What is our game plan?

Apr 18, 2005
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Its a pretty simple question really. I guess we dissect quite a lot during game day threads and in post match discussions, but I want to actually put the question out there.

Personally, I am a bit confused based on what I’ve seen for 5 weeks. We are obviously contested ball winning team, we are trying to employ a ferocious forward line that is tackle and pressure happy (theory, not practice), and we seem to want to be a rebounding team from half back that zones off and drives forward with aggression.

So in your opinion, what is our game plan from what you’ve seen?

Thanks
 
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May 3, 2014
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Its a pretty simple question really. I guess we dissect quite a lot during game day threads and in post match discussions, but I want to actually put the question out there.

Personally, I am a bit confused based on what I’ve seen for 5 weeks. We are obviously contested ball winning team, we are trying to employ a ferocious forward line that is tackle and pressure happy (theory, not practice), and we seem to want to be a rebounding team from half back that zones off and drives forward with aggression.

So in your opinion, what is our game plan from what you’ve seen?

Thanks
 
To be fair to Simon, I'm sure there is actually a plan, I'm just not sure its any more effective than "Nelson, you spin around in a circle"

edit: haha, beat you Dark Avenger :p
 

Cannon82

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Oct 26, 2012
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Not sure what our game plan is supposed to be, but what it appears to be is set up for runners to come from behind the pack to run past and receive handballs to hit up our forward targets, and a high pressure, condensed game to hold the ball in the opposition's defensive 50 when we're defending. Problem is we lack the speed to recover when the ball moves quickly out of our crowded press, most players lack the skills and composure to hit targets when they do get the ball in the press, and because it's all hands on deck to defend, even when we do win it and find a bit of space, most of the forwards are about 10 m away with half the midfield sitting in the space they'd lead into, or, if it happens to be in our back half, the ball carrier looks up and has no one to kick to because most of the forward line are sitting just the other side of the defensive 50.

I reckon vintage Geelong might have been able to pull this game plan off, but they'd still have left Brad Ottens sitting in the goal square to clunk things and keep the defenders partly accountable. We don't have the speed or the skills to make it work.
 
Apr 18, 2005
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I don’t like that there is 15 players in that photo, 8 with numbers you can’t see, and 7 with numbers you can see. Of the numbers you can see it would make sense to me that there is nothing beyond 15, with the 8 you can’t see representing the missing numbers; 1,3,4,5,7,9,12,13,14. This would make an even 1-15.

But for some reason 24 is in there and that to me is an anomaly.
 

qarocks

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Apr 28, 2015
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One of our main problems is accuracy. Going at 44%. We used to be really accurate, which kept us in a lot of games.

Wasted so many chances last 2 weeks, and we get no reward for all the dominance we have.

Then other times we just bomb it long and turn it over and leak goals out the back.
 
Feb 15, 2015
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I don’t like that there is 15 players in that photo, 8 with numbers you can’t see, and 7 with numbers you can see. Of the numbers you can see it would make sense to me that there is nothing beyond 15, with the 8 you can’t see representing the missing numbers; 1,3,4,5,7,9,12,13,14. This would make an even 1-15.

But for some reason 24 is in there and that to me is an anomaly.
Does this help?

DD1B10A3-D13D-45BE-9320-D1F667BCE208.jpeg
 
Oct 19, 2013
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I think the overiding philosophy is to always outnumber at the contest.

We use a zone to do this so we always have more numbers around the footy. If we played 1 on 1 we wouldn't be able to have players peel off and impact the contest. The idea is to form a wall of pressure so we can force turnovers in the forward half and 50 and we try and use quick hands to generate clean scoring oppurtunities.

But to get more numbers to the contest we pull players from either the forward line or wings and get them to charge in from defence. If we take the wings out and our oppo dont follow we have an outnunber in the corridor and even numbers in the forward 50. This has worked in the past. A lot of the time we take players from the forward line, win the clearance and bomb it to outnumbered contests because the oppo realise and leave their spares in defence.

So we win the ball with extra numbers and kick to outnumbered situations hoping our forwards can mark or spoil and wait for the midfield to arrive.

The numbers to ball game kills our ability to spread and switch. Creates an outnumber in our forward line at clearances and floods in our own forward line. Not to mention how it sucks in players out of their proper position in a zone.

Why we let so many goals get kicked in the square beat me though. I understand the out the back goals when we press up so high.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Not sure what our game plan is supposed to be, but what it appears to be is set up for runners to come from behind the pack to run past and receive handballs to hit up our forward targets, and a high pressure, condensed game to hold the ball in the opposition's defensive 50 when we're defending. Problem is we lack the speed to recover when the ball moves quickly out of our crowded press, most players lack the skills and composure to hit targets when they do get the ball in the press, and because it's all hands on deck to defend, even when we do win it and find a bit of space, most of the forwards are about 10 m away with half the midfield sitting in the space they'd lead into, or, if it happens to be in our back half, the ball carrier looks up and has no one to kick to because most of the forward line are sitting just the other side of the defensive 50.

I reckon vintage Geelong might have been able to pull this game plan off, but they'd still have left Brad Ottens sitting in the goal square to clunk things and keep the defenders partly accountable. We don't have the speed or the skills to make it work.
Also, this happened heaps in the Richmond game, the opposition players actually just cheat a tiny bit when we are locking it inside our attacking 50. Then when they eventually do get a clean kick or two away, they immediately have players goal side running into an actual suburb of free space between them and our goal line. That is nigh on impossible to defend, and it is why oppo sides look like scoring every time they string two possessions together.

We on the other hand, win the ball in defence and if we do try to go quickly, we have Melksham against 4 oppo defenders. He did an amazing job of it the other night, but for some reason our forwards aren't allowed to do the same thing the opposition forwards do and just leave two of them slightly higher up the field. I feel like that would solve a heap of our problems. Ie. Having forwards who play forward.
 

DeesFanTheMan

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Feb 22, 2018
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Our actual game plan is forward press on attack, use the corridor as much as possible and then have a rotational defence across the ground. The problem with that is, when we press forward and get exposed with poor kicking, their runners just smash it up the ground and get a forward 50 entry with some little pocket rocket running on to the ball with a perfect bounce for them and then walk it in, at least that is how it feels every single time.
 

thetank

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Aug 1, 2009
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Dees plan 2010: bomb it long to Jamar.
Dees plan 2017: bomb it long to Gawn/F50.
 

Cannon82

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Oct 26, 2012
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Oh hokey hokey pokey, oh hokey hokey pokey, oh hokey hokey pokey, and that’s what it’s all about.

You bring a slow mid in,
You take a small forward out,
You throw a young kid in,
and you shake it all about...
 
Oct 9, 2014
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I don't care what the game plan is, except for choosing one side of the ground to go up over and over again (and that is fine if R.Flower is on the wing, but he ain't).

Just get players that can match the elite fitness levels etc with elite passing ability (like a lot of the doggies had in the 2016 season). This means stop the bombing into the F50. Maybe that is why Hogan is playing all over the place as the team sees him and bombs it...

Anyways, elite passing ability will make just about any game plan work (unless it is a total handball policy because I just know someone on here will post that).
 
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