Stuff the zone

[Phil McCreviss]

Pardon my frustration but for 3 or 4 weeks now, when we defend kick ins we have 4 or 5 players playing zone defense jumping up and down like clowns on the one spot. Interestingly, we sacrifice the first 20 metre pass, then the second 20 metre pass and before you know, the ball is at the oppositions 50.

Its one thing to protect the corridor but seriously Clarko, tell the boys to play man on man and stop giving up easy kicks. Seriously, this is a fundamental part of footy that Clarko seems hellbent on not changing. Now that other teams have clued in, put some faith in the team and tell them to take on their opponents. Pathetic gameplan gets pathetic results. Thank god we werent playing the Cats or West Coast. Would have been a 20 goal flogging

 

[Tas]

Zones came into existance because man-on-man is futile in a huddle where they will block a nominated player who will get the ball 30-40m out and allow the rest of the players to break into the open spaces in the middle.

Zones conceed the first possession but force them wide or very short and put a lot more pressure around the half forward line. It worked at times, we were held up and had to kick to a contest, turned it over a few times. I just think they need to refine the zone a bit, there were a few too many players able to find some space for the second kick which is where the zone is meant to bottle it up.