Our defensive zone...

[RoJo Junior]

We've been hyping up our new gameplan over the course of the pre-season and how impressed we were with this "zone" implemented in our wins during the season. Today our zone was an absolute shambles!

It appears that the run and carry style of play of the Demons using their pace was beating the zone, now im all for the zone in say our attacking 50 and midfield, but i think it needs to be assessed when the ball is in the opposition forward 50. Too many times today i saw players like Robertson and Petterd taking easy uncontested marks in their 50. Twice in the space of 5 minutes i watched Glass just look on as Robertson was allowed to take simple marks. He just looked across at Hurn who looked back at him, while the Demons players ran in between the two for an easy mark.

This should never be the case and if players had a direct opponent in the 50 rather than being under the instruction to mark an area it wouldnt. Glass is the best 1 on 1 defender in the AFL yet at stages he was just guarding space in a back pocket. That is just stupid IMO.

The final stats for marks inside 50 was 14-10 Melbournes favour. I take that as 14 goal scoring opportunities from marks alone, not taking into consideration a free kick or just general play, to me thats a really worrying sign.

Just wanted everyones thoughts on our zone and accountability in defence. Im not sure whether or not this would be picked up by those watching on TV, im interested in what the people at the game thought of it.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

How to beat it. Get numbers behind the ball when we go forward, run and carry after kicking to one side and then switching back to the open side.

It's how Freo won.

 

[RoJo Junior]

How to beat it. Get numbers behind the ball when we go forward, run and carry after kicking to one side and then switching back to the open side.

It's how Freo won.

Very true, so it begs the question, is this zone really as effective as some of us believed? I'd say its not so much, we see tackling as our deficiency and i cant allocate the extent that our numbers are down solely to the fact that we play a "zone" defence.

But my problem was with the zone in the defensive 50. Its really the first time all season i've actually witnessed us let players run free without an opponent in there while our players mark specific areas. Surely thats not the intended plan of the zone.

 

[Silk_44]

The Zone is fine, and when executed correctly is a fantastic tool for keeping the ball in our attacking 50.

The problem today was a few weak links forgetting there place and getting sucked toward the ball. The left hand side of the field particularly the wing was used well by the Dee's.

Blokes like Rosa, Embley and Nico forgot there place or simply ignored Glassy's instructions. Being such a subdued crowd it was good to hear the instructions of the back half.

The zone will only be as good as the weakest link, and quite honestly a few players went kick chasing rather than doing the team thing.

 

[RoJo Junior]

Im still baffled by the zone all the way across the field. Players like Glass, who is arguably the best 1 on 1 defender in the game currently was forced to mark an area of ground as insignificant as the back pocket at stages. From what i noticed earlier in the season, the majority of our "back 6" or at least our "tall" defenders would be left 1 out with their opponent while others formed a zonal type defence.

Note im fond of the zone we're attempting to implement, just skeptical of it being applied deep into our defensive 50. There still seems to be a lot of confusion in implementing it. I believe it is this is one of the causes of when sides begin to get a run on against us.

 

[Lion El'Johnson]

It's good except when you keep turning the ball over due to poor disposal, then you're caught out of position.

 

[RoJo Junior]

What do people think is the best strategy to beat Sydney this week, continue with the "full court zone" as Sydneys distinct lack in pace will make it difficult to break down the zone, or do we go back to contested 1 on 1 epic battles we've had with Sydney over the past 5 years?

Personally a combination will do for me, the key back 3 or 4 should hold their own (Glass, Emac, Brown and Brett Jones), whilst the mids drop back to form the zone. Had we been playing at the SCG the zone would've been so much easier to implement.

 

[KamakazeSalami]

Personally, if its coming out of our f50 then a zone with a spare man (wirra) across half back with the their forwards manned up. Thing is Sydney is a fairly experienced side and won't mind moving the ball slowly up the field through stoppages. They'll back their more experienced players to outlast our younger ones over the four quarters if its a stoppage fest (if we can shut them down effectively). Their quick ball movers are generally Mattner, Goodes, Ablett and ROK (been playing a slightly different role this year). If we can nullify their space then we'll have a chance.

Who should go with Goodes? Do we double team him? I wouldn't mind seeing how Brown goes on him. Has the pace/strength... but don't think he has the endurance to do it all game, or the smarts (yet) to tag him out (and possibly even win some ball himself). My concern in all of this is our mids' ability to go with it for four quarters.

Hall has not been playing well but its partly due to teams taking his leading space away (over the last couple of seasons). He is quick off the mark and is much better at marking on the lead out in front than being overly adept at marking above his head in a contested situation. He is strong but hasn't really adjusted to the push-off interpretations (keeps using his hands/arms instead of hips/shoulders and gets pinged). If he can't lead they might go for the bomb to him but I'd back Glass to handle him in a one on one more often than not.

Micky O is a bit harder. He's got pace, he's got strength, he can crumb.. so McKenzie (I think) will have his hands full. He tends to play well if he has good early touches and kicks a few so the key might be to try and keep him out of the play as much as possible early. Good luck with that! I think if we can keep him to three or four we'll be doing ok, provided we can keep the other forwards quiet.

We just HAVE to take our chances in front of goal! Put some scoreboard pressure on.

Man, I am looking forward to this!!! It'll be messy night one way or the other...

 

[drexel]

These days, Zone is the only option in AFL. It's up to the players to react if they see the opposition gathering in one area. No point guarding space if everybody is on the opposite wing of the ground.

So far, ive been impressed with the results considering tactical play isn't something we've relied on for 5-6 years.

The key though is having smart, agile players who can move to intercept when it comes toward their area... which is the downside to players like Priddis and Rosa even.

 

[beatlesmith]

Who should go with Goodes? Do we double team him? I wouldn't mind seeing how Brown goes on him. Has the pace/strength... but don't think he has the endurance to do it all game, or the smarts (yet) to tag him out (and possibly even win some ball himself). My concern in all of this is our mids' ability to go with it for four quarters.

Runs a 15-6 beep test, endurance is the least of his worries

 

[Finding Ebo]

Would love to see Browny go up against Goodes, I think Glass, Mackenzie and Bones should keep the forwards honest, allowing Brown to push up and win some contested footy and attack the ball which he does so well.

Whether or not he can compete in the smarts department should be an aside, the fact that we have few other options and that he has the tank and the ability to go with him forward and back should seriously be looked at. Would give us a hard body and a bit of presence around the stoppages too, something we seriously lack atm. Great at ground-level, but no mug in the air either.

Could be a real learning curve for Browny - even if only in stints. Selwood would probably be first option, but if we want to release him in a more attacking role, Brown could be an answer.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

How does Naitanui fit into this zone? Cant see him sticking to it.

Does he do the chasing down to force the errors?

 

[RoJo Junior]

The zone would be a kind of a rotation style. It needs good communication to work. If you've ever played basketball before 1 person always applies pressure on the ball and you shuffle across to the nearest set area, kind of exposing i guess you can say the long cross field pass. Trying to force the opposition into the low percentage pass. Its why players like Hurn and Lynch are pivotal to beating the other teams zone. You keep switching until you can build a large enough gap, or in their case make that long range pass which cuts the opposition up. Would be helpful if we had pacy players with good disposal to carry the ball through other teams zones, they're still a long way off selection but.

 

[keviewiggle]

The zone would be a kind of a rotation style. It needs good communication to work. If you've ever played basketball before 1 person always applies pressure on the ball and you shuffle across to the nearest set area, kind of exposing i guess you can say the long cross field pass. Trying to force the opposition into the low percentage pass. Its why players like Hurn and Lynch are pivotal to beating the other teams zone. You keep switching until you can build a large enough gap, or in their case make that long range pass which cuts the opposition up. Would be helpful if we had pacy players with good disposal to carry the ball through other teams zones, they're still a long way off selection but.

The WCE gameplan using a defensive midfield zone has been very effective when applied correctly.
The biggest problem is maintaining the intensity for four quarters.
The zone is not implimented in our defensive area, but only accross centre and accross half back.
Some posters refered to us being caught out by implimenting the zone in our defensive area. This is not the case : It's not being able to run back after applying the defensive zone to the midfield area that has caught us out.
As we get fitter and hone our skills we will be able to maintain the plan for longer periods. It took the Hawks two years to perfect the plan to beat the Cats with the zone defence.
As Rojo Jun stated having the likes of Hurn , Lynch and Nicoski are integral to the plan working as these players clear the opposition zone.
Our other deficiencies is not having the speed amongst our midfielders to penetrate the zone by run and not having a big KP Marking forward.

 

[RoJo Junior]

The WCE gameplan using a defensive midfield zone has been very effective when applied correctly.
The biggest problem is maintaining the intensity for four quarters.
The zone is not implimented in our defensive area, but only accross centre and across half back.
Some posters refered to us being caught out by implimenting the zone in our defensive area. This is not the case : It's not being able to run back after applying the defensive zone to the midfield area that has caught us out.

I pointed out that during the 3rd quarter of last weeks game, we applied the zone across the whole field, not just across the centre and half back as per usual. Players like Robertson were allowed to run free and he kicked a couple of goals in the space of a few minutes because of it. It was the first time i'd seen it all year, hence why i started this thread. Its a very dangerous tactic to apply deep in defence i thought, and it showed as the Demons hit the front scoring consecutive easy goals picking gaps in our zone at ease at times.

But i agree so far we have been quite successful at slowing the tempo of oppositions attacks this year. When the intensity drops and we're not implementing the zone effectively is when teams capitalise and slaughter us in quick bursts.