Smothers

[smoovy]

Can some work out the stats for the amount of times we had our kick or handball smothered versus how many times we were able to reciprocate. I would do it myself, but don't want to watch that god awful game again.

If the stats are not at least 3-1 against i will be stunned.

The thing about our smothered possessions is that you can see it happening before we even try to get rid of it.

Someone get Rocket Maynard out there to teach this mob the art of the smother.

 

[Dandy_GO]

Hawthorn were incredible impressive in that respect. They might not get big tackle numbers, but their ability to pressure us, and create turnovers, was amazing. Coupled with their precise disposal and spread from contests, we were seriously flattered by a 2 goal margin.

I've never seen so many smothers. I wish we could do that.

Edit: Actually, I wish we WOULD do that. It's not a hard skill to learn.

 

[smoovy]

Hawthorn were incredible impressive in that respect. They might not get big tackle numbers, but their ability to pressure us, and create turnovers, was amazing. Coupled with their precise disposal and spread from contests, we were seriously flattered by a 2 goal margin.

I've never seen so many smothers. I wish we could do that.

Edit: Actually, I wish we WOULD do that. It's not a hard skill to learn.

Too right. It is any easy low hanging fruit in terms of improvement. In basketball it's called getting into the passing lane.

Smothers/deflections >>>>>>>>>> tackles

Have a look at the smother by Mitchell at the start of Q2

 

[rocket18]

This has been a bugbear of mine for years, we would have to be the most "smothered" team in the AFL. No idea if that stat is available but the number of times our kicks are smothered drives me to tears. We seem to have no awareness, we "wind up" for a kick when the opposition is poised to smother, other teams have more composure and give off or baulk around.

 

[Tyls83]

What is more amazing is that in those pack situations a smother lead to an easy Hawk clearance, every time.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

What is more amazing is that in those pack situations a smother lead to an easy Hawk clearance, every time.

This!

How many times did a smothered ball ricochet at a random angle, directly into the waiting hands of a bystanding Hawk player who was facing goal and didn't need to break stride

 

[40porpoise]

I've never seen a team get smothered as much as we did tonight

 

[Nige_Bix]

I've never seen a team get smothered as much as we did tonight

I think it was a combination of great pressure and commitment by the Hawks, and a lack of awareness at times by us. I found it extremely frustrating and it was the main thing that sticks in my mind about the loss!

 

[Bay62]

This!

How many times did a smothered ball ricochet at a random angle, directly into the waiting hands of a bystanding Hawk player who was facing goal and didn't need to break stride

Or to someone who then flicked it to a three person chain, ending up with someone all on their own running through the middle of the ground.

Far out it was frustrating!

 

[Mattrox]

I've never seen a team get smothered as much as we did tonight

We kicked straight into our own player too. I saw 3 times.

 

[The Karma Bus]

This has been a bugbear of mine for years, we would have to be the most "smothered" team in the AFL. No idea if that stat is available but the number of times our kicks are smothered drives me to tears. We seem to have no awareness, we "wind up" for a kick when the opposition is poised to smother, other teams have more composure and give off or baulk around.

It's like you recorded me last night..
You could see it coming, the player had to see it coming, yet it's like they think "well I've started to decide to kick it, I'll just have to do it now and be smothered"..

D Jarman would eat them for breakfast (literally maybe) over it..
So lacking in awareness, skill and true smarts..

Back to a favourite saying again: we're a dumb, dumb football team..

 

[dblstR]

Apart from the constant turnovers the sheer amount of smothers Hawthorn were able to execute was so frustrating, and they would immediately capitalise on any mistake we made.

 

[Golumless]

Hawks were relentless though, i think the smother discrepancy was something like 10:1 or something like that, it was pretty amazing pressure truth be told. They are one of the best teams during this era and it showed last night.

It is also a good learning curve for the younger brigade, if you want to win a grand final, that's what you have to be able to handle.

 

[little graham]

They pulled out all the party tricks last nite.

 

[1970crow]

Smothering has been a bug-bear of mine for a while. It's not just us, so this isn't a criticism of our players alone. We were all taught the same thing, attack the foot. Too many players do this bullshit sticking out the arms and turning their head away from the ball. If you want to smother the ball you throw yourself at the place where your opponents foot is going to contact the ball.

When sando first turned up in 2012, I thought our smothering effort was really good. Were just like most other teams these days.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

What is more amazing is that in those pack situations a smother lead to an easy Hawk clearance, every time.

Said the same at the game.

Can't recall a side smothering so many times & just about every time a hawks player was positioned to get the ball & turn it into a counter attack. Good structure or lucky?

 

[Crow_Magnon]

Said the same at the game.

Can't recall a side smothering so many times & just about every time a hawks player was positioned to get the ball & turn it into a counter attack. Good structure or lucky?

I think I said lucky in an earlier thread...but thinking about it....their positioning at the clearances definitely contributed to this - even if it wasn't a smother the ball would likely have been flicked out to one of these players on the outside of the contest if the Hawks had won the ball in the first place. Damn good coaching or conversely poor coaching and/or player awareness from us.

 

[dylan123]

Is it just me or does it feel like we get smothered more by the opposition than most teams? I'm not sure whether we actually do or it feels that way as I'm much more likely to notice it.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I hadn't noticed it nearly as much as I did Friday night

 

[spexau]

I think Friday night was a bit of an anomaly. We don't really get smothered any more or less than other teams usually IMO.

 

[cmndstab]

I've always felt we get smothered more often than our opponents do. I'm not sure if that's because we get smothered more often, or we do less smothering ourselves, though.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

The last time we smothered well as a team was in the Prelim final in 2012. That is the bar we should be setting. It's disgraceful how far backwards we've gone.

 

[Niximus]

I feel like we get smothered more in poor games. It seems like when we're playing well we're more likely to take that extra second to adjust the kick, or pull out after the defender has over-committed.

When we're a bit off, you can see the smothers coming a mile off as we slowly wind up our kick.

 

[aneale]

I don't think we get smothered more than anyone else, except Van Berlo as an individual he telegraphs it and he kicks at a lower trajectory and gets stung a lot.

But Hawthorn are brilliant at it, and not just kicks, they get hands to handballs a lot. more than any other team It's a discipline thing that we need to get up to that level.

 

[smoovy]

I don't think we get smothered more than anyone else, except Van Berlo as an individual he telegraphs it and he kicks at a lower trajectory and gets stung a lot.

But Hawthorn are brilliant at it, and not just kicks, they get hands to handballs a lot. more than any other team It's a discipline thing that we need to get up to that level.

People miss this point too often. When you handball as much as you kick then it is just as important. In fact it is more important, because usually a handball is the option to get out of trouble when about to be tackled or being tackled. If I was coaching and saw a player tackling around the waist without any regard for where the ball is then I would drop him.