Getting out of our defensive end

[GWS Goose]

Various parts of our games are hit and miss, but the one area that seems to be a constant issue is poor kicking outside of our defensive 50.

Our defenders are doing a terrific job defending, put than are putting us on the back foot over and over again.

I've come to the conclusion that a couple of our guys are just going for way too much, way too often and missing. Most notably Corr and Shaw.

Most weeks we here about needing more dare from the back, I think at times we need less dare from those guys.

Shaw historically has been a great kick and it has made sense for him to take on tough kicks to get us going, I think over the last few years father time has caught up to him and his body can no longer do what his mind wants. I also think he is struggling with the more strict deliberate rules ( 300 games of instinct would be hard to break) and he gets caught with that unnecessarily at times.

Corr I think just takes on too much, I dont think he should take too many kicks ins, he is a reasonable kick (in fact better than that) but at times he is taking on kicks that Whitfield and Kelly would pass up as too hard. He needs to reign it in a bit.

Haynes and Keefe are both limited (Keefe more than Haynes) with their kicking, but generally play within their limitations which I think is smart, you can cop the odd turn over from them and accept that for them at times long down the line is the play.

I reckon that after Shaw and Corr turn a couple over going for too much, they dont take the reasonable risk later, and this exacerbates the earlier issue.

I think if Corr and Shaw take on less, and leave the real tough kicks to Zac and Lachie, with Ash also busting the line with run, that will improve us.

What are other people's thoughts on this?

 

[Pres]

I'm amazed Corr takes so many kick ins - invariably high bombs down the line often to a negative outnumber - when Whitfield just executes them perfectly nearly every time.

I think they like Whitfield to play closer to half back and be the first or second receiver from the kick in rather than having him or Zac trapped on the last line.

As I've said before when Cumming hopefully takes Shaw's spot next year he can take 90% of the kick ins as he's a beautiful kick.

 

[dlanod]

Corr I think just takes on too much, I dont think he should take too many kicks ins, he is a reasonable kick (in fact better than that) but at times he is taking on kicks that Whitfield and Kelly would pass up as too hard. He needs to reign it in a bit.

As people can probably tell Corr's opinion of his kicking makes me tear my hair out. However after watching it closely I think most of Corr's poor attempts are not a result of poor kicking but of poor decision making, for example:

• kicking long to what looks like a one on one but is easily within closing distance of a second defender, i.e. is actually a two on one.
• kicking short between multiple defenders to a hot player, at which point it spills and we have a numerical disadvantage.

His kicking, in a vacuum, is fine. He can do low spearing passes and tends to hit his target rather than bounce it, sail it, or miss a target (obviously not always, but in general). He can make quite difficult passes. However he also attempts passes that he, or any player, has no reason to attempt - kicks that regardless of how good the kick is are a bad idea. I think he needs to play smarter rather than trying the hero pass.

I suspect the reason he takes the kick-ins is so we can set up with Whitfield and Williams a kick further up to break down the zone... the problem is that it rarely gets to them because ultimately it goes to a contest where, if we're lucky, it's spoiled out of bounds.

 

[GWS Goose]

As people can probably tell Corr's opinion of his kicking makes me tear my hair out. However after watching it closely I think most of Corr's poor attempts are not a result of poor kicking but of poor decision making, for example:

• kicking long to what looks like a one on one but is easily within closing distance of a second defender, i.e. is actually a two on one.
• kicking short between multiple defenders to a hot player, at which point it spills and we have a numerical disadvantage.

His kicking, in a vacuum, is fine. He can do low spearing passes and tends to hit his target rather than bounce it, sail it, or miss a target (obviously not always, but in general). He can make quite difficult passes. However he also attempts passes that he, or any player, has no reason to attempt - kicks that regardless of how good the kick is are a bad idea. I think he needs to play smarter rather than trying the hero pass.

I 100% agree with this, I think he is a pretty good kick, but takes bad options.

You are right, he can make difficult passes, but, he goes for really difficult passes way too often.

 

[Orange Agent]

I can barely recall Heater taking a kick in this year. Corr moving to the designated kicker role this year is certainly a surprise and not a good one for a few reasons. I don't think his disposal is good enough to do the role but also it's very rare these days that it's not a play on kick which means he can end up 30-40m away from the goal line and no idea where his opponent is if its a turnover.

 

[Danny88]

I think you are over simplifying what is a complex problem. The issue at large is playing in transition. We struggle to transition the ball defensively to our forward 50. Obviously we look best when we have Whitfield/ash/Williams linking you out of the back half but other teams know that too. They deliberately set up to ensure we can’t run it out. But if you watch us, we always take the short option inside the 45 degree wedge if possible. We WANT to move the ball quickly but those pesky defenders don’t always let us.

our game plan relies on stoppages/contested ball and clearances. As such we are happy to play a territory game long out of def. so option two is a stoppage in the middle part of the ground. It’s why corr takes kick ins. We are trying to get the ball long and out of bounds/tackled and a ball up. But when your talls are out of form as they are, we are losing those contests and the ball is going back in.

the absolue worst result out of the backline is a short kick to the pocket. It telegraphs which side of the ground we are using and is slow. But the opposition want us to take that option so they set up to give to us.

so it’s not so much who is kicking it but how fast we set up to allow that transition and how well we cope with the opposition’s forward press

 

[dlanod]

We WANT to move the ball quickly but those pesky defenders don’t always let us.

It's arseholes like that that are ruining football.

 

[Giant Strides]

It's arseholes like that that are ruining football.

Well, at least our football!

 

[PMBangers]

Whitfield moving back helps us immensely with the disposal and moving the ball forward, easily the best kick in the team, maybe in the league. I think a big issue, and I might be alone here, is our midfielders positioning making it harder to find spots to lead into. It feels like to me when we get it in the defensive 50, all our midfielders are crowding the 50 meter arc, which;
A) means there aren't many, if any, midfielders making proper leads for our defenders with the ball and B) makes it harder for defenders to run and carry as they've dragged the other midfield opponents closer to them.

Overall I think our gameplan is heavily based on slingshotting in transition when we win it in the backline, this is why guys like Jezza, HH, Dorsal and Riccardi don't push up far unless they're making a lead, to allow the run and carry out from guys like Zac and Whitters who can get a deeper kick, almost from the defensive arc to the attacking arc, but this obviously hasn't worked out as planned.

I wouldn't be opposed to moving Perryman to a permanent defensive post as I like his field kick, but I think the real change needs to be holding some midfielders back from defensive 50 to act as link up players