Last night was a torrid night out.
As has been discussed at length for quite a few weeks, nay years, now we don't really seem to have a forward line structure. Well, that's unfair, we do. It's called "Kick it to Fev and let's pray he's going to have a good day".
We all know that when he has a good day it's, well it's downright spectacular, isn't it? but, when he doesn't, whether that be by his own hand or, in the case of last night the ball simply not getting to him, where do we go? and what do we do?
Plan A
Here the players are, as I hope you can see, Kruezer, Fevola, Walker, Garlett and Betts.
Now, I know the Kruezer deep was used last night... with little success, but there is merit in it.
I mentioned in another thread I started last night that we needed structure. Well, how intuitive I can hear you all saying, where ever did you come up with that genius ploy? I mean structure as borrowed from other sports. Basically it's like a line in
ice hockey. Each line consists of 4 or 5 players, different players match up together to form different lines. For example, players like Brendan Fevola are more or less going to feature in every set-up. But, the most important thing is how they feature. It's not about fostering a reliance on Fev, far from it. He's our most devastating attacking weapon, so it makes perfect sense for him to be out there. It's about using him and the players around him to kick winning scores. Simple, eh?
For this post/thread I've decided to focus on the offensive or attacking line as it would exist inside our 50 meter arc. I only had time to draw up two because I have work soon, but if anyone wants to contribute please, by all means, do.
The idea is each line has a specific set play or instruction set that they follow. They set up and, consequently, execute a very specific way.
I was going to add arrows and directions, a la football manager, but time constraints didn't allow for that, so instead I'll explain them.
This first line is all about creating space.
Walker starts at the traditional CHF spot, Fevola stands 30m out and Kruezer is in the goal square. Garlett and Betts stand 15m either side of Fev, forming what is essentially a diamond.
When Walker leads up onto the wing or through the corridor Garlett and Betts push up on the flanks to create an option in themselves and open up the forward 50.
When the ball is kicked in, they both retreat back into our F50, after dragging their opponents upfield away from our 2 Big Men, to lend support, guard the corridor of the F50, Walker, to the best of his ability, does the same, creating the same diamond that we started with, this time with the ball inside 50.
If it falls to ground Eddie, Garlett and Walker are there, and, if we get it in quickly either Fevola is on the lead in space 40m out, or Kruezer is one out in the goal square, or on the lead 25m out. The idea is, if the ball falls to ground, trap it in. if not, we have players running in to support.
The key to this line, in my mind, is the pressure and run of Eddie, Garlett and Walker. In these three we have guys who work hard, run to space and try to create. This line is also good for giving a player like Kruezer a rest up forward. He's great overhead, and in all reality, means the opposition has to sacrifice a tall defender, or better for us, ruckman, to mark him. It also gives Fevola a better run at the footy, a footy that will hopefully be kicked from the corridor, straight in front. Too often we go too wide. We can't be afraid of using the middle of the ground. The idea of the diamond is Eddie and Garlett hopefully straighten us up, they're almost the boundary line in terms of how narrow/wide we play.
It's not about 100% conversion rates, it's about creating an opportunity and having the opposition react to us and how we set up. It's about time opposition clubs had to figure out what we're doing on the fly. It's about setting up a structure that gives everyone a role.
Will it work every time? nope. But that's not the idea, the idea is to have it work as often as it can. And, at least it's an option.
Plan B
Plan B uses the diamond again (It's a great shape, no doubt about it). Eddie and Garlett once again are used to straighten us up, to push up and down on the flanks, kind of like that old foosball hockey game, they're on rails, really. They push up onto the flanks depending on how and where we're attacking from, criss crossing as well like Wingers in football, taking their opponents from side to side, more to confuse than anything.
Kruezer takes up post in the middle, essentially, leaving O'hAilpin the space to lead into across CHF.
Fevola is stationed in the square this time, and can choose to either lead or stay put when the ball is coming in. Ideally he leads, thus getting the ball 30ish meters out from goal.
The key to this is unpredictability. O'hAilpin needs to work hard, with Eddie and Garlett supporting. Those two help massively when the ball goes to ground. Setanta basically has a 40m axis to work off. He can lead up the ground to CHF, or dart back to the goal square as Fev overlaps and takes his place. Kruezer sits 70-80 out from goal, meaning if he gets the ball we have the option to go a 30m kick to setanta at CHF or a 50m kick to Fev.
Look, I will admit that these are slapped together, and that clubs work on stuff like this. But we really need to figure something out. This is more to inspire constructive conversation, not "he said/she said" arguments about who will help us win a flag or who we should trade. We have the cattle to set up an imposing and multi-pronged forward set-up, we can be very difficult to contain. We just need more options, more drills and more plans/methods/modes of attack. It's about knowing exactly what we are doing every time we go forward, or at least 90% of the time. It's about setting up in such a way that Gibbs or Judd or Murphy or whoever is streaming forward with the ball, doesn't even need to look up to know that player x will be in this spot.
Training is a time to have this stuff drilled into our guys. Run the plays and the set-ups until they could run them in their sleep. In the NFL how many plays do those guys know? how many variants of plays do they know? And, to their credit, they execute them time and time again just right.
What do you think?
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