Since the bye

woftam · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 8:24 am

Just wondering why we have gone away from a team strategy that was working really well pre the bye. When we didn't have the ball we went man on man & made the opposition continually kick to a contest.

Since the bye we have gone back to zoning & the opposition uncontested marks & possessions have again gone through the roof. It puts so much pressure on our defense because the ball carrier bringing the ball into their 50 is under no pressure.

Is this a shift in strategy again or are our guys being lazy defensively?
A few weeks ago I thought we will push the Hawks all the way when we play them because it will be a contest all over the ground. Now I'm thinking it will be a repeat of previous encounters.

We have been smashed in inside 50's & possessions because nobody is trying to get the ball back off the carrier. Man up, create a turn over & the ball gets down our end more often. This was happening week in & week out during rounds 2-7. So why the change? Coaching strategy or player attitude?

Clifton Hill-Billy · Joined: 29 Sep 2011 Location: 3068----> 3076

I think a little bit of both, trying to prevent injuries and develop a plan B to go to when we've over exerted ourselves and don't have the gas to go with the very attractive plan A you've outlined.

qldmagpie67 · Joined: 18 Dec 2008

Cam · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 11:08 am

I think teams have had some more time to do their homework on us and aren't taking us as lightly.

prawnstar · Joined: 13 Jun 2005 Location: Moorabbin

Could be several reasons, including:

A/ We don't want teams to continually see our Plan A and then work out a way of combating it.

B/ Plan A is energy consuming and it is a long season.

C/ Our team has many young players and will be inconsistent at times

yin-YANG · Joined: 03 Oct 2011

I think good teams put pressure on the ball player all the time - that is how the hawks and port are playing - freo also... in fact if you watch other codes like soccer the good teams do it and the average or crappy teams don't!

We must get back to this style of game... if the players can't do it then blood players that can!

Young players does not account for a change of style... I would say put the pressure on and have an extra guy down back... it means they kick to our extra - when we go forward we know we can't bomb so we look for options... it works better for us that way. We can build our attacks from turnovers from the halfbackline or move the ball with a quick kick into the forward line where we can get lucky.

Our mids need to put the pressure on the ball carrier rather than drop back into defence it is fundamental for any team who wants to challenge for a top 4 spot - the young guys need to play this way - or join the Bloozers or Ninthmond as on-going non-contenders!!!

swoop42 · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 2:32 pm

I floated the wild theory in another thread that what we have seen over the last 2 weeks is an intentional changing of our game plan.

While it would seem a radical and somewhat arrogant idea to flirt with form and go back to a plan that seems inferior could it be that as others have identified a way to ease the load on the players for a period of weeks.

This 5 week block of games (starting with Adelaide) on paper at least is the easiest for the year so if you were going to change things up and play a more zoning style of play now would be the time.

Who knows perhaps we have just been worked out by the opposition (gulp) either way like Woftam I to have noticed a difference these past two weeks with less emphasis on pressuring the ball carrier and as a result we have seen opposition teams easily bring the ball out of our forward zone and through the corridor in particular.

This wasn't the case for the previous 5 rounds.

AN_Inkling · Joined: 06 Oct 2007

^^I don't think the theory's that wild. Maybe completely changing our game plan is a bit of a stretch. But, given this is a softer block after what was a tough one, you'd not be surprised if training loads had been changed up a bit.

There's no doubt that the AFL is more physically demanding than it's ever been, so tuning up or down the playing intensity could be something teams are starting to do. It is of course very risky, changing gears within a game is not easy, and dropping games to bottom sides can really hurt (see Swans against GWS).

I do have another potential answer: the last two games we have been smashed in the clearances. In both of these games we have also had concerns in defense (missing Brown and then Frost yesterday, and Jenkins proving too much for our young talls last week). In these cases, where our defense is under siege, we need midfielders to drop back just to stop the bleeding. Our forwards also come up the ground to help out, both defensively and in moving the ball out of defense, which throws our forward structure out and makes scoring even more difficult. Also, In both of these games our ball movement from defense has been awful, and we struggled to spark any attacking moves, resulting in more pressure on our defense, requiring more assistance from our mids.

So, there are number of possible reasons for the drop off, but one thing's for sure we do need to improve.

King Monkey · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 6:31 pm

We were the hunter, we are now the hunted.

collie dog · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 6:36 pm

Johnno75 · Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Location: Wantirna

Yeah the midfield pressure has gone down. Both games since the bye the opposition have had more than 60 I50's.

As others have said our early season plan is taxing and it's almost impossible to keep that up all season. We are going to have spikes and it's a credit we can still find a way to win when beaten in so many areas.

We should be thankful that we kicked straight this week. That kept us in the game early and got us over the line.