Kicking the ball back into play

[greatwhiteshark]

Anyone else notice how slow we are bringing the ball back into play after a behind has been scored.
We slowly walk and pick up the ball and then we wait for Hurn no matter where he is to run over and take the kick.
Now we all know that Hurn is a brilliant kick and in a perfect world we would love him taking the kick all the time but we are to slow at bringing it in.
Almost all sides would have the ball on the wing before we have thought about even kicking it back in.
We are an AFL side and the idea is to put the opposition under pressure, to do that you need to bring the ball into play quickly. Whoever is first to the ball should just run and get on with it as other sides do.
Obviously our players are instructed for Hurn to take the majority of kick ins but it is like we are waiting for the flags to be waived. The opposition have ample time to set up, cover our men and squeeze up their press.
Any player at AFL level should be able to kick the ball in, other clubs don't seem to care who it is. Of course if Hurn is close it will be him but if you have to even think or wait for him then he should be out of the equation.
We need to get on with it.

 

[nameless]

I didn't so much notice the slowness of the kick-ins, but I did notice we'd kick to a pack or go long up the middle to a tall target, 90% of the time the ball isn't marked, but we have 3-4 players going up and no smalls staying down to rove the pack.

Whether that could be improved with a quicker kick in, I'm not sure.

I think a quick kick-in is good if there is an obvious target available, otherwise waiting for Hurn is fine, he's the best in the league.

 

[MIKE85]

Yeah I noticed this yesterday. One of our problems this year, and last, was that our forward line is always so crowded. A good way to counter this is to move the ball quickly so the opposition don't have enough time to get numbers back. We saw yesterday a few times when we moved it out quickly from the kick in, we had our guys running forward, and the saints trying to catch up, and then moving the ball into a more open forward line. Seems pretty straight forward really, but I get that sometimes the first option isn't always the best so time needs to be taken, but we usually take way to long, allowing all players to get back and clog up our space.

 

[SpaceClef]

Yeah I noticed this yesterday. One of our problems this year, and last, was that our forward line is always so crowded. A good way to counter this is to move the ball quickly so the opposition don't have enough time to get numbers back. We saw yesterday a few times when we moved it out quickly from the kick in, we had our guys running forward, and the saints trying to catch up, and then moving the ball into a more open forward line. Seems pretty straight forward really, but I get that sometimes the first option isn't always the best so time needs to be taken, but we usually take way to long, allowing all players to get back and clog up our space.

I reckon our poor-overhead midfield might have something to do with this. Masten, Shuey, Priddis, Hutchings and Gaff (and Selwood) are all poor-average overhead, and it means our options kicking out of the 50 often rely on Naitanui, Lycett, Darling or Kennedy pushing up the wings (like Lynch did so well in 2011).

Yeo and Rosa are both pretty good overhead, but this is one reason why too many small mids is a bad thing. If we had more marking options in the middle of the ground (and better footskills) we wouldn't be so reliant on a big contested grab from one of the talls, as this tends to result in a stoppage, allowing the opposition to get numbers behind the ball.

 

[flyinghi64]

A lot of the time Hurn was waiting for Kennedy or Darling to make a lead up the middle for the long kick.
Must be a structure thing. If there was no viable option 60 mt up the middle the bail out was the normal boundary line kick.
We rarely went straight out wide unless there was an easy option.

 

[mick06]

A couple years back i thought we were very good at kick ins. Hurn would either pin point someone on the boundary or Cox/Naitanui would take a contested grab.

Cox has lost a lot of this and Naitanui has been great at getting his hands to it but they arent sticking. He has a lot of tape on his thumbs, could be the issue.

My issue is i feel we seem to have a set approach to kick ins and dont change it up or switch it around and change angles coming out of defence. Just a lack of spread

 

[Smeg Head]

Interestingly I think Shuey took a couple of them yesterday which I dont recall seeing before.

 

[bluengold89]

Our biggest issue is that we constantly get caught on the overlap. Teams move the ball from their defence to their forward 50 against us so easy. Once its near their 50 we lock down, but it's like we just let them continually have the plus one forward of the play. I don't know if it's because we play some kind of zone i'm not understanding, but it feels like we barely pressure the ball carrier as they just move it down the field with ease.

Whereas when we have the ball, we have to work so hard to get the ball near our 50, let alone spotting up a target inside the 50. Obviously this is what happens when we're caught on the fast break, but even when we should have our structures set up teams still just move it down the field under no pressure.

Is it the gameplan, or do other teams just spread harder than us?

 

[Reminiscence]

As long as they don't give it to E-mac, I'm all for us taking some time to get kick-ins.
Some of Hurn's kicks are God-esque.

 

[WCEswift]

Kick it to sticky mcgovern he wont drop 'em

 

[Daveismad]

The issue I see is Hurn is quite god overhead and if he was a target he would then kick it into the forward line from that possession

But we don't have another pin point passer .....it's about structures though

I don't think our guys lead hard enough when Hurn has the ball ...they all looking to cox, in nat and Lycett to mark it ...the problem with that is that it's very predictable

 

[Shmiddy15]

I loved how much Lingy was frothing Hurn's kicking during yesterdays game. He seemed to have a real appreciation for it.

 

[fidstar]

I have no problem waiting for Hurn.

 

[kranky al]

Bennell usually has a few kicks as does ellis


We didnt have bennell for most of the game so it stood out more

Do we want easy taking anything but sodas out of there - id shit myself if he was taking a soda


Op is correct in that it would be nice to see bunga receiving that kick and dishing it of to jk lecca, mcg or darlo

 

[Marlin01]

I get very worried when Mackenzie takes possession of the ball and his head turns from side to side "weighing up options". That's usually when he decides to get "creative".

 

[Citizen Erazed]

I have noticed that we will kick it in to one side of the ground 99% of the time. I sit on the Mainwaring side of the ground and we see about 4 minutes of action every game (exaggeration). We kick it long down the shady side of the ground all of the time and don't even spread to the other... therefore the opposition know where it is going, causing a massive pack of players. We all know once it hits the ground, the opposition mids will be first too it as well.

Is it just because we want to be close to the interchange? Or because Xav is ultra pale? I am not sure, but it annoys the hell out of me.

Watching Hawthorn's kick out set up is brilliant. Players are constantly moving and spreading in different directions which makes it far harder to defend. I think it's work rate to be honest. We don't work hard enough.

 

[UpForGrabs]

Rather wait for Bunga than have someone like Mitch Brown take the kick, or have Will Schofield take the ball out himself, attempt to bounce only to see if go through for a rushed behind (again).

 

[JADED]

This is where it would be advantageous having Mcgovern play defence.
Hurn to Mcgovern to Darling/Lecras/Naitanui combo through the middle to Kennedy.
Nowhere in there do our midfielders have to touch it. The opposition would then be so scared of kicking a behind they'd never kick from outside 30.
Who needs a midfield? (Lecras at half forward in this scenario ok)

 

[SloppyJoe]

When Naitanui could take a mark and Cox didn't flap his arms we had no problems getting it out. Lycett clunked a few against the Saints but sadly he probably won't be playing this weekend.

I agree that we always seem to go down the same wing at Subi. There is always so much space on the Mainwaring wing.

 

[Matera LeNui]

1. Hurn(our most dangerous/long)
2. Ellis(smart user/accurate)
3. Bennell(good chip kick/play onable)
4. Schofield(play onable)

5. McKenzie(only if others arent there)
6. Brown(one kickout every 5 matches)

 

[Chris_6678]

Get Ellis to kick it to Hurn then get Hurn to pinpoint it to the forward line.

 

[Goldfish]

Get Ellis to kick it to Hurn then get Hurn to kick a goal.

Edited for accuracy