Rioli ran onto it and scored. This is not just an issue out of the middle but mainly off half back. We are too focused on trying to find a teammate in space, instead of trying to break the lines and play direct. Nearly everytime we get hands on the ball in a contest, our first option is to look behind and get an easy handpass out back. This can be a good strategy if the second or third possession is a long kick that hits a target, but instead we handball backwards and laterally 4-5 times. Every handball to a teammate under pressure should be punished in my opinion- if you've got time to handball the ball and it's going to a teammate with a defender breathing down his neck, I would much rather see a rushed kick going FORWARD to a contest, than a backwards handball to a teammate about to be tackled.

KICK IN STRATEGY
What is it? When was the last time we went coast to coast from a kick in. Our kick in strategy seems to be- short kick to player in space 30 metres out. Mark. Next? Bomb it to a contest on the wing. What is the point?! I understand that it is difficult to waltz the ball out of your back line, but we don't seem to have any strategy in place. I would like to see something like our tall forwards gathering to one side to draw the opposition over, and then leading hard and fast into space either towards the kicker or to the opposite wing to free up space. Whenever we are kicking the ball up from D50, we look completely static- like our players are just waiting for the bomb to the wing as an inevitability rather than presenting as an outlet option. On the reverse side, we seem completely unable to contain the ball in our f50 from opposition kick outs.

KICKING TO THE WING AND PLAYING ALONG THE BOUNDARY
This seems to be our basic "game plan" if you can call it that. But why is this the case?
1- we are not a good contested ball winning side
2- we do not have elite ruckmen
3- we constantly turn the ball over out of packs.
So why is the basis of our attack to try to force the opposition into boundary throw ins and ball ups?

SHEPHERDING
Or lack thereof. It is something that our players NEVER do. I believe that the bloke with his head over the ball should be able to go for it without having to immediately worry about disposing it without even getting a chance to look up. Especially with the way the holding the ball rule is officiated in today's game, you can not gather the ball and try to break a tackle and hit a target if you are under pressure as it will be a free kick. All of our players seem to be running ahead of the ball looking for the cheap handball out into space, instead of running towards the ball and blocking the chaser. If the guy already has the ball or is about to pick it up they are a better chance of getting in space if the shepherd is available and it's one less thing they have to worry about (ie quick under pressure handball). Give them a chance to gather the ball and look forward instead of a pointless sideways handball. I believe it has been coached out of our side and another thing that if corrected would help our game style enormously.

FORWARD SET UP
It's been spoken about by nearly every poster on here, but there has been no improvement. Jack and Ty continually lead to the same spot and get in each other's way. I also believe we have not found the ideal structure in terms of balance of talls/smalls. We have too many mids playing as resting forwards rather than genuine forward goal threats. This is why I am happy to keep someone like Lloyd in the team even if he has a game where he goes goalless or has few disposals- he has goal sense. I also believe we are lacking another decent mid sized leading tall, not so much for their goal kicking but to provide an outlet leading towards contest. Riewoldt constantly does it and is great, but then he marks the ball 70-80m out and we have nobody else to kick it to. This is a role I believe someone like Lennon or Griffiths would be suited to- playing in the f50 but not necessarily to kick bags of goals, just as a leading option playing more half forward rather than deep. Instead, we have played these players either in the goal square or in the back line. I'm not saying these two guys are the answer but I just think we need someone to play this TYPE of role.

LEADERSHIP
I realise we have had a lot of important players out for the first few rounds, but I believe our players don't do enough to try to control the momentum of games in crucial stages. What I mean by that is- wrapping up and forcing contests/flooding the backline to stem the flow when the opposition has the ascendancy or has kicked a few on the trot, and on the flip side, putting the foot on the throat when we have the ascendancy. This I something that I believe shouldn't necessarily have to come from the coaches box but should be reactionary to our senior players. There is no way a team like Hawthorn or Sydney would have lost that collingwood game as they would have found a way to at least slow collingwoods momentum when they had it in the last few minutes. We showed a complete lack of composure and kept trying to play on and kick the sealing goal instead of chipping the ball up forward and forcing contests in our f50. This is just an example, but I mean more during the middle stages of games rather that at the end. Momentum and tempo is huge in today's game and this is why us as a supporter group never relax even when we are 6 goals up- we know the opposition are always on for a comeback.


I have tried not to talk about individual players or skill levels/skill errors in this post and more about The general playing style of the team in this post, purely for the reason that I really do believe that with our best team on the park we have the cattle to go deep into the finals- not necessarily win it, but to mix it with the best sides for sure. But the above needs to be rectified and as much as I have backed Dimma I believe most of it is a coaching issue.
Do you agree/disagree with any of the above? What else is the issue with our game style?

Great analysis there I'll be some who understand there I'll be others who will see it as Hardwick bashing

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Like everyone took a bit to get amongst chics when I was a young fella trying to play the field . Once I had the confidence I felt every chic was ripe for the picking .



Don't underestimate the value of confidence .

 

[richard parker]

i think we should start flooding and every opportunity

 

[Achilles Heel]

Like everyone took a bit to get amongst check chics when I was a young fella playing the field . Once I had the confidence I felt every chic was ripe for the picking .



Don't underestimate the value of confidence .

Thanks sammy

 

[Frustrated Tiger]

No game plan and the players are mental cases. End of discussion

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Thanks sammy

I also learnt there has always gotta be the one campaigner who is trying to **** you over .

 

[Achilles Heel]

I also learnt there has always gotta be the one campaigner who is trying to **** you over .

Just don't drop the soap in a shower with the other players

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Bring in the young kids that want to play and make a name for themselves...Hunt...Griff...Moore...Chaplin...lol
Time to cull...be brutal...then get rid of the coach and his assistants...

 

[richard parker]

the team really isn't very different to last year. not sure what's wrong but something definitely is.

some theories:

- faster games, less stoppages = more panic and poorer skill execution which were already weaknesses.

- we still aren't defensively accountable enough. players don't run both ways hard enough and stupidly overcommit in attack. why should so many turnovers result in scores against? also, i can never understand why players run straight at the man with the ball when in a 2 on 1 situation allowing the player to just handball it on easily and the defender is completely over run and taken out of the play. instead they should defend that middle ground to create uncertainty in the ball carrier's mind. this is stock standard in basketball and other team sports and i've noticed other teams (eg bulldogs) starting to use this strategy and not overcommit. an extreme example of overcommitting is steve morris. it's just dumb and ineffective.

- probably a minor point but tackling technique is not good enough. we hardly stick a tackle so teams get more confidence to really run at us.

- we are still too small. in all games so far this season we have been significantly lighter than the opposition. makes a big difference.

- i know it sounds counterintuitive but i don't think we get caught holding the ball enough, indicating that the ball carrier isn't trying to break the lines enough. take some risks boys! getting caught with it is not as costly as kicking turn overs because there is a bit more time to reset defensively. if they started trying to take the game on more they might find that there is actually a bit more time and space to be had. we are perceiving more pressure than is actually there.

just some thoughts

 

[TigerImposter]

This thread will be forgotten once we beat Melboune. Great work leemo now I hope DH reads it

 

[Tigerland]

The coach is a fail on all fronts there.

The tackling shits me the most... basic football skill yet Dimma is too frickin' inept to do anything about it in 6.25 years. Sack this stupid turkey ASAP.

 

[Tiges1229]

This thread will be forgotten once we beat Melboune. Great work leemo now I hope DH reads it

Mate we won't beat demons .

 

[Dunger]

I thought the game plan was to handball, handball, handball and if in doubt handball to the opposition, if you're still in doubt handball so its near your team mate but either puts him under more pressure or is just out of their reach. Whatever you do, DONT kick it.

We'll break away from the afl next year to create the australian handball league with dimma as coach for life

 

[Tiger Toffee]

Mate we won't be demons .

Thank god for that, who would want to be demons, rather stay a tiger.

 

[Tiges1229]

Thank god for that, who would want to be demons, rather stay a tiger.

Lol , yes it's fixed now

 

[webbie]

Our problem is we cant hit the 45 degree kicks to break the opposition open. And we barely ever go for the kicks.

 

[_Wang_]

A lot of this will have already been said but I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can post general thoughts on our "game plan" and issues with the team's attitude rather than clogging up other threads.
Please note that I am not basing all of this on the West Coast game or even just off this season, but from the last 3 or 4 seasons.
There are a number of issues with our game plan that need to be addressed ASAP if we have any hope of turning our season around.

TACKLING
Have we done ANYTHING over the past few seasons to improve our tackling efficiency? I don't think there is another team in the comp that lets their tackles get broken as easily as ours. Is it a size issue? Is it a strength issue? Is it an attitude issue? Either way, we need to start making them stick and aiming to take the opposition to the ground EVERY time. Should be a non-negotiable. As a sub-heading to this, why do we STILL empty the Terry Wallace basketball techique of waving our hands in the air trying to corral the opposition, instead of coming right at them and taking them down?

SLOW BALL MOVEMENT
If you move the ball quickly, you have a better chance to score. One of the only times we won the ball out of the centre last night and kicked it directly into the f50, Riewoldt was double teamed yet he had enough space to knock the ball forward where Rioli ran onto it and scored. This is not just an issue out of the middle but mainly off half back. We are too focused on trying to find a teammate in space, instead of trying to break the lines and play direct. Nearly everytime we get hands on the ball in a contest, our first option is to look behind and get an easy handpass out back. This can be a good strategy if the second or third possession is a long kick that hits a target, but instead we handball backwards and laterally 4-5 times. Every handball to a teammate under pressure should be punished in my opinion- if you've got time to handball the ball and it's going to a teammate with a defender breathing down his neck, I would much rather see a rushed kick going FORWARD to a contest, than a backwards handball to a teammate about to be tackled.

KICK IN STRATEGY
What is it? When was the last time we went coast to coast from a kick in. Our kick in strategy seems to be- short kick to player in space 30 metres out. Mark. Next? Bomb it to a contest on the wing. What is the point?! I understand that it is difficult to waltz the ball out of your back line, but we don't seem to have any strategy in place. I would like to see something like our tall forwards gathering to one side to draw the opposition over, and then leading hard and fast into space either towards the kicker or to the opposite wing to free up space. Whenever we are kicking the ball up from D50, we look completely static- like our players are just waiting for the bomb to the wing as an inevitability rather than presenting as an outlet option. On the reverse side, we seem completely unable to contain the ball in our f50 from opposition kick outs.

KICKING TO THE WING AND PLAYING ALONG THE BOUNDARY
This seems to be our basic "game plan" if you can call it that. But why is this the case?
1- we are not a good contested ball winning side
2- we do not have elite ruckmen
3- we constantly turn the ball over out of packs.
So why is the basis of our attack to try to force the opposition into boundary throw ins and ball ups?

SHEPHERDING
Or lack thereof. It is something that our players NEVER do. I believe that the bloke with his head over the ball should be able to go for it without having to immediately worry about disposing it without even getting a chance to look up. Especially with the way the holding the ball rule is officiated in today's game, you can not gather the ball and try to break a tackle and hit a target if you are under pressure as it will be a free kick. All of our players seem to be running ahead of the ball looking for the cheap handball out into space, instead of running towards the ball and blocking the chaser. If the guy already has the ball or is about to pick it up they are a better chance of getting in space if the shepherd is available and it's one less thing they have to worry about (ie quick under pressure handball). Give them a chance to gather the ball and look forward instead of a pointless sideways handball. I believe it has been coached out of our side and another thing that if corrected would help our game style enormously.

FORWARD SET UP
It's been spoken about by nearly every poster on here, but there has been no improvement. Jack and Ty continually lead to the same spot and get in each other's way. I also believe we have not found the ideal structure in terms of balance of talls/smalls. We have too many mids playing as resting forwards rather than genuine forward goal threats. This is why I am happy to keep someone like Lloyd in the team even if he has a game where he goes goalless or has few disposals- he has goal sense. I also believe we are lacking another decent mid sized leading tall, not so much for their goal kicking but to provide an outlet leading towards contest. Riewoldt constantly does it and is great, but then he marks the ball 70-80m out and we have nobody else to kick it to. This is a role I believe someone like Lennon or Griffiths would be suited to- playing in the f50 but not necessarily to kick bags of goals, just as a leading option playing more half forward rather than deep. Instead, we have played these players either in the goal square or in the back line. I'm not saying these two guys are the answer but I just think we need someone to play this TYPE of role.

LEADERSHIP
I realise we have had a lot of important players out for the first few rounds, but I believe our players don't do enough to try to control the momentum of games in crucial stages. What I mean by that is- wrapping up and forcing contests/flooding the backline to stem the flow when the opposition has the ascendancy or has kicked a few on the trot, and on the flip side, putting the foot on the throat when we have the ascendancy. This I something that I believe shouldn't necessarily have to come from the coaches box but should be reactionary to our senior players. There is no way a team like Hawthorn or Sydney would have lost that collingwood game as they would have found a way to at least slow collingwoods momentum when they had it in the last few minutes. We showed a complete lack of composure and kept trying to play on and kick the sealing goal instead of chipping the ball up forward and forcing contests in our f50. This is just an example, but I mean more during the middle stages of games rather that at the end. Momentum and tempo is huge in today's game and this is why us as a supporter group never relax even when we are 6 goals up- we know the opposition are always on for a comeback.


I have tried not to talk about individual players or skill levels/skill errors in this post and more about The general playing style of the team in this post, purely for the reason that I really do believe that with our best team on the park we have the cattle to go deep into the finals- not necessarily win it, but to mix it with the best sides for sure. But the above needs to be rectified and as much as I have backed Dimma I believe most of it is a coaching issue.
Do you agree/disagree with any of the above? What else is the issue with our game style?

tl;dr

#ECO

 

[Mr Unbelievable]

Like everyone took a bit to get amongst chics when I was a young fella trying to play the field . Once I had the confidence I felt every chic was ripe for the picking .



Don't underestimate the value of confidence .

I agree