Game Plan 2022

Really interesting analysis.

There are important role players in the forward line, just as there is in every other part of the ground.

It’s obviously great when individuals are ‘clunking marks’ and ‘hitting the scoreboard’, but it’s more important that we have an effective forward line strategy and everyone plays their role within that strategy.

Yesterday was a bit scrappy, and a few individuals were a bit off, but we managed to kick a winning score against last year’s grand finalist… so we must be doing something right!

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With the season about to kick off, some thoughts on forward structures in the 2020’s.

It seems our coaching panel is looking to play a forward line set up that mirrors Melbourne & most of the other contending teams;
3 talls, a medium, and 2 smalls, with a further small forward/mid on the bench for rotations.

Bit of a change from last decade when teams went with two talls (or one with Richmond in the Riewoldt flag year), one medium if that, and the rest small forwards.

Don’t know if this is a result of the 666 Rule, or an unwillingness to allow opponents to easily out mark you in defence then counterattack, or merely a case of everyone copying the current Premiers set up.

But, barring injuries, I reckon we’ll see our forwards this year being drawn from;
3 of 2MP, Jones, Francis Baldwin (& possibly Hurley or Eyre.
Stringer & Perkins as the medium forward (rotating on ball) Martin & Waterman in reserve.

And only 2 small forwards at most, with the third rotating spot being one of our mids. Hence the pool of Snelling Smith Guelfi & Tex, only two of whom will get a game at any one time.

All this will almost certainly change our ball movement into attack compared to the last few years.

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Yep. 3 of these guys seems likely, although we could go for 2 if we need more defensive pressure and our medium forwards are delivering.

I think we could also see Langford and maybe Cox drifting forward as goal kicking threats. An effective F50 strategy needs to take advantage of our strengths - these guys run hard, mark cleanly and kick well, making them tough to match-up. I also think we’ll see Shiel and Caldwell rotating through the forward line from time to time (perhaps swapping with Stringer and Perkins)?

Agree with this too. I’m not sure why Snelling got so much midfield time during the Saints practice match. In Walla’s absence he is one of our better pressure forwards and must play in the F50. One of Smith, Guelfi or Tex takes the other spot.

Getting our F50 strategy right is going to be one of the key challenges for 2022. Hopefully we get this right for the first time in a looong time.

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Nice interview by Jay Clark.

And gotta love Truck. Hope as more acid is applied to the team he gets the results.

My 2 bob’s worth.
Our ball movement in both the pre season games was very conservative and slow. We seem to be trying to be very good with the ball, picking our way forward with precise kicks to players who are either in space, or at least kick to advantage, rather than kicking to a contested/pack situation.
Unfortunately, this has ended up as slow ball movement.
If the release kick coming out of the backline is to someone who has to go back behind the mark and have a look downfield, it’s a recipe for slow ball movement. And once the sequence starts, it is self perpetuating, since one or two short kicks to a player who doesn’t play on, will always cause a flood of opposition behind the ball, leading to more slow movement in trying to pinpoint targets among the crowd.
Two things are missing IMO.
One is overlap run, which allows fast initial and unpredictable movement of the ball out of the backline. It often requires taking a risk and handballing to a player who might not be fully clear. We seem to be reluctant to take that risk and only handball to an open target.
Two is playing on after a mark. As Jonathon Brown says so often, if you mark, you need to wheel and go and hope an option presents up ahead. If you go back and wait for the option, it’s mostly at the price of losing the open space.
In short, we are looking very risk averse. The result is slow ball movement and inability to score.

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If we go with the Melbourne/ Footscray/ Geelong model, that’ll happen during the ruck rotations.
When Draper/ Gawn / Martin / Geelong’s 1st ruck, etc are on the bench, then an extra mid sized player gets thrown forward.
In those teams terms, I reckon that’s when you see Petracca, Bont, or Dangerfield go forward.
So it’d make sense for Langford or Cox to play closer to goal during those portions of a game.

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Bump.

So, for some reason in 2021 we pressured, tackled, defended. And for some reason in 2022 we don’t seem to be able to do any of those things to the same levels.

No doubt injuries, the draw and confidence have a big part to play.

But has the game plan changed from 2021 to 2022? If so, how?

Discuss.

I don’t think our injuries have been any worse than last year. Stringer’s issues have obviously been huge but we can’t be that reliant on an individual.

Losing stringer robbed us of the high impact stoppage game we had last year and our ball movement generally became very very conservative.

I think after Rd 9 last year we were a lot more conservative with our half backs (unless they were part of the attack) and holding numbers behind the play but we moved to a much more aggressive high press which just ruined us.

We played Ridley out of position for a large chunk of the season and we got the on ball balance wrong

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We are shlt at playing his zone defence, push too far up the ground when on the attack and then get caught on the rebound after we turn over from our terrible forward 50 bombing…aside from that we’re tracking beautifully.