Richmond Game Plan

[AstuteTiger]

Yes its the preseason and it should be a time to experiment with many players, positional changes and some strategies but some concerns remain, namely the game plan and where its heading so would like others thoughts on this as it seems to be a talking point, yes its a work in progress and i must say with Dimma i have been super impressed with him overall since being appointed coach and his only starting his 2nd year but im just somewhat concerned bout the game plan......Dimma said we have a game plan which we feel will test the rigors through finals footy or something to that affect meaning the game plan will take us far into Sept....I hope so!

Also i think some supporters are confusing the time needed to overhaul the list to the overall style of play thats true of getting the right players and the last 3 or so drafts have been good and some quality kids coming through but the game plan u just wanna see where its heading and i dont think u need 2 years to see that, whether essendon rise so high is irrelevant over 1 sumer their game plan is mirror image or close to collingwoods, their defensive pressure is good im not sold on their overall list but the game plan seems to have come together over 1 summer....

Other notable deficiencies seem to be players not spreading to space or doing the shepherding & blocking for a team mate and also not linking up and gut running to the next contest yes i see it sometimes but it should be the norm these are super important attributes to have in modern day football, IE: relentless running, essendon seems to have copied collingwoods frenetic style of play, run & carry at all times, harass and close the gap for space so the opposition is forced into skill errors therefore resulting in turnovers, this is what i want to see more off that style of play (Collingwoods), gee id rather turn it over with taking the game on with risk than watching players going into their shell with these short kicks which just aides the oppositions zone which we are having trouble getting out of...

Early days yes but one thing i dont like seeing and i saw it last year way to much and that is we tend to bomb away into our fwd line like 70/80's football when forward of the center...we need more movement in the fwd line so our mids streaming fwd are able to find multiple options in open space thus resulting in more shots within the 50 meter arc, we cant always hope for a big jack or Vickery mark we gotta b smarter with our ball use "near or just inside the 50 mtr arc"...

Patient ive been, LUV THE CLUB and am a platinum member since being joined up as a little tacker so my final words on this is ill see how the game plan evolves in 2011 and hopefully be proved wrong on the above mentioned...

 

[tigertRANCE]

Yes its the preseason and it should be a time to experiment with many players, positional changes and some strategies but some concerns remain, namely the game plan and where its heading so would like others thoughts on this as it seems to be a talking point, yes its a work in progress and i must say with Dimma i have been super impressed with him overall since being appointed coach and his only starting his 2nd year but im just somewhat concerned bout the game plan......Dimma said we have a game plan which we feel will test the rigors through finals footy or something to that affect meaning the game plan will take us far into Sept....I hope so!

Also i think some supporters are confusing the time needed to overhaul the list to the overall style of play thats true of getting the right players and the last 3 or so drafts have been good and some quality kids coming through but the game plan u just wanna see where its heading and i dont think u need 2 years to see that, whether essendon rise so high is irrelevant over 1 sumer their game plan is mirror image or close to collingwoods, their defensive pressure is good im not sold on their overall list but the game plan seems to have come together over 1 summer....

Other notable deficiencies seem to be players not spreading to space or doing the shepherding & blocking for a team mate and also not linking up and gut running to the next contest yes i see it sometimes but it should be the norm these are super important attributes to have in modern day football, IE: relentless running, essendon seems to have copied collingwoods frenetic style of play, run & carry at all times, harass and close the gap for space so the opposition is forced into skill errors therefore resulting in turnovers, this is what i want to see more off that style of play (Collingwoods), gee id rather turn it over with taking the game on with risk than watching players going into their shell with these short kicks which just aides the oppositions zone which we are having trouble getting out of...

Early days yes but one thing i dont like seeing and i saw it last year way to much and that is we tend to bomb away into our fwd line like 70/80's football when forward of the center...we need more movement in the fwd line so our mids streaming fwd are able to find multiple options in open space thus resulting in more shots within the 50 meter arc, we cant always hope for a big jack or Vickery mark we gotta b smarter with our ball use "near or just inside the 50 mtr arc"...

Patient ive been, LUV THE CLUB and am a platinum member since being joined up as a little tacker so my final words on this is ill see how the game plan evolves in 2011 and hopefully be proved wrong on the above mentioned...

Agree with basically the above (read my reply to your post on PRE; 'Mikee').

GO TIGES!!!

 

[El Tigre]

Good OP. Balanced and rational view. And i've been thinking even more about the game plan more over the last couple of weeks. Could rabbit on for weeks, but basically what i have seen in defence last year, as well as this year, well, Dimmas got lots to do.

Dimma said a whiles ago that a further development of the game plan would be implemented in 2011. Of course we'll all be dissecting it down, but it'll be interesting to see how we go through the year.

One positive thing is in the year that the hawks won their premiership, they timed their intensity to perfection. I think that if the H&A season had of been a bit shorter, or a bit longer, that they may not have pulled the GF off. In that regard, the NOB cup plus the first about 6 rounds, are not that important, IMO.

The negative is that other teams seem to adapt to new game plans quicker. Yes it's only the NOB cup, but you expect our losses to be not quite that bad.

I've pencilled us in for a bottom four finish, but without being on the bottom.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

The Geelong game plan was to handball through traffic , Collingwood predominately handball backward from congestion to a player in space behind the footy in space and kick over the congestion.
Shaw , Pendlebury , Swan, Wellingham , Beams, Maxwell and it appears now Neon Leon, all receive alot of handballs on the defensive side of contests. The Collingwood model allows for maximum benefit from shepparding and defensive pressure upon the ball carrier . IMO our biggest downfall isn't defensive pressure on the ball carrier, as I think it has improved immensely , it's when we get the Footy we try to run through congestion , rather than releasing to a playing in space, if need be behind the play, and kicking over the congestion . For evidence view the amount of times we have players tackled trying to weave through traffic or kicks that are delivered under pressure/ turnovers .
IMO it leads to periods of games where we turn over the footy over , the floodgates open, we just seem unable to arrest any sort of control or composure, appear to be giving no defensive pressure and backline is under sever pressure.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

The Geelong game plan was to handball through traffic , Collingwood predominately handball backward from congestion to a player in space behind the footy in space and kick over the congestion.
Shaw , Pendlebury , Swan, Wellingham , Beams, Maxwell and it appears now Neon Leon, all receive alot of handballs on the defensive side of contests. The Collingwood model allows for maximum benefit from shepparding and defensive pressure upon the ball carrier . IMO our biggest downfall isn't defensive pressure on the ball carrier, as I think it has improved immensely , it's when we get the Footy we try to run through congestion , rather than releasing to a playing in space, if need be behind the play, and kicking over the congestion . For evidence view the amount of times we have players tackled trying to weave through traffic or kicks that are delivered under pressure/ turnovers .
IMO it leads to periods of games where we turn over the footy over , the floodgates open, we just seem unable to arrest any sort of control or composure, appear to be giving no defensive pressure and backline is under sever pressure.

Agree with you, we arn't looking like we know what we are actually doing when we are running out of defensive 50 and into our forwardline, we then dish off hospital handpasses and create a costly turnover, i want some fluency where we can run through the corridor/down the wings while creating space for our forwards and midfielders streaming forward

 

[Bojangles17]

i really need to see a game live to comment propoerley...from the snippets I saw in NAB I thought there were improvements in our defensive pressure/intensity...Hard to tell what has been put out on the park in terms of trialling players in certain positions that have turned into abject failures as in using nahas to tag rioli..Rance as a FB...Not sure we'll take that into r 1

 

[_RT_]

At times like everyone else I've been frustrated with our lack of fluid ball movement, however at other times I've seen us move the ball quickly and skillfully through zones and put the opposition under real pressure in their backlines.

The thing I put it down to is that for the most part we've relied on first/second year players and/or players in new roles to implement the gameplan. Anyone expecting White Conca or Batchelor to perform at the same level as Deledio or Newman coming out of the backline is kidding themselves. At the same time people expecting Nahas Connors Helbig or Conca to perform at the same level as Cotchin Martin Foley Jackson or Tuck when going through the midfield is also kidding themselves. On top of that we've had to rely on Miller playing the Riewoldt role and we've missed that 3rd tall forward that we've spent all summer working on. Any wonder the gameplan hasn't been working.

Over the next few weeks as we get our better players up and running I fully expect to see much better efforts regarding getting the gameplan up and running. If we're still struggling to implement it after these guys are up and running then we can start panicking but until then I'm not going to worry.

 

[Bojangles17]

spot on RT, I'm surprised so many are kicking the sand at our slow ball movement out of defence without considering who exactly has the pill in their hands, read same for midfield that you rightly pointed out. One positive is that we are likely to go into R 1 at FULL strength at which point we will have a far greater guage to how far we have come

 

[theflea]

spot on RT, I'm surprised so many are kicking the sand at our slow ball movement out of defence without considering who exactly has the pill in their hands, read same for midfield that you rightly pointed out. One positive is that we are likely to go into R 1 at FULL strength at which point we will have a far greater guage to how far we have come

this is the point though imo. game plans that rely on the absolute best having to have the ball all the time in there hands just dont work. have a look at the better teams. by having a good spread on rebound ie blocking, gut running to space you dont need to have absolute pin point ball delivery. i think the idea by using kicking to defeat zones is right but it doesnt work if there is no free space in forward presses. thats where i reckon if we can get better it will make all the difference!

 

[tiggywigs]

The Geelong game plan was to handball through traffic , Collingwood predominately handball backward from congestion to a player in space behind the footy in space and kick over the congestion.
Shaw , Pendlebury , Swan, Wellingham , Beams, Maxwell and it appears now Neon Leon, all receive alot of handballs on the defensive side of contests. The Collingwood model allows for maximum benefit from shepparding and defensive pressure upon the ball carrier . IMO our biggest downfall isn't defensive pressure on the ball carrier, as I think it has improved immensely , it's when we get the Footy we try to run through congestion , rather than releasing to a playing in space, if need be behind the play, and kicking over the congestion . For evidence view the amount of times we have players tackled trying to weave through traffic or kicks that are delivered under pressure/ turnovers .
IMO it leads to periods of games where we turn over the footy over , the floodgates open, we just seem unable to arrest any sort of control or composure, appear to be giving no defensive pressure and backline is under sever pressure.

Inclined to agree with this assessment. Collingwood's success appears to come from freeing the ball disposer from immediate pressure (which increases disposal efficency). Looks like we have a lot of work to do on our gameplan for congested zone clearances.

 

[jko'neal]

Some things that concern me regarding the game plan.
* We create the loose man off half back by switching play, then that player slows up the play by kicking sideways or short into the middle. Defeats the purpose of creating the loose man in the first place

* As already mentioned our players around stoppages don't spread quick enough when we gain possession. And that is just crazy given the fact we were the 2nd or 3rd best clearance side in the comp last year were we not?

* Just far too slow bringing in the ball from opposition behinds. Seems to have been a common theme at this club for some time guys jogging in to take the kick out

* Pressure on the oppositions ball carrier, not sure why but to me we just seem to sag off the opposing teams ball carrier far too often. I just don't get that I'm afraid, always from a young age you are coached and instructed to attack the guy that has the ball.

* Still huge spaces in front of the oppositions forwards, and I have said it before. We need to play a loose guy in the backline whilst our young guys are still learning.

Those are just some points IMO that are concerning, I couldn't care less about wins or losses and it was always going to take Hardwick 2-3 years minimum to start turning things around. But the above mentioned things are just basic football fundamentals that guys at AFL level shouldn't have to be given time to master.

 

[_RT_]

* Still huge spaces in front of the oppositions forwards, and I have said it before. We need to play a loose guy in the backline whilst our young guys are still learning.

Just on this point, Dimma has said that while he could tinker with things to make it easier for us, but that he refuses to do so as he sees it as a shortcut in terms of the players development.

 

[Grin]

Edit:
Written when extremely pissed and mildly pissed off
My apologies

 

[jko'neal]

Just on this point, Dimma has said that while he could tinker with things to make it easier for us, but that he refuses to do so as he sees it as a shortcut in terms of the players development.

That's fair enough but whilst opposition players are running forward under no pressure on a regular basis, our young defenders are sitting ducks like on Friday with Walker just strolling into lace out chest marks. And that will murder confidence more than anything.

 

[MightyTiger]

That's fair enough but whilst opposition players are running forward under no pressure on a regular basis, our young defenders are sitting ducks like on Friday with Walker just strolling into lace out chest marks. And that will murder confidence more than anything.

Question is though do the kids learn more from having to play 1 on 1 such as Astbury vs Walker on the weekend or would it be better to plug holes by flooding the defense and teaching the kids it's ok to be unaccountable because others will plug the hole for them.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

That's fair enough but whilst opposition players are running forward under no pressure on a regular basis, our young defenders are sitting ducks like on Friday with Walker just strolling into lace out chest marks. And that will murder confidence more than anything.

IMO , if we where to release the footy from congestion , backward of the contest more often, it would mean we would have more players who are behind the Footy , who would also inturn be in a better position to apply defensive pressure should there be a turn over .
Most of our players currently appear to run forward of the contest to recieve , meaning if there's a turn over , they are found completely out of position to apply any form of defensive pressure .

 

[_RT_]

That's fair enough but whilst opposition players are running forward under no pressure on a regular basis, our young defenders are sitting ducks like on Friday with Walker just strolling into lace out chest marks. And that will murder confidence more than anything.

While it might be confidence sapping at the time to get a few goals kicked on them, but as long as the coaches reinforce the good things that they did or provide constructive criticism as to how they can do better next time then they should find it that deflating. At the same time it can alse build confidence quickly if the players go out and shut an opponent down in a 1-1 contest.

 

[NQTIGER]

I guess we all agree that friday was awful, whilst i am concerned, has anybody considered that maybe we were playing to instruction?


The concerning bit was dimmas spray in the press unless that is also a smokescreen.

I turned off the live feed after 10 minutes it was that bad, but hey we are experimenting . i just hope and PRAY that we turn up for next week, if we dont it will be a vEry Very long season.

 

[jko'neal]

I guess we all agree that friday was awful, whilst i am concerned, has anybody considered that maybe we were playing to instruction?


The concerning bit was dimmas spray in the press unless that is also a smokescreen.

I turned off the live feed after 10 minutes it was that bad, but hey we are experimenting . i just hope and PRAY that we turn up for next week, if we dont it will be a vEry Very long season.

I'm with you the spray from the coach was a big concern, we are not in a position to pick and choose when we play well like the top sides are. And the fact it was our last hit out before the season proper was the most worrying thing. First round NAB Cup who cares, but this close to round one and that was dished up, things need to change a lot in a hurry.

 

[pcara]

What is concerning is that the bombers can revise and implement their new game plan effectively,for all to see after one pre- season, and we still can't implement our new game plan after two seasons. Is it the player's or coaching staff???

 

[jko'neal]

What is concerning is that the bombers can revise and implement their new game plan effectively,for all to see after one pre- season, and we still can't implement our new game plan after two seasons. Is it the player's or coaching staff???

I wouldn't go that far, the Bombers IMO are still playing the same try and kick 20 goals a game game plan. Just most of the players attitudes looked to have changed under Hird. They beat good sides and played some awesome footy under Knights, but would then come out a week later and get rolled by a team like West Coast in Melbourne. That is player attitude and mind set IMO, not the coach.