Is the shepherd becoming a dead art?

[Frank Gallagher]

If one of my campaigner team mates beat me to the ball why would I put a block on for him? Better off hanging back to get some spillage action.

 

[Silent Alarm]

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

This from a guy who reckons Wells isn't an outsider, flakey, front-running, selfish midfielder and reckons he's a good addition to his team... loooord. This sort of rhetoric is rife across people who have never played football and probably can't even drop punt at a barbecue. The shepherd going is disappointing and it really is a useful tool. Even if it doesn't immediately knock the player going to tackle, it puts pressure on him and also allows the bloke with the ball to take that extra second and know he has some protection. The main thing is that it's quite often ignored by players who have no idea on how to play the game, or are too soft to apply it... so many times I see a shepherd possible and guys just don't go for it.

It could be some weird coaching instruction where someone was once injured in training and now it's frowned upon, or it's seen as pointless wasted energy... who knows.

But it's got plenty of plusses and it works well, and it doesn't require much thought or implementation at all. It's not science rocket.

 

[Shane Hird]

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.

I cbf

 

[mike123]

This from a guy who reckons Wells isn't an outsider, flakey, front-running, selfish midfielder and reckons he's a good addition to his team... loooord. This sort of rhetoric is rife across people who have never played football and probably can't even drop punt at a barbecue. The shepherd going is disappointing and it really is a useful tool. Even if it doesn't immediately knock the player going to tackle, it puts pressure on him and also allows the bloke with the ball to take that extra second and know he has some protection. The main thing is that it's quite often ignored by players who have no idea on how to play the game, or are too soft to apply it... so many times I see a shepherd possible and guys just don't go for it.

It could be some weird coaching instruction where someone was once injured in training and now it's frowned upon, or it's seen as pointless wasted energy... who knows.

But it's got plenty of plusses and it works well, and it doesn't require much thought or implementation at all. It's not science rocket.

Nice melt

 

[tim_saints]

I cbf

Yeah thought you would to be honest. Didn't expect anything better from you.

 

[F_therest]

Still see shepherding...especially the man on the mark, which i kinda hate.

As others have mentioned, more than before players now run forwards for the link handball, rather than shepherd.

It's an evolution of new and better tactics since these days it's more about flicking the ball around and fast ball movement.
Also the fact the rules on shepherding are stricter now so more risk of giving away a free kick if you catch them slightly high or really iron them out.

 

[GreyCrow]

Firstly great OP. I'm one of those dinosaurs who others think should be in the thread '' has the game passed you by''. I don't care. Even a bad shepherd can buy the other player that moment they need to gather and release.

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

I don't mind this and can see its use , especially in this era of ''corralling players'' on the boundary line. If you handball to a player on the boundary line then it is up to you to help give them time. So Pickens wingspan shepherd works for me ( not knowing where it as)

 

[Matera92]

Simply put players are too worried about getting rubbed out for incidental contact. Why risk a suspension when you can let your team mate get hammered and get an easy possession.

The moment the AFL started throwing duty of care at the player initiating contact was the moment the physicality of the game died.

 

[deck]

Most annoying is when a player goes to shepherd only for the ball carrier to handball it to him.

 

[Bokonon_]

I get the view that in the modern game players more likely to want to present for the handball.
Obviously clearance tactics are complex and will always involve blocking, not sure of the line between that and shepherding.
I still see a lot of shephetding although it does seem to a bit more subtle and just get in the way, rather than the full belt charge to knock an unaware player to kingdom come you saw in yesteryear.
I think it comes down to decision making and reading the play. A good player wiĺl judge when to shepherd and when to give a disposal option. It could just be predicting if a teamate will win the posession anyway, or if their is another player to present for the disposal. That what AFL players are paid to do.

 

[Shane Hird]

Yeah thought you would to be honest. Didn't expect anything better from you.

Ohhh nasty pastie.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Nice melt

Shouldn't you be playing your Dungeons and Dragons over on the 'SFA' board?

 

[basashi]

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?

Think if you look further from the ball you will see plenty. Especially more than 5 metres from the ball.

 

[HolyRioli]

Without shepherding odds are you would lose. Badly.

This.

I'd more suggest shepherding and blocking goes unnoticed to the casual observer, rather you have to look for it.

 

[mike123]

Shouldn't you be playing your Dungeons and Dragons over on the 'SFA' board?

 

[citizen-erased]

Watch an essendon game from the last 7 years. Its been dead to us for a while. One of the more frustrating aspects of our game is we don't block for a runner.
Can be tough with the pace of the game and quick ball movement being in vogue.

 

[Saint]

Players are increasingly let of the hook for dropping the ball when tackled and/or better at getting a handball away, so increasingly there's more need for a handball receive than a shepherd.

There are plenty that still occur, though with everyone flooding into defence it's rare that many people are moving in the opposite direction to the general play. (Everyone sprinting towards the goals of the team with the ball at almost every point of open play).

Good defenders used to take risks and come the other way, still do, but it's generally trained out of young players so they never develop that skill.

 

[Underdog]

2 teammates race to the ball, one lays a shepherd. The other gathers the ball, steadies and then accelerates.

2 teammates race to the ball, one peels off into some space. The other gathers the ball, takes contact, and shoots off a 5m handball to a teammate running at top speed.

It's pretty obvious why they're not shepherding so much. Granted, there are a number of scenarios where shepherding is more appropriate but the ball movement has evolved.

 

[cutterman]

It's been a dead art at Richmond for many years. We're ahead of the curve!

 

[Truckosaurus]

It's certainly been on the decline in Australia for a number of years. The absence of large native predators other than the dingo - which is itself declining in numbers - along with developments in electric fencing and alarm systems to minimise the risk of feral dog attack, mean that the average Australian sheep only has to worry about disease. Having someone hanging around the sheep all day and night isn't going to prevent that, and given the margins a lot of farmers live on in these hot and dry summers, it doesn't make sense to employ a shepherd. Modern flock management has certainly moved beyond it.

 

[dogs105]

Not as much need nowadays. Most sheep are produced on those huge stations, or in good paddocks where the farmers can just let them be.

Edit: One bloody minute. You bastard