Our worst flaw

[smcateer]

Here's my analysis of the part of our game which I feel is our greatest flaw as a team. It's our set-up around the contested ball, particularly when the ball is moving.

Here's couple of examples to illustrate this from the Port match. At the end of the third quarter we were playing a heavy defensive zone, and Port were chipping the ball around waiting for an opening. Eventually they kicked inside 50 to our back pocket, and failed to mark. The ball spilled and all of our players within 10 meters moved in towards the ball leaving a gaping hole in the zone immediately in front of goal; the Port players stayed behind as our boys rushed in. When the ball finally popped out, there were several Port players left alone to finish off with the goal.

Another example was in the final term. There was a foot-race towards the boundary following a clearance. It was five-versus-four in our favour, and all five of our players closed in on the ball while only two of Port's players ran at the ball; the remaining two hung back in space on the wing. The Port players managed to win the ball, but despite the pressure of five Bombers, only had to roughly pop the ball in-field to the waiting, unmanned players. Certainly in this situation, two-versus-five at the ball would have been no better for us than three-versus-two - indeed the confusion caused by the extra two pairs of hands at the ball probably contributed to port winning the ball.

Similar problems regularly crop up at ruck contests in and around our defensive 50. When the ball goes up, all of our guys lose their cool and run in at the ball, leaving nobody behind to receive a pass if we do win the ball; and worse, there is nobody left behind to defend if the opposition gains the ascendancy. Either we end up hand-passing to a player with hands on him, or a loose opposition runner streams in for a goal.

I don't assume to know the solution to this issue, but a first step would surely be to have the players and coaches study the contested-ball set-ups of the teams that do this right - in my book that's West Coast circa 05/06 and Geelong (and to a lesser extent Carlton and Richmond) at the moment. I specifically mention Carlton and Richmond to emphasise that this is not simply a question of cattle, but rather a question of correct grazing technique.

Just my opinion.

And remember Bomber faithful - "Positivity is not about being soft, it's about being smart; you suckahhs!" -- NKOTB.

 

[Phat Toni]

Agree with your assessment.

A good technique and strategy around the stoppages helps win games, however we are a poor defensive team and have been for about four to five years in my book. I am not talking about our back six either I think they are ok, it's just our work rate/willingness all over the ground to want to build pressure. I like the way the Hawks do it but that takes a lot of work and needs players who are willing to sacrifice for the greater good and Essendon has a lack of these types of players, everybody is busy chasing kicks not doing the team things.

 

[reincarnated]

A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. That should be written in big red texta in the players' theatre at Windy Hill today when the Bombers review yet another debacle.
Maybe the Oxford Dictionary's definition should accompany it, because at the moment no one, and that includes the coaching staff, seems to know exactly what it means.
This time it was Port Adelaide that took the opportunity to show Matthew Knights that surely it is time to raise the white flag and go back to the drawing board with his game plan.
The razzle dazzle of Round 1 was great for PR. Six weeks on it has proved a false dawn. The evidence is so overwhelming that Knights can no longer ignore the facts.
Yesterday was the fourth week in a row the Bombers' new attacking game style failed to deliver more than 100 points. In that time their opponents have kicked 128, 123, 154 and 158.
There is no recent evidence to suggest that building a team based on free-wheeling, run-and-gun football achieves success.
Port is probably the closest you'll find to it, but in 2004 it also had a good mix of hard nuts to compliment the outside runners.
One of them was former Bomber Damien Hardwick, whom Knights surprisingly pipped at the post for the Essendon coaching job.
The rumour mill has it that Hardwick - who has played an integral part in Hawthorn's rise to the top - was brutally honest about the state of the Bombers list.
Knights was far more optimistic; a top-eight position was well within reach of this group, he said.
Well, after seven rounds Essendon islocked in a battle with Melbourne and West Coast for the title of worst team in the land.
There are excuses. Their three best players - Dustin Fletcher, Scott Lucas and Mark McVeigh - are on the sidelines, along with 10 others.
But that doesn't excuse the mentality that is being installed in this bunch of kids.
Running forward at all costs and having no idea about the defensive side of the game is not a good way to learn how to be an AFL player.
You have to crawl before you walk in this game and Knights is finding that also relates to coaching.

And the natives - some of whom still believe Kevin Sheedy should be there - are beginning to get restless.
For five minutes at the start of the second term yesterday, the Bombers could not move the ball outside of Port's 50m arc.

When they finally did, they were greeted by Bronx cheers from their own fans.
Mass flooding and a couple of players behind the ball are not the answer and Knights continues to say he won't do that.
Fair enough, but there has to be a Plan B - something along the lines of locking down the opposition's two or three key midfielders and playing tight one-on-one football.
Take yesterday, for example.
Maybe it might have been an idea to lock on to Shaun Burgoyne, Steven Salopek and Peter Burgoyne - 87 possessions between them - rather than let them have a shootout with Bachar Houli, Jobe Watson and Ricky Dyson.
We know who's going to win that contest every time.
Port singled out Brent Stanton as Essendon's main man and Kane Cornes did a job on him, still managing to get 29 possessions in the process.
Veteran Damien Peverill is the closest thing the Dons have to an old-fashioned stopper but he was out of favour before breaking his jaw in the VFL.
Knights will argue there is hope on the horizon, given the talent that has been exposed in recent weeks.
Names such as Tom Hislop, Jay Nash, Jay Neagle, David Myers, Houli and Jarrod Atkinson look to have the goods but they are going to need time and assistance.
And more importantly, some time in the classroom learning the "A" word.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23645210-19764,00.html

 

[Bomber57]

We live in ground hog day at bomberland, same old same old, nothing has changed nor will it for quite sometime, what we are very good at is, making excuses for our faults and not facing the truth.

 

[Smyth94]

A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. That should be written in big red texta in the players' theatre at Windy Hill today when the Bombers review yet another debacle.
Maybe the Oxford Dictionary's definition should accompany it, because at the moment no one, and that includes the coaching staff, seems to know exactly what it means.
This time it was Port Adelaide that took the opportunity to show Matthew Knights that surely it is time to raise the white flag and go back to the drawing board with his game plan.
The razzle dazzle of Round 1 was great for PR. Six weeks on it has proved a false dawn. The evidence is so overwhelming that Knights can no longer ignore the facts.
Yesterday was the fourth week in a row the Bombers' new attacking game style failed to deliver more than 100 points. In that time their opponents have kicked 128, 123, 154 and 158.
There is no recent evidence to suggest that building a team based on free-wheeling, run-and-gun football achieves success.
Port is probably the closest you'll find to it, but in 2004 it also had a good mix of hard nuts to compliment the outside runners.
One of them was former Bomber Damien Hardwick, whom Knights surprisingly pipped at the post for the Essendon coaching job.
The rumour mill has it that Hardwick - who has played an integral part in Hawthorn's rise to the top - was brutally honest about the state of the Bombers list.
Knights was far more optimistic; a top-eight position was well within reach of this group, he said.
Well, after seven rounds Essendon islocked in a battle with Melbourne and West Coast for the title of worst team in the land.
There are excuses. Their three best players - Dustin Fletcher, Scott Lucas and Mark McVeigh - are on the sidelines, along with 10 others.
But that doesn't excuse the mentality that is being installed in this bunch of kids.
Running forward at all costs and having no idea about the defensive side of the game is not a good way to learn how to be an AFL player.
You have to crawl before you walk in this game and Knights is finding that also relates to coaching.

And the natives - some of whom still believe Kevin Sheedy should be there - are beginning to get restless.
For five minutes at the start of the second term yesterday, the Bombers could not move the ball outside of Port's 50m arc.

When they finally did, they were greeted by Bronx cheers from their own fans.
Mass flooding and a couple of players behind the ball are not the answer and Knights continues to say he won't do that.
Fair enough, but there has to be a Plan B - something along the lines of locking down the opposition's two or three key midfielders and playing tight one-on-one football.
Take yesterday, for example.
Maybe it might have been an idea to lock on to Shaun Burgoyne, Steven Salopek and Peter Burgoyne - 87 possessions between them - rather than let them have a shootout with Bachar Houli, Jobe Watson and Ricky Dyson.
We know who's going to win that contest every time.
Port singled out Brent Stanton as Essendon's main man and Kane Cornes did a job on him, still managing to get 29 possessions in the process.
Veteran Damien Peverill is the closest thing the Dons have to an old-fashioned stopper but he was out of favour before breaking his jaw in the VFL.
Knights will argue there is hope on the horizon, given the talent that has been exposed in recent weeks.
Names such as Tom Hislop, Jay Nash, Jay Neagle, David Myers, Houli and Jarrod Atkinson look to have the goods but they are going to need time and assistance.
And more importantly, some time in the classroom learning the "A" word.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23645210-19764,00.html

$hit article

regurgitates what we already know

 

[sacka]

proctecting the ball carrier i believe is our worst flaw instead of 5 blokes looking for a handball go and lay a bump to give the ball carrier extra time...

 

[RYDER to GUMBLETON]

Totally agree! How often do we see a player handball to someone hot, and then just stand there and watch instead of Shepparding.

 

[ant555]

Here's my analysis of the part of our game which I feel is our greatest flaw as a team. It's our set-up around the contested ball, particularly when the ball is moving.

Here's couple of examples to illustrate this from the Port match. At the end of the third quarter we were playing a heavy defensive zone, and Port were chipping the ball around waiting for an opening. Eventually they kicked inside 50 to our back pocket, and failed to mark. The ball spilled and all of our players within 10 meters moved in towards the ball leaving a gaping hole in the zone immediately in front of goal; the Port players stayed behind as our boys rushed in. When the ball finally popped out, there were several Port players left alone to finish off with the goal.

Another example was in the final term. There was a foot-race towards the boundary following a clearance. It was five-versus-four in our favour, and all five of our players closed in on the ball while only two of Port's players ran at the ball; the remaining two hung back in space on the wing. The Port players managed to win the ball, but despite the pressure of five Bombers, only had to roughly pop the ball in-field to the waiting, unmanned players. Certainly in this situation, two-versus-five at the ball would have been no better for us than three-versus-two - indeed the confusion caused by the extra two pairs of hands at the ball probably contributed to port winning the ball.

Similar problems regularly crop up at ruck contests in and around our defensive 50. When the ball goes up, all of our guys lose their cool and run in at the ball, leaving nobody behind to receive a pass if we do win the ball; and worse, there is nobody left behind to defend if the opposition gains the ascendancy. Either we end up hand-passing to a player with hands on him, or a loose opposition runner streams in for a goal.

I don't assume to know the solution to this issue, but a first step would surely be to have the players and coaches study the contested-ball set-ups of the teams that do this right - in my book that's West Coast circa 05/06 and Geelong (and to a lesser extent Carlton and Richmond) at the moment. I specifically mention Carlton and Richmond to emphasise that this is not simply a question of cattle, but rather a question of correct grazing technique.

Just my opinion.

And remember Bomber faithful - "Positivity is not about being soft, it's about being smart; you suckahhs!" -- NKOTB.

You are right. I mentioned in another thread on sunday that we have too many players sucked to the contest or the ball leaving the oposition with loose men to provide support. It must be driving Knights crazy as i know as coaching panel member in suburban footy i have had many discusions with the players about not all running to the footy and also not trying to get to every contest. There are times when you have to let a couple of your team mates sort it out while you either man up or look to provide support if they win the ball.

 

[yaco55]

But why do we have so many 'dumb players'.

 

[Artie Bucco]

proctecting the ball carrier i believe is our worst flaw instead of 5 blokes looking for a handball go and lay a bump to give the ball carrier extra time...

Totally agree! How often do we see a player handball to someone hot, and then just stand there and watch instead of Shepparding.

This was Carlton's worst flaw last year, midfield pressure and accountability has increased tenfold and the benefits to the backline has increased tremendously.

Where do you guys think Essendon are at?

The gameplan you have gone with is obviously exciting and bold, but I'm not so sure your skills or decision making are ready for this. Everyone knew this was a rebuilding year, would you rather be playing tempo footy and perhaps play as Hawthorn did a couple of years ago and from there develop into the style you are currently trying to play?

 

[drewie_rama]

Its about backing your team-mates in to win the ball isnt it?
All the good sides do it, we just get sucked in, whilst others sit outside the packs and inturn then have zero pressure applied to them, which makes it look like a training drill.
Honestly, we were either going to beat Port on the weekend or get completely smashed, they are (if possible) even bigger down hill skiers than us. Once they get in front, confidence is up, they just thrive on it..and we completley got smashed