Is the shepherd becoming a dead art?

[OFFtheBALL]

From your very first years of competitive football, you are always taught to give off and look for contact..... block. If you are second to the ball to a teammate, block the prick..... It is belted into you from a young age about how important it is that you always protect your teammate, be their eyes and eliminate opposition players direct route to the ball or ball carrier.

I've come to notice in all games i watch across the league in the last couple of years, the amount of times i am yelling "put a f***ing block on!" is countless.

for example, a 2 on 1 race to a rolling footy will now see alot of players be happy to watch their teammate get first to the ball and get tackled in order to look a million bucks on a fast, easy, uncontested release. Though quite often you see an over the top handball being smothered, a poorly fed handball due to the pressure or a flat out fumble before the ball is even picked up.

If a block was made by 1 of the 2 in favour, or any form of contact within reason to the ball, the defender is off balance and out of position while losing a few steps in the foot race, giving your teammate more time to compose and dispose.

Do players think they dont have time to block because the current style of game is all about fast ball movement? This buys time in a very fast game not loses it. Is it just selfish football? Laziness? Or being ironed out in the coaches box?

Blocking taggers at around the ground stoppages are about as complex as they get now. Them also being half-assed.

Is the shepherd becoming a dead art?

 

[Baird]

Yea I've noticed it being used less these days.

 

[quotemokc]

I see players on the mark get shepherded all the time

 

[La Vache]

Yes Sneve

 

[half_back_flank]

The ball just moves too quickly today. The bloke with it has had match stimulation situations drilled into him since his early teens, he can sense danger and you're better off just getting in a position to receive the ball rather sheppard.

 

[juss]

Very rare to see a good shepherd.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Interesting OP. I find at the ground you tend to notice a lot more than on TV. Going to games regularly, I have noticed plenty of shepherds being layed. I would say that you don't see the big hit shepherd s you used to though, as players are more aware of MRP/ off the ball free kicks. Does champion data track shepherds?

 

[tim_saints]

It was goz but you cen GeV rube out if you fi it wrog

Eye dun no wat ur talkn bout m8

 

[Xenthor]

Interesting OP. I find at the ground you tend to notice a lot more than on TV. Going to games regularly, I have noticed plenty of shepherds being layed. I would say that you don't see the big hit shepherd s you used to though, as players are more aware of MRP/ off the ball free kicks. Does champion data track shepherds?

I believe they count as 1%ers but I could be wrong

 

[Shane Hird]

From your very first years of competitive football, you are always taught to give off and look for contact..... block. If you are second to the ball to a teammate, block the prick..... It is belted into you from a young age about how important it is that you always protect your teammate, be their eyes and eliminate opposition players direct route to the ball or ball carrier.

I've come to notice in all games i watch across the league in the last couple of years, the amount of times i am yelling "put a f***ing block on!" is countless.

for example, a 2 on 1 race to a rolling footy will now see alot of players be happy to watch their teammate get first to the ball and get tackled in order to look a million bucks on a fast, easy, uncontested release. Though quite often you see an over the top handball being smothered, a poorly fed handball due to the pressure or a flat out fumble before the ball is even picked up.

If a block was made by 1 of the 2 in favour, or any form of contact within reason to the ball, the defender is off balance and out of position while losing a few steps in the foot race, giving your teammate more time to compose and dispose.

Do players think they dont have time to block because the current style of game is all about fast ball movement? This buys time in a very fast game not loses it. Is it just selfish football? Laziness? Or being ironed out in the coaches box?

Blocking taggers at around the ground stoppages are about as complex as they get now. Them also being half-assed.

Is the shepherd becoming a dead art?

You only watch the kicks obviously.

 

[Shane Hird]

Without shepherding odds are you would lose. Badly.

 

[tim_saints]

Without shepherding odds are you would lose. Badly.

Not sure what game you are watching but if you think the shepherding of teammates is good league wide I think you might want to go buy a new set of glasses or maybe try contacts.

 

[OFFtheBALL]

You only watch the kicks obviously.

if i only watch the kicks, is the handball dead too? i thought the AHL was becoming a thing?

 

[the_big_sav]

i think these days players run for the handball rather then shepherd.

it seems the player who wins the ball should cop the hit and give to a free man rather then a team mate protect him so he can get a clear possesion.

it frustrates me when they genuinely run past the opponent to get a easy touch then do the team thing of put a shepherd on

 

[tim_saints]

i think these days players run for the handball rather then shepard.

it seems the player who wins the ball should cop the hit and give to a free man rather then a team mate protect him so he can get a clear possesion.

it frustrates me when they genuinely run past the opponent to get a easy touch then do the team thing of put a shepard on

Yeah I totally agree with this, exactly what they do, draw the bloke towards them, cop the contact and look to dish it off to an outside runner who could shepard but instead is used as a link.

 

[OFFtheBALL]

i think these days players run for the handball rather then shepherd.

it seems the player who wins the ball should cop the hit and give to a free man rather then a team mate protect him so he can get a clear possesion.

it frustrates me when they genuinely run past the opponent to get a easy touch then do the team thing of put a shepherd on

100% agree.

grinds my gears that they rather opt for a pressured pick up and dish over a cleaner pickup and time to make a decision. that extra few steps is huge. you can even still execute that same draw and dish alot better with those 2 extra steps to further fake out your opponent and the blocker peel off.

doesnt make a heap of sense in their thinking as i feel like the shephard benefits either way hahaha.

 

[mike123]

The shepherd is handy in situations but geez some here are overrating it.

 

[Struggle]

Picken pulled out the full wingspan shepherd after a handball in the grand final.

 

[dumb]

Is the shepherd becoming a dead art?

if you play the percentages, attempting to draw the tackler may still leave you in the action, where as with a shepherd you can't receive at all. that said, a lot of teams still put in a soft type of tackle on the player who has given off the ball so they can't continue in the passage of play.

but yes, a lot of good football things have gone out of fashion for my team, including kicking a winning score

 

[master bate]

The bump is near dead so you can't iron someone out any more. If it was 2 v 1 the best strategy in the past was for someone to take out the 1. Now that becomes risky

The other factor I think that is important is players are coming at the ball from all different angles these days. Shepherds are great when it's 1 v 1 with a third player running in to where the ball will go. Now days A forward might be leading up and the defender assigned to him is zoning in front of him. Historically the defender could just shepherd the forward from the ball and allow his 3rd man over to come get it. Old style defenders would always tie up their forwards. But now a defender backpedalling to get to a contest from a zoned position can't exactly shepherd because it will either be blocking or front on contact or something like.

 

[master bate]

That's my case against the shepherd.

My case for is that AFL has leaned heavily on aspects of basketball and to me there's even similarities with NFL football in terms of pressure/zone concepts. In both those sports 'screens' are used heavily. Inside 50 forward entries and stoppages are ideal situations to use screens, but with adaptation I think there's a role at half back as well. We've already seen teams (Coll, Haw) embrace shepherding the man on the mark and so they should look to add layers to that kind of thinking.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

The Dogs use it quite a bit to my eye, but it definitely isn't as prevalent as it was not long ago.

 

[Shane Hird]

No idea you people. No idea whatsoever..

 

[tim_saints]

No idea you people. No idea whatsoever..

Instead of just saying that, how about you give your opinion on why we all have no idea? Because I can sit here all night and say you have no idea without having any evidence to prove you do.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Meh, football is soft. Ten years ago crummy outsiders were generally not overly hyped... actually wait, Andrew McLeod and Craig Bradley were. Forget that.

But yeah, players are generally almost regressing as dead shit coaches get too obsessed with numerics, ratings, and athletes instead of the raw information that's presented to them in obvious forms, ala training and games. Players can't kick on their left foot and don't shepherd, but because of their size or because they help something somewhere happen, they all of a sudden get a pass and a game. Fans now eat this up and no longer question it.

But yes, the shepherd is dead. Up there with the look away and underground handpass too. Shame.