Leg Speed

Is it leg speed or the fact that we are not getting first hands on the footy? At the centre bounce we are getting soundly beaten for first possession, and often it is a clean win to the opposition. Automatically you look slow, and for 3 quarters v Sydney and the Hawks game that wasn't something we were being called. I don't think we are the quickest going, but win it at the coalface and dish it out, we will look far slicker and hopefully can get some clean forward entries...
Reckon Colyer didn't make us a hugely better side when he came in mid-way through 2014? When we had Myers/Hocking (and Paddy) in there as well, and were winning the clearance and contest as well as any team going?

I donā€™t think itā€™s entirely coincidence who keeps stepping up in last quartersā€¦

Balance isnā€™t quite there yet. We need to spread the game out effectively and get it in space and the easiest way to do that is speed.

IMHO.

I didnā€™t realise how slow our team is until today. Was scary how often stkilda would just run past our players with ease.

Colyer is probably the only one in our team who uses his speed as a weapon.

Zaka is only quick when he has a chance of receiving the ball. When he has to defend he is as slow as Tbell

I'm not sure it's our most glaring issue, but it's an issue.

Iā€™m more worried that our slow-but-hard-bodied-contested-midfield, loses contested possession so much


Hocking and Myers (and to a lesser extent Cooney and Chap) hurt on that front, and combined, their loss adds up to a fair bit to our 2nd/3rd rotations.

Glad to see Will get in there when he was on. Iā€™d pick him to start ASAP. Not massively worried long term though, we know theyā€™re gunna keep drafting blue collar meat and potatoes players, if nothing elseā€¦

The speed thing, which IMHO strongly correlates to both the forward line spacing and the running out games issues, thatā€™s structural and a long term issue. Hopefully it will eventually get through their heads that we need speed.

Is it leg speed or the fact that we are not getting first hands on the footy? At the centre bounce we are getting soundly beaten for first possession, and often it is a clean win to the opposition. Automatically you look slow, and for 3 quarters v Sydney and the Hawks game that wasn't something we were being called. I don't think we are the quickest going, but win it at the coalface and dish it out, we will look far slicker and hopefully can get some clean forward entries...

Itā€™s this. Ball travels faster than the man.

Ha, end of discussion.

Yep, leg speed is a definite issue, not the only one though. We just donā€™t play direct enough. Have to start playing on when we mark it, donā€™t go back, survey, then sideways every damn time. Required - quicker players, quicker ball movement.

Leg speed is only a part of the problem but it stands out because overall we donā€™t run & spread well enough. We have too many guys who simply donā€™t cover enough ground & so our lack of pace gets exposed when we canā€™t make up for the workrate with pace. Also pace at the centre bounces is lacking. We donā€™t really have the guys who can hit the pack at pace, get the ball & execute a clean clearance. We so often turn our 1st possession into another stoppage because we run into or handball into a pack. We donā€™t have a reliable outside runner who we go to. Look at the way Steven today ran away from stoppages. Our guys get caught too often so panic disposal.

Is it leg speed or the fact that we are not getting first hands on the footy? At the centre bounce we are getting soundly beaten for first possession, and often it is a clean win to the opposition. Automatically you look slow, and for 3 quarters v Sydney and the Hawks game that wasn't something we were being called. I don't think we are the quickest going, but win it at the coalface and dish it out, we will look far slicker and hopefully can get some clean forward entries...

Itā€™s this. Ball travels faster than the man.

Exactly. You know how whenever Geelong lost a game they always needed ā€œan injection of paceā€ and / or youth, but nobody said anything whenever they won 7 games in a row? Yeah, itā€™s the same thing. Every single team that has ever lost a game has looked slower than their opposition.

Leg speed is only a part of the problem but it stands out because overall we don't run & spread well enough. We have too many guys who simply don't cover enough ground & so our lack of pace gets exposed when we can't make up for the workrate with pace. Also pace at the centre bounces is lacking. We don't really have the guys who can hit the pack at pace, get the ball & execute a clean clearance. We so often turn our 1st possession into another stoppage because we run into or handball into a pack. We don't have a reliable outside runner who we go to. Look at the way Steven today ran away from stoppages. Our guys get caught too often so panic disposal.

This.

Itā€™s ball movement and efficency, not just leg speed.

Ball travels faster by foot not by hand.

Refer Hawthorn, not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quick.

Oh they kick more than handball aswell.

Is it leg speed or the fact that we are not getting first hands on the footy? At the centre bounce we are getting soundly beaten for first possession, and often it is a clean win to the opposition. Automatically you look slow, and for 3 quarters v Sydney and the Hawks game that wasn't something we were being called. I don't think we are the quickest going, but win it at the coalface and dish it out, we will look far slicker and hopefully can get some clean forward entries...

Itā€™s this. Ball travels faster than the man.

Exactly. You know how whenever Geelong lost a game they always needed ā€œan injection of paceā€ and / or youth, but nobody said anything whenever they won 7 games in a row? Yeah, itā€™s the same thing. Every single team that has ever lost a game has looked slower than their opposition.

Is it only possible for a footy team to have one issue at a time?

All we have to do is win every contest ever, and not turn it over, and weā€™ll be fine. Seems so simple now.

Leg speed is only a part of the problem but it stands out because overall we don't run & spread well enough. We have too many guys who simply don't cover enough ground & so our lack of pace gets exposed when we can't make up for the workrate with pace. Also pace at the centre bounces is lacking. We don't really have the guys who can hit the pack at pace, get the ball & execute a clean clearance. We so often turn our 1st possession into another stoppage because we run into or handball into a pack. We don't have a reliable outside runner who we go to. Look at the way Steven today ran away from stoppages. Our guys get caught too often so panic disposal.

I get your point, but seriously, how many players are there in the competition that can do that?

It's ball movement and efficency, not just leg speed.

Ball travels faster by foot not by hand.

Refer Hawthorn, not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quick.

Oh they kick more than handball aswell.

And yet nobody can lay a glove on Rioli, Burgoyne waltzes through traffic like heā€™s walking around witches hats, Hill turns players inside out, Puopolo is putting in blistering 100 metre sprints just to lay a tackle etc etc.

Youā€™ve got to be able to move the ball well, no doubt about that.

But itā€™s not an either/or scenario. You need both

The lack of speed is a concern but even more of a concern is the guys in the team who can run hard and fast arenā€™t doing so. Guys like Zaka , Demps and Hibbo need to get on their bike more and provide some run.

Jobe , Heppell win the footy and handpass to a teammate flat footed who hand passes to another bloke flat footed. As soon as we win possession our runners need to be on the move and open the game up.

I think Bomber is to blame for some of this, our risk averse gameplan last year has made us very static moving the ball. The guys first thought is to not let their opponent hurt them if the ball gets turned over rather than attacking and providing an option.

It's ball movement and efficency, not just leg speed. Ball travels faster by foot not by hand.

Refer Hawthorn, not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quick.

Oh they kick more than handball aswell.

And yet nobody can lay a glove on Rioli, Burgoyne waltzes through traffic like heā€™s walking around witches hats, Hill turns players inside out, Puopolo is putting in blistering 100 metre sprints just to lay a tackle etc etc.

Youā€™ve got to be able to move the ball well, no doubt about that.

But itā€™s not an either/or scenario. You need both

I said both

ā– ā– ā– ā–  these conversations are boring off small and skewed sample size.

when we are playing somewhere near our best weā€™ll get a read of our strengths and weaknesses.

They took our pre-season. weā€™ve been playing like we are more worn out every week. Real important that right now is when we discuss leg speed. Couldnā€™t possibly wait for more sample information because weā€™ll be able to do something about leg speed when? oh thatā€™s right after all the other games are played this year.

how bout we accept that the answer to the thread ā€œwhy are we being over runā€ is ā€œleg speedā€ and move on with whatā€™s actually happening very early in this season?

Leg speed is only a part of the problem but it stands out because overall we don't run & spread well enough. We have too many guys who simply don't cover enough ground & so our lack of pace gets exposed when we can't make up for the workrate with pace. Also pace at the centre bounces is lacking. We don't really have the guys who can hit the pack at pace, get the ball & execute a clean clearance. We so often turn our 1st possession into another stoppage because we run into or handball into a pack. We don't have a reliable outside runner who we go to. Look at the way Steven today ran away from stoppages. Our guys get caught too often so panic disposal.

Can you really separate pace from spreading? Thereā€™s no regular who stands out to me as not having a pretty good (at least) work rate which pretty much narrows it down.
To me, you add one more speedster into the mix, and the bloke who was looking after our 2nd quickest guy is now on the 3rd quickest, the guy who was input 3rd quickest now on the 4th, and so on - you end up with a mismatch our way somewhere and get a real loose man = goals.

Youā€™re right that we donā€™t have a really strong quick clearance player, but thereā€™s only maybe 8 in the comp - Hawks, Swans donā€™t either. They still work clear ball forward.

It's ball movement and efficency, not just leg speed. Ball travels faster by foot not by hand.

Refer Hawthorn, not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quick.

Oh they kick more than handball aswell.

And yet nobody can lay a glove on Rioli, Burgoyne waltzes through traffic like heā€™s walking around witches hats, Hill turns players inside out, Puopolo is putting in blistering 100 metre sprints just to lay a tackle etc etc.

Youā€™ve got to be able to move the ball well, no doubt about that.

But itā€™s not an either/or scenario. You need both

I said both

You did, though you also said ā€˜not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quickā€™.

I think they are plenty quick.

To have 5-6 guys who are incredible movers (and weā€™re not even talking about their hardest workers like breust, gunston, smith etc) is exactly where we need to be.

Bar Trav, Im not sure we can even claim to have 1 in the same league.

It's ball movement and efficency, not just leg speed.

Ball travels faster by foot not by hand.

Refer Hawthorn, not overly quick but their ball movement and kicking skills make them appear quick.

Oh they kick more than handball aswell.

They also have some super quick outside runners like Rioli, Hill & Smith runs all day long at good pace. Its all about getting a mix & getting players who are strong in all areas. No point having outside runners if you donā€™t have anyone winning the ball on the ground, no point winning the ball on the ground if you donā€™t have the players who can run & carry the ball through the traffic. We need at least 1 or 2 genuine allround mids who have decent pace but can also win their own ball. Today it was Armitage & Steven who were dominating us around the stoppages - we donā€™t have anyone who can run with these types of guys. When 100% fit Zaka does this role pretty well but he hasnā€™t looked on top of his game yet this year & we donā€™t appear to have another option.

Is it leg speed or the fact that we are not getting first hands on the footy? At the centre bounce we are getting soundly beaten for first possession, and often it is a clean win to the opposition. Automatically you look slow, and for 3 quarters v Sydney and the Hawks game that wasn't something we were being called. I don't think we are the quickest going, but win it at the coalface and dish it out, we will look far slicker and hopefully can get some clean forward entries...

Itā€™s this. Ball travels faster than the man.

Normally true, not the way we move it though, how many times have we sent it 15 meters but lobbed it so high over comes a speedy oppo player for the spoil, too many to countā€¦ Barely remember us doing this the other way.

Leg speed is the most overrated thing in footy. How you move the ball is key

Why do people think leg speed is only used when in attack? Lack of leg speed hurts you more the other way. Manning up, closing down space, chasing down opponentsā€¦ We need more of it.