dannyboy wrote:
"The current game style isn't realistic on the demands of players, which is why the average retirement age has slid a long way in a short space of time. Starting to wonder how many people who advocated for all this 'two-way running' actually played that way themselves."
Jimmae can you please back up your statement above with Data showing the reason the age has decreased is because of 2 way running and not for other factors...like players being delisted because a) some must be and b) the artificially created rebuild cycle.
You and I both know I can't do that at the drop of a hat, but all I said is the current game style has been cutting down the retirement age. There's less players playing after 31 than ever before despite huge leaps in player recovery and injury prevention/management methods, though Hawthorn are doing it successfully (unlike Geelong).
Blue Vain wrote:
Its pointless your half forwards making "timed runs to receive" when the opposition are kicking goals because they're flogging you at the contest, Jim.
But I'm sure if you wrote to the 18 coaches to tell them why they're wrong, they'd love to be enlightened.
I'm sure the coaches generally aren't wrong; we all know it's very different once you're at ground level trying to identify patterns and shifts as an individual player amongst a sea of them. What I'm talking about is someone being within 10 m of the fringe of the stoppage and making a run from there. Back your ball winners to work each other into a bubble of space and then make the pass. Create an outlet for them by doing what you do best.
Chase by all means if the ball is turned over, but try to have a 'spread for the spread' if that makes sense. Freo are the ultimate two-way team and look how they wilted.
An important statistic highlighted yesterday that I think matches up with this was that Gibson and Stratton have kicked 1 goal between them in their Hawthorn careers. Gibson averages 22 possessions a game this year, yet just 1.7 I50s and 2.6 R50s and for the season only managed 8 clearances and 5 goal assists; 99% game time at 31 years of age.
In soccer they refer to what Hawthorn are doing as being less 'fluid': players stick to their areas and roles and generally do not break this tactical instruction. Gibson and Stratton are probably their dourest players, so they don't go forward. What they also do is contribute to the flow of possession without generally making a huge dent in terms of getting the football out of the D50 and into the F50 save for the sake of tactical variety to keep the opposition on their toes.
Compare this to how often White (probably our analogue to Gibson) runs around like a chook and gets sucked out of the play to watch the ball sail over his head, and flail about with the football forward of centre. And he's a fairly smart, hard working footballer, if not possessing as much of an athletic edge as Gibson.
The best teams (or team, really, because organisationally no one else is close) have struck a balance between intelligence and hard work. The only thing that stopped Hawthorn from dominating all aspects of the competition this year is a few injuries and some slowing reflexes. They make their opponents run ragged without killing themselves; that's the part of their organisation we should aspire to match, that ethic.
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