Just to recharge the spirits in the off season, I have been retreating to watch past glories on Youtube.
Then it struck me the few times we put another team to the sword in a complete demolition, like Melbourne round 2 2013, a player is interviewed and they say something like " we played consistent footy for 4 quarters"
This issue has been going on for years, and whilst the coaches, Bomber last year , Hirdy before that keep up with this mantra, I reckon the reality is that to play " consistent footy for 4 quarters" will only happen "IF THE OPPOSITION LETS YOU "
So I reckon its time to dispense with this mantra and replace it with the following.
Play as hard as you can, and if the opponent starts to lift, shut them down, until you regain the ascendency.
In other words, instead of trying to play consistent footy, at least be reactive to the other teams attempts to come back at you. Because the consistent footy thing is probably not possible until you become the No 1 team with your best 22 on the park.
Maybe our team endurance was not up to standard. Hence the reason we will be focusing on endurance rather than strength during pre-season.
Exactly. The players know full well that they have a certain amount of energy in the tank. If they play at 110% at some point, physically they will have to drop back to 90% , so when they get a good lead they drop back on effort, and its at that time the opposition come back and get at least some way to equalise.
Its a bit of a chicken and egg thing. When you become the best, you can be consistent over 4 quarters. To get there I think you need to employ a more "reactive" strategy and learn to shut down the opposition the instant they start to come back at you. Its problem of task switching from attacking to defensive mindset thats a problem for a team thats not the best, but is on the way up. I reckon thats where we stand.
4 quarters of footy - pays zero respect to our opposition. You just aren’t going to be able to completely dominate the entire game from start to finish very often. It goes in ebbs and flows.
Though I do agree our players lose a bit of concentration when we get a few goals ahead.
4 quarters of footy - pays zero respect to our opposition. You just aren't going to be able to completely dominate the entire game from start to finish very often. It goes in ebbs and flows.
Though I do agree our players lose a bit of concentration when we get a few goals ahead.
This is pretty accurate. I'd add though it doesn't help us that we both don't tend to get scoreboard reward for the times where we dominate possession & have momentum; and on the flipside have little ability to hold up and slow the game down when during the times when the opposition are on top (hence the countless occasions where multiple goals are rattled on against us in short time).
When a team come at you, idea is to keep possession of the ball and slow momentum down and control the game on your terms.
Don't play into their hands which we do. Play the percentages, which we still play attacking style football using the corridor and the opposition pressure causes the turnover.
Absorb the pressure because when opposition play catch up footy it makes them more tired like a boxer constantly on the attack, they get tired then you need to know when to strike for the finishing blow. Don't counter punch.