- Thread starter
- #26
Great analysis thanks.Good OP and good responses. A definite change in defensive structure. Our high press - "Walsh's Wall", a feature of our game - is not happening anymore when we have the ball locked in our forward 50. We're operating a much more traditional defensive zone in these instances. This is resulting in way fewer goals "out the back". We also have mids - namely Matt Crouch and Sloane - pushing very deep in the back 50 to get ground balls, which is out of the ordinary for us. It's actually a very West Coast thing to do - Gaff and Shuey get a lot of D50 ball.
I think it changed in the week after the Cats game. The Hawks and Cats opened us up out the back with ball movement. We saw the change during the Kangaroos game - a more patient build up - it was just executed very, very poorly. "Chip around" was overused and we turned it over. We still turn it over - see Knight and Hartigan's miss kicks - but we aren't conceding goals out the back almost at all. I can't think of one in the last month, whereas there were numerous in the first 3 weeks.
We seem to have found some sort of balance.
Interestingly on your pick up on Crouch/Sloane, Crouch had 75% possessions in defensive half and Sloane almost 70%, so that observation is spot on.