Danvictory wrote:
Football IQ
“In football, that means having the ability to make good decisions in a split second: to pass or not to pass, to tackle or to intercept, to shoot or assist? In other words, you need a high football IQ”
Long time reader, first time poster.
As I scan through the World Wide Web, there are a plethora of fans across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and here who have various reasons/excuses as to why we are currently in the position we are in but one topic that rarely gets raised is the football IQ and/or general smarts of this group.
Yes, there is a lot of commentary mainly stemming from the media in regards to our awful decision making but I think it’s deeper and goes beyond just that. No doubt our skills have been horrendous, confidence down, game plan cracked etc… but what I see worries me more. Something that’s unfixable. Something that can only be fixed when new talent is inserted into this group. Our groups Football IQ.
The nous to process the below at most times is lost in this group:
- The tap to advantage instead of trying to pick the ball up or grab in a contest.
- The body work around a contest to allow an easy mark for your teammate instead of having 2-3 jumping at the same ball.
- Split second decision making in field positioning.
- The ability to process in your brain where your your kick needs to land in order for your teammate to have the best possible advantage to mark that pass on the wing.
- The smart shepherd to allow your teammate to grab the ball.
The list can go on…. It’s the one percenters in smartness that our group lacks. The football knowledge. The cognitive skills. The Lance Whitnall type player who understands footy.
It’s beyond athleticism for us and we need to start looking at players who are naturally gifted at reading the game, that’s a valuable attribute to have because its almost impossible to teach and it can make all the difference in a fast-paced, close game. It’s about considering all the variables in a split second, to outsmart the opponents in which this group fails.
We can’t win a flag with this group that’s for sure. Size and physicality wise we have a decent list. Football IQ wise we are bottom of the barrel and it’s not highlighted enough.
Good post and welcome.
100% agree with this.
I made the point a few games in and again after last weeks loss.
Our 1%ers need to lift and we need more players in a game having an impact with them.
Unfortunately these are mainly instinct and a little directive.
We are all taught in junior footy to do these things, all the way to AFL level, so it is expected rather than trained.
But some players are better at it naturally and some need to really work on it to make an impact.
Williams and Martin a two such players but they are always injured.
Then you have players like LOB and JSOS who also have their respective weaknesses.
Like I have also been saying since last draft, we need to trim the list of the annually injured and start adding footballers with foot skills and speed.
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