I noticed on Saturday that WCE were able to kick 55m. from the goalsquare to an unattended player who had plenty of time to spot up a target upfield.

When we kicked in, there appeared to be no options. This resulted in enormous pressure on our defenders , over and over again.

Did anyone else notice this?

I noticed on Saturday that WCE were able to kick 55m. from the goalsquare to an unattended player who had plenty of time to spot up a target upfield.

When we kicked in, there appeared to be no options. This resulted in enormous pressure on our defenders , over and over again.

Did anyone else notice this?

West Coast zoned the corridor and manned up on the flanks which left no options anywhere. Good tactics by Woosha unfortunately

"West Coast zoned the corridor and manned up on the flanks which left no options anywhere. Good tactics by Woosha unfortunately"

And obviously far too difficult for us to emulate, or try to counter. We must have had far more important tactical considerations in mind.

The thing that annoyed me was that there was no one running to make the second option or take the short kick in. Yes WC did it well, but the coaching staff should've been wise to it and devise ways of breaking it, instead of kicking it long and setting NikNat up for MOTY.

The thing that annoyed me was that there was no one running to make the second option or take the short kick in. Yes WC did it well, but the coaching staff should've been wise to it and devise ways of breaking it, instead of kicking it long and setting NikNat up for MOTY.

From kick-ins, how many times have we kicked long to The Russian? Surely we must have a few different options/plans to make it a bit less predictable?

From kick-ins, how many times have we kicked long to The Russian? Surely we must have a few different options/plans to make it a bit less predictable?

Yeah, exactly the same plan as Fremantle, except Sandilands is a monster that has the height to out-mark every single player in the competition.

From kick-ins, how many times have we kicked long to The Russian? Surely we must have a few different options/plans to make it a bit less predictable?

Agree - but I think the real reason is that no-one is preared to present - too scared of making a mistake - too many willing tp take a handpass, not enough willing to get the thing in the first place.

Agree - but I think the real reason is that no-one is preared to present - too scared of making a mistake - too many willing tp take a handpass, not enough willing to get the thing in the first place.

Hit the nail on the head. If you watch the kick outs saturday, the kicker was searching desperately for someone to make position and no one did. We were static. That is attitude and it appeared poor early on and was borne out by our lowest number of tackles. WC did the 1 per centers and we didn't. That said the coaching was also poor as was the disposal which was atrocious. Handballs falling short or missing by metres is poor and kicking to ankle height or over the head is also poor. Le Cras received great disposal and marked accordingly.

Le Cras received great disposal and marked accordingly.

And then kicked poorly. 3.6

The margin could have been a hell of a lot more.

Hit the nail on the head. If you watch the kick outs saturday, the kicker was searching desperately for someone to make position and no one did. We were static. That is attitude and it appeared poor early on and was borne out by our lowest number of tackles. WC did the 1 per centers and we didn't. That said the coaching was also poor as was the disposal which was atrocious. Handballs falling short or missing by metres is poor and kicking to ankle height or over the head is also poor. Le Cras received great disposal and marked accordingly.

Well said- similar to the first game against Hawthorn. The coaching panel seems wanting sometimes.They do not seem able to get them up.

The kick ins would have been much better had our players started to run, or at least move.

Even running in completely random directions would have created more options for the kicker. Instead we just seemed zoned off as if we were defending the kick in.

But even when we have been running and up and about, we've kicked to Jamar and either roved off him or tried to cause a stoppage. This suggests to me that we have little plan or direction from the coaching staff, as to how to clear the ball out of defensive fifty.

As long as other teams zone the corridor i cant see the dees kicking a winning score.

It seems we have no plan b?

Agree, was the most frustrating part of the day. Reckon it went hand in hand with the majority of the team just not working hard enough on the day.

(HUGE apologies to Junior Mac and some others).

Hit the nail on the head. If you watch the kick outs saturday, the kicker was searching desperately for someone to make position and no one did. We were static. That is attitude and it appeared poor early on and was borne out by our lowest number of tackles. WC did the 1 per centers and we didn't. That said the coaching was also poor as was the disposal which was atrocious. Handballs falling short or missing by metres is poor and kicking to ankle height or over the head is also poor. Le Cras received great disposal and marked accordingly.

And of course Bruce would never have the where withall to kick to self and play on forcing it to open up... Hed just panic a bit when the defender ran him and cough it up. And he neednt for he does have the close in abilities, so go figure ( he simply has no faith in his own disposals). Grimes ought to take them for now. If necessary we need two extras in defence at the moment of kick in and force a mismatch. To allow the opposition to dictate isthe first grave error, not presenting is just as bad.. wee DO have leg speed through the guts now we need to use that to circumvent the oppo's forward pressure..i.e take them on.. dont shirk the game !!

Well said- similar to the first game against Hawthorn. The coaching panel seems wanting sometimes.They do not seem able to get them up.

If only Dave Schwarz was on the coaching panel...

My mate made a suggestion for countering the "zones".

Instead of avoiding an area covered by an opposition defender, kick a high one straight above him, making sure one of our guys who can"ride" his back is within range behind him,i.e....set him up to have a "hanger" taken on him. The player leaping from behind should be able to put the opponent out of the play, and play-on downfield. Meanwhile, the "zoner" will have second thoughts about leaving himself so vulnerable again. Demons who have shown they know how to "ride" a back include Jamar, Petterd, Trengove and Jurrah.

I'm not saying we should do this every time, just keep it in mind when options are limited.

We still don't seem to have caught on to the absolute necessity of kicking in quickly, before the opposition get organised.

Also, too often after a point, 2 or 3 of our guys wander around behind the goals looking to retrieve the ball, as if hoping to be the kicker-in. Meanwhile, the opponents are able to outnumber us upfield, making zoning easier. I refer readers to my previous post on a similar topic where I suggested we have volunteer ball-retrievers behind the goals at each end.(even if they had to masquerade as photographers!)

Any other suggestions, Demonlanders?

My mate made a suggestion for countering the "zones".

Instead of avoiding an area covered by an opposition defender, kick a high one straight above him, making sure one of our guys who can"ride" his back is within range behind him,i.e....set him up to have a "hanger" taken on him. The player leaping from behind should be able to put the opponent out of the play, and play-on downfield. Meanwhile, the "zoner" will have second thoughts about leaving himself so vulnerable again. Demons who have shown they know how to "ride" a back include Jamar, Petterd, Trengove and Jurrah.

I'm not saying we should do this every time, just keep it in mind when options are limited.

It works each week in the schoolyard. If we are down to those tactics....

How about the old fashioned huddle. Could have at least tried it....once? too radical? better to do nothing and get slaughtered time and time again?

Edited May 18, 201015 yr by Tricky

Well said- similar to the first game against Hawthorn. The coaching panel seems wanting sometimes.They do not seem able to get them up.

I promise you the coaches did not tell players not to run and spread and create options.

The best thing to do at kick ins is to take the first option available. Every time. Grimes seems to do a lot of the kicking in and he seems to wait too long for the magical brilliant option to appear, when in reality all he's doing is letting the opposition fully set up a 10-12 man zone across half forward. I'd be inclined to just tell him to pick the ball up and kick it straight away to the first option he can see. Gets the game moving, gets the zone moving, gets the ball away from full back.

Hit the nail on the head. If you watch the kick outs saturday, the kicker was searching desperately for someone to make position and no one did. We were static. That is attitude and it appeared poor early on and was borne out by our lowest number of tackles. WC did the 1 per centers and we didn't. That said the coaching was also poor as was the disposal which was atrocious. Handballs falling short or missing by metres is poor and kicking to ankle height or over the head is also poor. Le Cras received great disposal and marked accordingly.

Yep.

Dunn would've made an option.

The best way to sort this out......not allow so many set shots at goal, ie - too many marks inside 50.

Allowing marks inside 50 and set shots see's the opposition allowed plenty of time to set up the zone, if not then Grimey can take the extra ball straight away and get it out of there!

The best thing to do at kick ins is to take the first option available. Every time. Grimes seems to do a lot of the kicking in and he seems to wait too long for the magical brilliant option to appear, when in reality all he's doing is letting the opposition fully set up a 10-12 man zone across half forward. I'd be inclined to just tell him to pick the ball up and kick it straight away to the first option he can see. Gets the game moving, gets the zone moving, gets the ball away from full back.

I agree 100%. So often I find myself getting a little agitated watching us set up for kick ins. Wandering slowly over to the ball, have a think about it, have another think about it, and then NOTHING is on. Other teams seem to get on with it far morer often than we do.

Kickins have been a problem for MFC for 20 bloody years. Very strange phenomenon that has transfered to coach after coach.