I happened to catch the second half of the Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn game today.

We could do worse than look at Hawthorn as a model. 3 inside midfielders (Mitchell, Sewell, Lewis) rotating roles throughout the game i.e. getting and extracting the pill, blocking for the bloke getting the ball, killing the opponent should he get the ball etc, 3 outside mids or wingmen (Burgoyne, Young, Shiels) always a convenient handball receive away.

The outside mids either release other players (halfbacks like Birchall, Suckling, Stratton) who kick the ball long to Roughead or, today, Bruest Shoenmakers and Gunston (no Buddy - no Worries!!). If these players don't take the mark, the ball balls to ground where Rioli, Puopolo swoop on the contest and a scoring opportunity occurs. They can do this because they have a structure and a number of set pieces and the players just seem to know where to lead. The Hawthorn players are very skilled, particularly kicking, but their work ethic is unbelievable, lots of running when they don't have the ball. The number of times the ball would get inside the Bulldogs forward line to be met by 4 - 5 "free" defenders and midfielders all of whom had run to make position. The number times that this happened this afternoon was unbelievable.

We have the players who can play these roles. Judd, Murphy, Carrots, McLean, Curnow inside. Simpson, Gibbs, Lucas(??), Armfield outside. Scotland, Yarran, Duigan can fulfill the Birchall/Suckling/Stratton roles. Key forward is a problem. At least two of Waite, Walker (did so most of last year), Thornton (like in the Essendon* final 2011 and in the Bullants), Hampson (like he did against Collingwood round 3) have to stand up, be a target and bring the ball down to Betts (who has been great the last 3 years) and Garlett (when he gets his confidence back).

Ratts (or whoever coaches next year) should implement these structures and drills. The players need to have the work ethic that has them gut bust running up and back the park when they have the ball and more importantly, when their opponents do and go lower and harder than their opponents went the ball is in dispute. That's what I saw this afternoon and saw glimpses of against Collingwood.

- TwinOne

Whoops I forgot Robinson (he's inside mid too)... Sorry Robbo.

The Hawks game is not made for finals. That chip game will not stand finals footy.
I'll give up the game if these guys win the flag with this game plan.

Has more chance then ratts game plan.

Or the Swans.
Desperation even when theyre behind in the game theyre not behind on the scoreboard.

One real A grader.. Goodes.
A few vets
a few B plus graders.

And alot of foot soldiers.
But they all know what to do......

every single one of them is conditioned to reflex the right choices.

Every single one of them covers for the next.

There are no individuals.

They dont always kick it to Goodes...

Good side for what they have on the park...

Wed be wooden spooners if we inherited that list

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Same game plan that got them to one kick of a grand final last year missing 3-4 of their best 22 you mean?

yep

A lot of HBF in the swans 190cm players

But very good inside mids

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I can see a problem

Hawthorn players actually hit a target when they kick the football

I don't think our blokes do

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

I think the balance we require is no different to what most sides have needed in 100 odd years of football.

KPP and ball winning midfielders with a mix of outside runners.

Not rocket science, but we are paying the price now primarily for recruiting the wrong types of players from 07-09. It's nuts how little KPP depth we have, and on top of that we got rid of Setanta.

I take your point but let's not undersell their players. Reid is the best mark in the comp, ROk has been seriously good for a long time. Jack is superb contested footballer, Hannebry, Mumford, mcGlynn are all serious footballers.

Kennedy is a good bet for the Charlie.

But yes they do play a very committed style of footy and they work for each other like no other team.

They are a joy to watch and I'm very very envious of them.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

Reid wouldnt be the best mark in the comp.
Hes been average this year till recently.
Mummy hasnt starred.

Yeah but they know what to do and are commited.. cos they have BELIEF in their system.

The question is..

do ours in ours???

Preseason is about working on things that will work so there is belief.....

You know???

All behind closed doors as supporters who go to training are frog marched out...???.... in case their spies for something truly amazing..... that were working on.

Personally i think they dont wanna let us see what theyre working on cos ... theyre embarassed

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If anyone gets a chance watch their work rate during the 3rd quarter against the Eagles today. We can only dream of that at the moment.

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

The thing the Swannies and the good teams have going for them... is they are pinning their hopes on half back flanker types....

amazing!!!!

..... just like us...!!!

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Work rate is only up if you believe in what you have been taught.

Noone does that kind of thing if they dnt believe....

Secondly... look at the discipline!!!!

then look at ours.......

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Hence ... the dream

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

The closed training sessions under Ratts have always amazed me....it's like he's some sort of tactical genius scared of others copying what he does....

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That's okay then, let's stick with what we've got.

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Ours stands up to finals footy.

It just doesn't stand up to home and away.

Sorry but I really enjoy watching the Hawks play. They are composed, and they think about where to place the ball. They dont generally blaze away, they seem to have time to have a look around and got kick the ball in a rush.

Oh yeh, they also have impecable kicking skills. They go wide, and then open up and go through the corridor.

We would not be able to do that, as our skills are up the crapper.

Oh yeh, Gunston goes allright as well. But we did not bother going after him, as he was not old or broken down enough.

Make no mistake, hawks are tough, Lewis, Sewell, Hodge, Mitchell, Roughhead, Rioli.

Any player they bring in, knows exactly what role they are to play.

In summary, get Clarko and he can bring some players with him.