Gameplan

[SCD Reborn]

We have been blessed to have such a competitive team for so many years and 3 losses doesn't amount to season over, but the current gameplan we have in place this year doesn't look up to scratch.

Last year the only really poor game we played was against the Saints, and scored something like 2 goals in the last 3 quarters. Now every team is playing that style and we have not adapted to or looked to combat the zones, we continue to play slow football, with lots of kicking over the mark and no risk taking.

There are a few points that really stood out at the ground yesterday;

• Too often yesterday we would get the ball on one half back flank and switch with a 40 - 50m pass and Melbourne waited for us to do it. It was way too predictable and was too slow, there was no run and carry - it was all slow over the mark football.

• Every time we were 70 - 80m out from goal on the wings, it was too played into the corridor, when on 8-9 occasions we had 2 or 3 players free down the line. The skills coming back into the corridor were terrible and Melbourne would sweat off us and put the pressure on.

• Our forward line delivery is disgraceful and the zone and defensive actions are to blame IMO. We have no lead up forwards, which help combat a zone, drawing players out and making them more accountable and so often in the first 3 weeks we are just bombing to a 4 on 2 situation, because we have 15 blokes behind the ball.

Having been to Geelong games the first 2 weeks of the year, they run and carry through the zones and ensure they have a couple of players left out the back of the zones - so if they break through they will get a shot on goal, we seem to have all 18 players trying to combat it and get through and if we do, there is no one to lead up or kick to if we get through.

• Our Zone is weak and it's not due to positioning, rather that we are not working hard enough to shut down players like we did towards the end of last year. Too often in the first 3 weeks teams are getting shots on goal from the kickouts. Melbourne kicked 4-5 points in the first half where they sliced through the middle of our zone from a point we kicked, only poor kicking made us look good defensively.

• A number of players are being played out of position and look all out of sorts. Bernie Vince and Michael Doughty are not defenders IMO. Doughty was an average defender in 06/07/08 and took on a midfield run-with role last year and was a damaging good player, this year he is back playing the defensive role he's not good at. Vince looks restricted in his running and maybe that's why he's down back - but he just looks lost at times. Ablett doesn't play back and have defensive responsibilities, he is a midfielder who helps set them up off half back, why can't we do the same with Vince?

• Trent Hentschel as our link man in defence is the wrong type of player. He has no defensive pressure and if you look at Melbourne who uses Davey, Sydney who use Malceski and Shaw and St Kilda who use Fisher, Gram and Gilbert, they are all far quicker and more mobile players, who use the ball better. Yes we are restricted with Otten injured, but would we be better off to look at Schmidt (who was excellent yesterday) / Armstrong / Davis or McKernan in that role.

Having been at the after match yesterday, it's clear the club is happy with its gameplan and ball movement, which I can't understand, and while this is the time we need to support our team (if you don't support them when they lose - then you can't support them when they win), I'd just like them to look at more risk taking and speed through the lines to work towards combating these zones.

 

[crow4life]

We have been blessed to have such a competitive team for so many years and 3 losses doesn't amount to season over, but the current gameplan we have in place this year doesn't look up to scratch.

Last year the only really poor game we played was against the Saints, and scored something like 2 goals in the last 3 quarters. Now every team is playing that style and we have not adapted to or looked to combat the zones, we continue to play slow football, with lots of kicking over the mark and no risk taking.

There are a few points that really stood out at the ground yesterday;

• Too often yesterday we would get the ball on one half back flank and switch with a 40 - 50m pass and Melbourne waited for us to do it. It was way too predictable and was too slow, there was no run and carry - it was all slow over the mark football.

• Every time we were 70 - 80m out from goal on the wings, it was too played into the corridor, when on 8-9 occasions we had 2 or 3 players free down the line. The skills coming back into the corridor were terrible and Melbourne would sweat off us and put the pressure on.

• Our forward line delivery is disgraceful and the zone and defensive actions are to blame IMO. We have no lead up forwards, which help combat a zone, drawing players out and making them more accountable and so often in the first 3 weeks we are just bombing to a 4 on 2 situation, because we have 15 blokes behind the ball.

Having been to Geelong games the first 2 weeks of the year, they run and carry through the zones and ensure they have a couple of players left out the back of the zones - so if they break through they will get a shot on goal, we seem to have all 18 players trying to combat it and get through and if we do, there is no one to lead up or kick to if we get through.

• Our Zone is weak and it's not due to positioning, rather that we are not working hard enough to shut down players like we did towards the end of last year. Too often in the first 3 weeks teams are getting shots on goal from the kickouts. Melbourne kicked 4-5 points in the first half where they sliced through the middle of our zone from a point we kicked, only poor kicking made us look good defensively.

• A number of players are being played out of position and look all out of sorts. Bernie Vince and Michael Doughty are not defenders IMO. Doughty was an average defender in 06/07/08 and took on a midfield run-with role last year and was a damaging good player, this year he is back playing the defensive role he's not good at. Vince looks restricted in his running and maybe that's why he's down back - but he just looks lost at times. Ablett doesn't play back and have defensive responsibilities, he is a midfielder who helps set them up off half back, why can't we do the same with Vince?

• Trent Hentschel as our link man in defence is the wrong type of player. He has no defensive pressure and if you look at Melbourne who uses Davey, Sydney who use Malceski and Shaw and St Kilda who use Fisher, Gram and Gilbert, they are all far quicker and more mobile players, who use the ball better. Yes we are restricted with Otten injured, but would we be better off to look at Schmidt (who was excellent yesterday) / Armstrong / Davis or McKernan in that role.

Having been at the after match yesterday, it's clear the club is happy with its gameplan and ball movement, which I can't understand, and while this is the time we need to support our team (if you don't support them when they lose - then you can't support them when they win), I'd just like them to look at more risk taking and speed through the lines to work towards combating these zones.

Great post
Agree with your analysis

 

[smoovy]

I don't think the club are happy with the gameplan, I think they are happier than previous weeks. In terms of ball movement from 50 to 50 i would have to agree, but the forward line was shizen. We actually had by a long way more I50s than we had the previous 2 weeks.

 

[WAG]

I don't think the club are happy with the gameplan, I think they are happier than previous weeks. In terms of ball movement from 50 to 50 i would have to agree, but the forward line was shizen. We actually had by a long way more I50s than we had the previous 2 weeks.

I agree. What are they doing with Tex? I just can't understand why they are playing him so far up the ground. He is a lead up forward with a good mark and a great kick. Let him do his job and we might kick more than 10 goals in a game......well if he gets some better delivery.

 

[King Elvis]

Players aren't fit enough to execute the gameplan properly - it's extremely demanding.

The younger guys - Cook/Young, don't seem to understand it properly yet (which is fair enough).

Between that, it's falling apart.

 

[smoovy]

Players aren't fit enough to execute the gameplan properly - it's extremely demanding.

This is true. I remember at the time we were dstroying sides that various football commentators were marvelling at how hard we worked both ways.

 

[King Elvis]

Yep.

And when you have guys who often don't execute it correctly - running to a contest when they should be guarding space or not leaving their man to run in support offensively, it makes it even worse. Whether players aren't in place due to inexperience or lack of fitness is irrelevant, but when they aren't, the zone falls apart and other teams can just carve their way through it - as we've seen.

The gameplan itself I believe is totally sound and extremely effective - with a fit team who knows how to play it.

We don't have that at present, so I'd be hoping we're looking to change it up a bit and play to the setup of the current side, not the perfect side.

 

[remedi]

I agree with most things you said, espcially vince.

He needs to lift his game (assuming he's not hiding any injuries).
Vs freo: he was average
vs swans: went MIA (you know things are bad if vince had to tag ROK)
vs demons: wasnt damaging (got a lot of it but didnt hurt the opposition)

He's at his best when he takes on the opposition and drills the ball forward 40+ metres. Hopefully he can get regain his form from last year.

 

[jenny61_99]

Yep.

And when you have guys who often don't execute it correctly - running to a contest when they should be guarding space or not leaving their man to run in support offensively, it makes it even worse. Whether players aren't in place due to inexperience or lack of fitness is irrelevant, but when they aren't, the zone falls apart and other teams can just carve their way through it - as we've seen.

The gameplan itself I believe is totally sound and extremely effective - with a fit team who knows how to play it.

We don't have that at present, so I'd be hoping we're looking to change it up a bit and play to the setup of the current side, not the perfect side.

And I guess this is where those who recognise that we have the gameplan, just not the personnel to carry it out effectively at the moment, are most concerned. Does Craig have the ability to "change it up". 3 losses indicates perhaps not, but I swear in that first quarter against Melbourne we played man on man for a while (from about 10 min mark). I even saw a huddle there at one stage? In the second quarter we seemed to control the play far more effectively but didn't convert it to scoreboard pressure. The second half fell apart with a combination of Melbourne's relentless tackling pressure and our mounting wounded.

 

[Macjoe]

Players aren't fit enough to execute the gameplan properly - it's extremely demanding.

The younger guys - Cook/Young, don't seem to understand it properly yet (which is fair enough).

The gameplan itself I believe is totally sound and extremely effective - with a fit team who knows how to play it.

We don't have that at present, so I'd be hoping we're looking to change it up a bit and play to the setup of the current side, not the perfect side.

And I guess this is where those who recognise that we have the gameplan, just not the personnel to carry it out effectively at the moment, are most concerned. Does Craig have the ability to "change it up". 3 losses indicates perhaps not, but I swear in that first quarter against Melbourne we played man on man for a while (from about 10 min mark). I even saw a huddle there at one stage? In the second quarter we seemed to control the play far more effectively but didn't convert it to scoreboard pressure. The second half fell apart with a combination of Melbourne's relentless tackling pressure and our mounting wounded.

Yes, that's the way I saw it too. Thanks to smoovy's inspiration yesterday I watched the whole of the Rd 22 match v Carlton again last night, and there is no doubt that:
(a) the plan works - 27 goals +

(b) the players worked tirelessly both ways. The teams we have put on the park against Freo, Sydney and Melbourne just weren't up to it.

(c) the younger guys don't have the same ingrained, practised understanding that the Rd 22 team had 7 months ago.

At Footy Park for the Sydney match I focused on Will Young from the first bounce, and through the match (we met him at family day, we were both impressed, so we took a special interest in his debut). Right at the beginning he looked uncertain about his exact role - IIRC he was a late inclusion for VB or Stevens, prepped as an emergency. Early I saw him take direction from Truck, and drop back from his man 3 or 4 paces towards the old superscreen pocket. Turnover on our HF line, and the ball comes North through the centre. Meanwhile Young's man - McGlynn I think - arcs across the front of the 50 and drops back into the members pocket. Of course the defence doesn't slide across, as they may sometimes do at training. With the ball carried across the centre by an almost unchallenged Sydney midfield Truck, Bocky and Doughty were not about to leave players like Bradshaw and White unchecked. So Youngy wakes up to where the problem will be, and sprints off after McGlynn, arriving just in time to stand the mark after McGlynn has taken an uncontested mark in the members pocket.

My point: the problem was Young didn't understand his role in the defensive setup, or he would have stuck with McG rather than covering space. When he went one-on-one with an attacker he was better. Many of the 8 goals credited to Young's opponents were not won in contested situations, they were leaks in the defensive set-up, and poor Will was most junior in the back-line. The most annoying one was when , after a Sydney goal Will came off the bench to pick up a goal kicker after the goal and Roo, in the radio commentry team still decided the goal was against Will!

 

[Macjoe]

Some posters have been extra critical of our coaches and playing group given the lowly position of our opposition last year. Point is that just as our team is not the one playing 7 or 8 months ago, nor are Freo, Sydney or Melbourne.

Freo is unbeaten, and on the way beat the current Premiers, Sydney is in the 4, and the Demons would be top 8 if the 1 pointer to Collingwood had gone the other way.

Yes, the Freo and Melbourne teams are very young. Yes, they will drop off later in the year, and the Demons may still finish bottom 4. BUT, at the moment, at the time they beat us, they are up there with the best.

 

[smoovy]

I agree with most things you said, espcially vince.

He needs to lift his game (assuming he's not hiding any injuries).
Vs freo: he was average
vs swans: went MIA (you know things are bad if vince had to tag ROK)
vs demons: wasnt damaging (got a lot of it but didnt hurt the opposition)

He's at his best when he takes on the opposition and drills the ball forward 40+ metres. Hopefully he can get regain his form from last year.

He needs to do his work forward of centre. Vince should be leading our I50 stat, setting up goals and kicking them. He is a gun midfielder, not a Kane Cornes type running around the back line picking up cheap handballs from ruckman and taking kick ins. I know he is a good kick, but they need to get him away from that.