Kick-ins from behinds...

[Scotland]

Can someone, anyone, please explain this to me?

Whenever we kick a behind, the other team kicks in and more often than not has zero difficulty getting the ball out of their defensive 50.

Why is it that we consistently place no emphasis on manning up?

Darren Glass doesn't stand 10m off his man inside defensive 50, so why do our forwards do so in our forward 50?

I sometimes feel like I'm watching a bad bit of play on repeat. Kick-in to free player in the pocket. Kick to free player at half back. kick to free player at centre half back. Kick to loose running player, who runs on and kicks inside 50...

I really can't see why we think our 'it's part of the modern game' zone is a better option than each player who's marking 2 square metres of turf standing next to the opponent 10m away.

What makes it even more frustrating is that today we created a few chances from pressure inside our forward 50. We chased and tackled well, and the Freo defenders made some poor skill errors. I'd love to have seen how many chances we could have created if the Freo defenders who had the ball kicked to them on the bounce or over their heads had an opponent half a metre away ready to spoil/tackle instead of a few seconds to compose themselves before one of our guys arrived...

Anyone?

 

[Mattman93]

Its all based on the zoning game, the theory being that if you rush down and man up someone in the forward pocket, then you leave space for someone else to run in to, but in a more damaging part of the ground than the forward pocket. I know that if you man up properly then they will be forced to kick to a contest, but the reasoning is that if you let someone mark it in the forward pocket, then they will be forced to kick to a contest but you will have more numbers around that contest. It is very effective when done well but we can't pull it off.

 

[Scotland]

Its all based on the zoning game, the theory being that if you rush down and man up someone in the forward pocket, then you leave space for someone else to run in to, but in a more damaging part of the ground than the forward pocket. I know that if you man up properly then they will be forced to kick to a contest, but the reasoning is that if you let someone mark it in the forward pocket, then they will be forced to kick to a contest but you will have more numbers around that contest. It is very effective when done well but we can't pull it off.

That theory I can almost understand.

However...

If you let the opposition mark the ball freely inside defensive 50, then if they've got even half a brain cell between them they'll just create a numerical mismatch and run the ball out, forcing your zonal defenders to go to contest thus creating space further up the ground.

 

[gx122]

That theory I can almost understand.

However...

If you let the opposition mark the ball freely inside defensive 50, then if they've got even half a brain cell between them they'll just create a numerical mismatch and run the ball out, forcing your zonal defenders to go to contest thus creating space further up the ground.

Easier said than done

 

[Scotland]

Easier said than done

Freo don't seem to have any trouble, and they aren't exactly the most skillful or well coached side in the AFL.

Hoping your oppositions skills are bad enough that they'll turn the ball over doesn't strike me as a brilliant defensive gameplan.

 

[larrikin]

Freo had massive trouble with this - particularly in the first half. The first kick (and even second) are easy, but we got so may turnovers out of that zone blocking up the next options today that it was actually a highlight of the game for me....

 

[Scotland]

Freo turned the ball over because they were playing terrible footy.

The only reason they didn't have trouble with it in the second half is they played better footy and actually hit the free targets we left them.

 

[larrikin]

Nah mate, the zone works well

Freo ****ed around with the footy because they had nothing to kick to...

Watch the Saints do it tomorrow, they are the masters ATM

 

[Scotland]

Still not seeing how our "zone" worked well.

Our "zone" didn't really change from one half to the next, but in the second Freo had players to kick to and in the first they did not.

If an average side in Freo playing average footy can make our "zone" look foolish then I don't think it's working particularly well.

I'd really like to see us work on killing the numerical overlaps coming out of our defence and applying more pressure.

 

[Scotland]

Can someone, anyone, please explain this to me?

Whenever we kick a behind, the other team kicks in and more often than not has zero difficulty getting the ball out of their defensive 50.

Why is it that we consistently place no emphasis on manning up?

Darren Glass doesn't stand 10m off his man inside defensive 50, so why do our forwards do so in our forward 50?

I sometimes feel like I'm watching a bad bit of play on repeat. Kick-in to free player in the pocket. Kick to free player at half back. kick to free player at centre half back. Kick to loose running player, who runs on and kicks inside 50...

I really can't see why we think our 'it's part of the modern game' zone is a better option than each player who's marking 2 square metres of turf standing next to the opponent 10m away.

Anyone?

Our "zone" worked a treat again last night.

Even though we butchered some chances early when we actually had the ball, the Pies should've won the game by more. I shudder to think what might have happened had Medhurst, Thomas and Didak (ie forwards with good finishing skills) played...

Any danger of some mildly accountable football being played?

 

[Cuzz09]

If those guys had played we probably would have won or got closer and we would nt be as dissapointed coz we wouldnt have been favourites.

 

[CursoryMercenary]

Did anyone see Brisbane's kicks from goal today? absolute perfection!

 

[bodazoka]

Mate you are focusing on this one game, I have applauded the efforts of our zone recently in making players kick to a contest from our forward 50 after we kicked a point. It has been really difficult for opp blokes to find a free target of late to kick too and more often then not they have turned it over or kicked to a contest because of that.

What Collingwood did is they played on from the square took on a player and did the one two handball between there players which caught one of our blokes out of position trying to chase two blokes down. Then another of our blokes had to leave the zone and take on one of those guys which created space for Collingwood and effectively broke down the zone. Without going into detail thats basically how they started there run from defence to break down our zone.

We might be ok at creating the zone but we are obviously a little poor when it is challenged by a team prepared to run at it with crisp clean handballs, which is what almost everyone does against Hawthorn.