Summer Nights
Norm Smith Medallist
- Banned
- #1
"The Roman Road"
Okay, so it's a lame term I've coined for something I've noticed the team's been doing at times this year.
There's clearly a setup at a centre bounce for the forwardline players to form a straight-line from the edge of the centre square through to the goal square.
Sometimes they break each way, sometimes they don't.
Does anyone know more about this? Do other teams do it?
Clearly it's designed to deconstruct a defensive team's zones, give our players space to lead into at a clearance and obscure the view of the defenders standing behind the others in front of them.
Going Backwards and Centre
Have also noticed this a few times and was frustrating me until I realised what was happening.
When one of our players is caught on the boundary in our forward 50, more and more we are turning away from the goals, back to look for options outside 50 or centre.
My instinct was to instead urge the player to turn towards goal and either go for a low percentage shot or put it at the top of the goalsquare for a Crameri, Ryder or Hurley.
The reality is that often this is not a successful option and places the opposition with a chance to gain possession at the fall of the ball and quickly rebound.
Instead, we are utilising players positioned at the back of the press who have gotten free, and even loose options centre from 30 to 50 out.
The secondary effect is that it encourages the players not to push too high with the press, as they would do if the ball was put to the top of the goalsquare. This is a good thing, considering a hard press was killing us on the rebound last year.
As more of our midfield players are getting maturer bodies and more confident in their kicking, being able to nail goals from 45 to 55 out with the ability to quickly switch to the other side of the 50 arc will be much more beneficial come finals.
Guys like Melksham, Zaka, Jetta, Dempsey and even Heppell can hit them from 50 and it's good to start using these options in a smart way.
Okay, so it's a lame term I've coined for something I've noticed the team's been doing at times this year.
There's clearly a setup at a centre bounce for the forwardline players to form a straight-line from the edge of the centre square through to the goal square.
Sometimes they break each way, sometimes they don't.
Does anyone know more about this? Do other teams do it?
Clearly it's designed to deconstruct a defensive team's zones, give our players space to lead into at a clearance and obscure the view of the defenders standing behind the others in front of them.
Going Backwards and Centre
Have also noticed this a few times and was frustrating me until I realised what was happening.
When one of our players is caught on the boundary in our forward 50, more and more we are turning away from the goals, back to look for options outside 50 or centre.
My instinct was to instead urge the player to turn towards goal and either go for a low percentage shot or put it at the top of the goalsquare for a Crameri, Ryder or Hurley.
The reality is that often this is not a successful option and places the opposition with a chance to gain possession at the fall of the ball and quickly rebound.
Instead, we are utilising players positioned at the back of the press who have gotten free, and even loose options centre from 30 to 50 out.
The secondary effect is that it encourages the players not to push too high with the press, as they would do if the ball was put to the top of the goalsquare. This is a good thing, considering a hard press was killing us on the rebound last year.
As more of our midfield players are getting maturer bodies and more confident in their kicking, being able to nail goals from 45 to 55 out with the ability to quickly switch to the other side of the 50 arc will be much more beneficial come finals.
Guys like Melksham, Zaka, Jetta, Dempsey and even Heppell can hit them from 50 and it's good to start using these options in a smart way.
