Concern
It might be a little of the pre-finals jitters setting in or the old 'shit the bed' fear I perennially had when our team competed on the big stage but... I fear Hawks have the game style to beat us.
Beginning with West Coast, teams that have been able to play an uncontested style, where they cut through our midfield zone and therefore spread our defense - cause us to struggle. Its a high risk, high reward style but basically teams are starting to call our bluff now and take us on by foot through the middle. Its a dangerous tactic against any team due to the risk of turnover but it seems to be working against us. Teams that use this ploy, are scoring against us and taking away our one wood - our intercept marking. Worst of all though is that our opponent in the first week of the finals is the masters of this type of play.
How we win
To beat the Hawks, we can't let this happen. We need to force the game back onto our terms once again. Make it a pressure game.
To do this, we need more forward pressure. It is the oppositions backmen who have begun the chain of kicks. This is because they are getting too much space and feel too comfortable in their disposal. Perhaps we are missing Butler more than we realised? We need our midfield to stick to their opponents like glue through the middle. Don't allow the little 'chop out' kicks. This is particularly crucial early on in the game. We need to get into their heads. Make them jump at shadows, question their decisions and force them into panic kicks. It's what our game is built on but lately we are affording the opposition far too much time and space. You can't do that to the Hawks.
Crazy Tactic
An idea from left field could be to add another forward. if teams begin to even up the numbers in the backline, we could have an extra across the half forward whose specific job is to guard the space where teams switch the ball over to the other side of the defense and/or back into the middle. If opposition defenders start to question this tactic, they will feel forced to kick it down the line and to a contest once again.
So....Have we lost our hunger for the contest? Have we been worked out? Time for the players to rise to the challenge and the coaches to figure out how to swing the game in our favour because if we can win this one, I think we'll be adding another piece of silverware to the collection at seasons end!
It might be a little of the pre-finals jitters setting in or the old 'shit the bed' fear I perennially had when our team competed on the big stage but... I fear Hawks have the game style to beat us.
Beginning with West Coast, teams that have been able to play an uncontested style, where they cut through our midfield zone and therefore spread our defense - cause us to struggle. Its a high risk, high reward style but basically teams are starting to call our bluff now and take us on by foot through the middle. Its a dangerous tactic against any team due to the risk of turnover but it seems to be working against us. Teams that use this ploy, are scoring against us and taking away our one wood - our intercept marking. Worst of all though is that our opponent in the first week of the finals is the masters of this type of play.
How we win
To beat the Hawks, we can't let this happen. We need to force the game back onto our terms once again. Make it a pressure game.
To do this, we need more forward pressure. It is the oppositions backmen who have begun the chain of kicks. This is because they are getting too much space and feel too comfortable in their disposal. Perhaps we are missing Butler more than we realised? We need our midfield to stick to their opponents like glue through the middle. Don't allow the little 'chop out' kicks. This is particularly crucial early on in the game. We need to get into their heads. Make them jump at shadows, question their decisions and force them into panic kicks. It's what our game is built on but lately we are affording the opposition far too much time and space. You can't do that to the Hawks.
Crazy Tactic
An idea from left field could be to add another forward. if teams begin to even up the numbers in the backline, we could have an extra across the half forward whose specific job is to guard the space where teams switch the ball over to the other side of the defense and/or back into the middle. If opposition defenders start to question this tactic, they will feel forced to kick it down the line and to a contest once again.
So....Have we lost our hunger for the contest? Have we been worked out? Time for the players to rise to the challenge and the coaches to figure out how to swing the game in our favour because if we can win this one, I think we'll be adding another piece of silverware to the collection at seasons end!
Ophidian Old Boys