ThePuppetMaster
Yay
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Just some things i have taken away from our games this year, feel free to agree, disagree, despise and criticize the hell out of this... but these are some things i feel haven't been given much coverage on our board (generally) but are important.
1. Standing up
Not so much a lack of coverage on our board, but our senior players must stand up and play some intense footy... they aren't performing as a unit, a leadership unit should really be made up of players who will perform their role week in week out and do so consistently. if our leaders aren't consistent how can we expected all our 30- game players to be?
2. (this is where it gets a bit more interesting imo) Game style
our game style can be fantastic to watch and absolutely rip teams apart, but i have two MAJOR and interrelated problems with it.
- firstly our 'run off' style and;
- secondly our lack of appropriate forward structure
Explained:
When we utilize our direct run and carry style game plan from defense, it forces our players to 'run-off' their man to become involved in an attacking move for our team.
However if we turn the ball over coming out of defense it allows our opposition to be very potent with their ball use inside 50, as our players have left their man in order to attack, and obviously their frequency of inside 50's.
Contributing to this in two ways is our forward structure, firstly as we press up to the half way line we don't have targets outside of our oppositions 'zone of attack' ie. a zone where they can get their ball inside their attacking 50 and in dangerous positions; for me this is past the centre of the ground. Our turnovers out of defense are likely to come back inside our 50 VERY quickly, in good attacking positions for our opposition and, as previously mentioned, to players very often with attack focused opponents.
A second way our forward structure contributes to our inside 50 against is that by pressing up to the half way point on the ground our own game plan FORCES us to be incredibly precise with our kicking and our players to fight with each other for space, basically there is just too much congestion... which i believe is ultimately caused by our forward structure
3. Stoppages
one thing i have noticed is that we are getting a lack of 'dangerous clearances' ie. clearances that penetrate our past 40 meters to our goals. This, i believe, is due to a number of our players being flat footed when the ball is hitting the ruckman's hand; a lot of our boys almost ball watch at bounces and as a result the opposition team can get quick breaks out of the centre, ala daniel kerr and naitanui on thursday. When we do get a clearance it is largely a high ball to the edge of our forward fifty, and very easy to defend.
4. Entries into 50
When we go long inside 50, we tend to put the ball right on the head of our key forwards, giving them almost no chance to gather some momentum while moving towards the ball and therefore make it very easy for opposition defenders.
West Coast for example put a long ball inside 50 into space a lot of the time, maybe 10 or so meters from the players position, but it gave their player the space to gain momentum and it is much harder to defend against a tall, big bodied, moving player.
What i would do..
1.
I would make a huge statement and drop an under performing member of our leadership group and make another sub for our next game, Green would be my choice as sub and davey my choice as a player to be dropped. Although incredibly unlikely it would send a clear message to the team... 'no one is untouchable"
i would also make it clear to the leadership and experienced players that they are the key to our success this year and they will have to shoulder much of the burden until our young players can do it regularly... ideally we want a team full of players who fulfill their role week in and week out.
2.
Simple, i would spread our forwards out and give us space to move the ball and them space to lead.. the area between the center square and our defensive 50 should not have a forward player in it...
We should have three forward options when moving the ball out of the backline, one tall and two lead up types and have two crumbers and another tall in our forward 50.
I think this would help us immensely, and allow some margin for error with our footskills.
the run off game style can be deadly, so i don't want it changed, but we must find ways to prevent turnovers and from the ball from coming back inside 50 before we are manned up and ready for it.
3.
With such young players around our stoppages it's to be expected that our work there is imperfect, constant coaching and reminding player of this facet will bring improvement as well as clear focus on the defensive element to stoppages.
Also looking to have a wingman staying wide and proving an option to hit up just outside our forward 50, rather than going into the congestion... to provide another avenue deep into our forward 50.
4.
Simple make it a focus to give our forwards some space, as well as organizing our forwards so that they have space to move into, preferably having three starting very close to goal and another 3 spread out closer to 40 metres out
and also our players are professionals (obviously) and therefore highly skilled, asking them to hit a long ball into space rather than to pinpoint a player isn't a huge ask, it may even make us more effective
sorry for the length
1. Standing up
Not so much a lack of coverage on our board, but our senior players must stand up and play some intense footy... they aren't performing as a unit, a leadership unit should really be made up of players who will perform their role week in week out and do so consistently. if our leaders aren't consistent how can we expected all our 30- game players to be?
2. (this is where it gets a bit more interesting imo) Game style
our game style can be fantastic to watch and absolutely rip teams apart, but i have two MAJOR and interrelated problems with it.
- firstly our 'run off' style and;
- secondly our lack of appropriate forward structure
Explained:
When we utilize our direct run and carry style game plan from defense, it forces our players to 'run-off' their man to become involved in an attacking move for our team.
However if we turn the ball over coming out of defense it allows our opposition to be very potent with their ball use inside 50, as our players have left their man in order to attack, and obviously their frequency of inside 50's.
Contributing to this in two ways is our forward structure, firstly as we press up to the half way line we don't have targets outside of our oppositions 'zone of attack' ie. a zone where they can get their ball inside their attacking 50 and in dangerous positions; for me this is past the centre of the ground. Our turnovers out of defense are likely to come back inside our 50 VERY quickly, in good attacking positions for our opposition and, as previously mentioned, to players very often with attack focused opponents.
A second way our forward structure contributes to our inside 50 against is that by pressing up to the half way point on the ground our own game plan FORCES us to be incredibly precise with our kicking and our players to fight with each other for space, basically there is just too much congestion... which i believe is ultimately caused by our forward structure
3. Stoppages
one thing i have noticed is that we are getting a lack of 'dangerous clearances' ie. clearances that penetrate our past 40 meters to our goals. This, i believe, is due to a number of our players being flat footed when the ball is hitting the ruckman's hand; a lot of our boys almost ball watch at bounces and as a result the opposition team can get quick breaks out of the centre, ala daniel kerr and naitanui on thursday. When we do get a clearance it is largely a high ball to the edge of our forward fifty, and very easy to defend.
4. Entries into 50
When we go long inside 50, we tend to put the ball right on the head of our key forwards, giving them almost no chance to gather some momentum while moving towards the ball and therefore make it very easy for opposition defenders.
West Coast for example put a long ball inside 50 into space a lot of the time, maybe 10 or so meters from the players position, but it gave their player the space to gain momentum and it is much harder to defend against a tall, big bodied, moving player.
What i would do..
1.
I would make a huge statement and drop an under performing member of our leadership group and make another sub for our next game, Green would be my choice as sub and davey my choice as a player to be dropped. Although incredibly unlikely it would send a clear message to the team... 'no one is untouchable"
i would also make it clear to the leadership and experienced players that they are the key to our success this year and they will have to shoulder much of the burden until our young players can do it regularly... ideally we want a team full of players who fulfill their role week in and week out.
2.
Simple, i would spread our forwards out and give us space to move the ball and them space to lead.. the area between the center square and our defensive 50 should not have a forward player in it...
We should have three forward options when moving the ball out of the backline, one tall and two lead up types and have two crumbers and another tall in our forward 50.
I think this would help us immensely, and allow some margin for error with our footskills.
the run off game style can be deadly, so i don't want it changed, but we must find ways to prevent turnovers and from the ball from coming back inside 50 before we are manned up and ready for it.
3.
With such young players around our stoppages it's to be expected that our work there is imperfect, constant coaching and reminding player of this facet will bring improvement as well as clear focus on the defensive element to stoppages.
Also looking to have a wingman staying wide and proving an option to hit up just outside our forward 50, rather than going into the congestion... to provide another avenue deep into our forward 50.
4.
Simple make it a focus to give our forwards some space, as well as organizing our forwards so that they have space to move into, preferably having three starting very close to goal and another 3 spread out closer to 40 metres out
and also our players are professionals (obviously) and therefore highly skilled, asking them to hit a long ball into space rather than to pinpoint a player isn't a huge ask, it may even make us more effective
sorry for the length
