The Gameplan

[Hellish Inferno 673]

I thought it might be a good idea to have a dedicated thread for the 2017 Gameplan, but of course it will also be discussed elsewhere.

I really noticed (after the first quarter) the tendency to kick the ball longer sideways to open up the ground and spread the players, creating holes forward of the ball where players would lead into and receive short kicks for mostly uncontested marks. They also worked the angles quite nicely. This type of gameplan works really well with a fit team that spreads well and keeps to their structures. The Saints seemed to be really tired and could not keep up the intensity of the first quarter where they were able to pressure the ball carrier into quick kicks forward to contests rather than keeping the ball in our hands.

Also, it really helps that our midfield is generally able to win the contested ball and clearances count most games. The players seem to set up well for contests so that they are both there in numbers but are also positioned not too close to each other and moving constantly so not many handballs are received flat footed.

The forward line also worked quite well on the weekend, but that might partly be down to the poor defence of the Saints, as at times it seemed there was so much space to lead into and receive crumbs. Although in saying that our defence was also victim to that problem at times too. But perhaps that is a symptom of the way the game is being played at the moment and I also noticed that plenty of other games on the weekend were quite high scoring. I didn't really get to watch the games but it could be that zone defence and quick ball movement from the midfield is catching plenty of teams out.  

[Gorgoroth 8,469]

The biggest difference I think was we lowered our eyes and hit targets in the f50 instead of kicking it to Hogan where ever he was.

[Dr. Gonzo 12,990]

We ran forward in waves however a difference to previous games was that when we got to about half forward if there were no options and we ran into a wall instead of bombing away and watching the ball rebound over our heads we turned and retreated backwards with a short kick or long handball to a man standing behind the play to reset before pushing g forward again. Was very noticeable in 2nd and 3rd quarters and we just dominated possession because we wouldn't allow them to touch the footy.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Dr. Gonzo

[CHF 1,576]

Two things for me stood out after quarter time. 

Firstly, the transition from defence into attack and the other way from attack into defence. I  know it is called "run and spread" but we seem to have finally grasped that it requires trust in your teammates to do their job so that the structures remain in place to be effective. We are doing it well and more importantly, doing it fast. the right players are committing to the contest and the others are in place to provide support for any outcome.

Secondly, it looks to me that while we are looking to use the corridor as much as possible we are using a very broad corridor. That may sound strange but we look to be using the lanes inside the wings as part of the corridor and that is allowing a lot of space and running room through the middle when we are on a quick transition.

 

 

[Sir Why You Little 23,396]

To win at everything....

[Patches O’houlihan 12,597]

we don't second guess anything now, it's all instinct, they don't hesitate they just take the kick into the corridor and it opens the game right up, yes sometimes we stuff up and look silly but it allows us to score around the 120 mark each game and if our defence is good it puts us right in the range to be a finals chance 

[Cards13 7,179]

Someone mentioned it in another thread and On The Couch highlighted it as well. Goody had 7 players sitting in defence at a centre bounce, then 8 players and then 9 players sitting in our defensive 50 at another centre bounce.

With the 9 all of these Numbers straming fwd, quick long ball into our fwd 50 which Hoges marked over the back uncontested.

Interesting tactic and to see how long it lasts before coaches work it out. 

[Call Me What You Will 481]

I thought the comments by Roos on FOX about breaking the lines were fascinating. Rather than kick long to the opposition defensive wall and a 50/50 at best, kick a half or three quarter kick to the hole before the wall, then go over the top and out the back.

[Unleash Hell 2,324]

1 hour ago, Cards13 said:

Someone mentioned it in another thread and On The Couch highlighted it as well. Goody had 7 players sitting in defence at a centre bounce, then 8 players and then 9 players sitting in our defensive 50 at another centre bounce.

With the 9 all of these Numbers straming fwd, quick long ball into our fwd 50 which Hoges marked over the back uncontested.

Interesting tactic and to see how long it lasts before coaches work it out. 

In that 9 defenders situation stk out numbered us 7 to 3 in our forward line. Yet the out number and run from that set up won the ball.... i think it was gawn to brayshsw who handballed to trac on the break who hit hogan with the long entry.

It was very impressive and very hard to pick up on the coverage. But seeing that from king and looking at the replay it was bloody impressive.

It's hard to believe our team is playing smart footy. . I need to check this osnt a dream

 

[Lucifer's Hero 20,602]

6 minutes ago, Call Me What You Will said:

I thought the comments by Roos on FOX about breaking the lines were fascinating. Rather than kick long to the opposition defensive wall and a 50/50 at best, kick a half or three quarter kick to the hole before the wall, then go over the top and out the back.

Roos should know - he devised that game plan.  It is exactly what he did when we beat the Hawks last year.  In the press conf after that game he talked about getting the ball in around our 30m from goal arc.  Worked a treat vs the Hawks and in a few games thereafter until the team ran out of puff.  That Hawks game was played in a very similar way to the last 3 qtrs on Saturday.  Same result!

[A F 14,360]

41 minutes ago, Unleash Hell said:

In that 9 defenders situation stk out numbered us 7 to 3 in our forward line. Yet the out number and run from that set up won the ball.... i think it was gawn to brayshsw who handballed to trac on the break who hit hogan with the long entry.

It was very impressive and very hard to pick up on the coverage. But seeing that from king and looking at the replay it was bloody impressive.

It's hard to believe our team is playing smart footy. . I need to check this osnt a dream

What I love so much about the early signs from Goodwin as a coach, even in his second assistant year, is his creativity and willingness to experiment. We had the Diamond Defence last year and now the refined traditional zone defence, coupled with this new Goody Footy 9-man backline. He's cutting edge.

Even more exciting is that this creativity has a view to heavy scoring, 'fearless football', unlike the Roos/Lyon shut it down stoppage game of yesteryear. Lyon is still trying to play a mutated form of it nowadays and it just doesn't stack up to the spread and fast ball movement of 2017 sides.

Cannot wait to see what other tricks Goody Footy has for us in 2017 and beyond.  

[Chook 8,765]

Roos went on and on about how we made the ground really “wide” by constantly switching it from one boundary to another. That really mucked up the Saints’ zone, and because their pressure was off in general, we were able to slice through and hit a forward who was outside their zone.

[Dr. Gonzo 12,990]

7 hours ago, Unleash Hell said:

In that 9 defenders situation stk out numbered us 7 to 3 in our forward line. Yet the out number and run from that set up won the ball.... i think it was gawn to brayshsw who handballed to trac on the break who hit hogan with the long entry.

It was very impressive and very hard to pick up on the coverage. But seeing that from king and looking at the replay it was bloody impressive.

It's hard to believe our team is playing smart footy. . I need to check this osnt a dream

 

An evolution of Sydney's slingshot footy?

[Unleash Hell 2,324]

40 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

An evolution of Sydney's slingshot footy?

Quite possibly, i think the swans like geelong are more negative/defensive... but im no expert on structures but i do enjoy observing. 

The structures employed by goody seem to be very aggressive and on Saturday that resulted in 10 to nil centre clearances in a row.

Now you can put a lot of that down to gawn clarry viney etc but the agressiveness of the set ups and execution also saw a 10 goal unanswered demon run.

I haven't seen that from a dees side in a long long time 

Im not one to get over too ahead of myself as its round 1 and we did best gws last year.. but i am genuinely excited about this side and how it's coached. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by Unleash Hell

[Bigred 378]

Did some one say 'Goody Footy'..... Hmmmmmmm  

[Dr. Gonzo 12,990]

16 minutes ago, Unleash Hell said:

Quite possibly, i think the swans like geelong are more negative/defensive... but im no expert on structures but i do enjoy observing. 

The structures employed by goody seem to be very aggressive and on Saturday that resulted in 10 to nil centre clearances in a row.

Now you can put a lot of that down to gawn clarry viney etc but the agressiveness of the set ups and execution also saw a 10 goal unanswered demon run.

I haven't seen that from a dees side in a long long time 

Im not one to get over too ahead of myself as its round 1 and we did best gws last year.. but i am genuinely excited about this side and how it's coached. 

Yeah the Swans work more off a defensive slingshot model where they close down off half back and then rebound catching the opposition off guard as their zone is not set. We just seemed to hammer from half back in an attacking style expecting to win the centre clearance and run forward in waves from there. So it's a similar structure (coming off half back) just ours is more attacking from the outset whereas the Swans defend first then counter attack. Will be interesting to see how it works if we're losing the centre clearances and on the back foot 

[Cards13 7,179]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah the Swans work more off a defensive slingshot model where they close down off half back and then rebound catching the opposition off guard as their zone is not set. We just seemed to hammer from half back in an attacking style expecting to win the centre clearance and run forward in waves from there. So it's a similar structure (coming off half back) just ours is more attacking from the outset whereas the Swans defend first then counter attack. Will be interesting to see how it works if we're losing the centre clearances and on the back foot 

Will be interesting to see how it stacks up over the season, especially if Maxy is not winning ion the ruck/we are losing the centre clearance.

[Sir Why You Little 23,396]

9 hours ago, Call Me What You Will said:

I thought the comments by Roos on FOX about breaking the lines were fascinating. Rather than kick long to the opposition defensive wall and a 50/50 at best, kick a half or three quarter kick to the hole before the wall, then go over the top and out the back.

Makes good sense

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

25 minutes ago, Bigred said:

Did some one say 'Goody Footy'..... Hmmmmmmm  

Get out. 

[A F 14,360]

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Get out. 

 Nah, it'll take off. You watch David King.  #goodyfooty

[ArtificialWisdom 2,333]

12 hours ago, Cards13 said:

Someone mentioned it in another thread and On The Couch highlighted it as well. Goody had 7 players sitting in defence at a centre bounce, then 8 players and then 9 players sitting in our defensive 50 at another centre bounce.

With the 9 all of these Numbers straming fwd, quick long ball into our fwd 50 which Hoges marked over the back uncontested.

Interesting tactic and to see how long it lasts before coaches work it out. 

It was good coaching because it was taking advantage of our momemtum. Guarantee it wont happen in most games but it is good to see it happening while we had dominance. In the past we have struggled to score when we have momemtum. This really pushes the idea that when we feel we have control we want to keep piling on the score. We scored 120 points after a 2 goal first quater and after putting the que in the rack 5 mintues into the last where we pocketed 2 more in junk time. that means from qtr time till 4 minutes into the last we scored a massive 90 points (14.6) vs 30 in the rest of the game. Goody's gameplan is all about scoring when we have control and suffocating the opposition when we dont. 

That all being said. Its flirting with danger playing 3-7 in the forwadline because when it comes down to it, at 3-7 it was more about St Kilda's defencive structure falling apart than it was uss playing well. But what it did do is it made defenders panic, watching King's vision showed all the saints defenders panic and run up to help the out number in the middle and hogan just walked out the back. I would expect to see them try this a number of times but im not sold that it would work against the best defences. Saints could have played man on man plus 4 in a zone, Hogan should never have marked that ball uncontested.

[Unleash Hell 2,324]

4 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah the Swans work more off a defensive slingshot model where they close down off half back and then rebound catching the opposition off guard as their zone is not set. We just seemed to hammer from half back in an attacking style expecting to win the centre clearance and run forward in waves from there. So it's a similar structure (coming off half back) just ours is more attacking from the outset whereas the Swans defend first then counter attack. Will be interesting to see how it works if we're losing the centre clearances and on the back foot 

I think it's a but early to make the comparison at this early stage in the season but maybe the dogs, i tend to lean towards that style and set up? I haven't seen enough to make a proper judgemen, but i agree with your observations.

Tmac and Bernie were excellent on the weekend. I am also very interested to see how the defensive plan develops during the year when the stakes are higher

Edited March 28, 2017 by Unleash Hell

[Maldonboy38 2,641]

I want to see this gameplan against a team that can effectively counter it. The Saints folded so badly once we stopped bombing it long it is difficult to see how our players adapt when the pressure is reversed. What we did to the Saints, WCE did to us in the last JLT game. At first we couldn't cope but matched them in the last quarter. Carlton this week probably won't counter it too well, (he says, knowlingly)  but the following week against Geelong will really test it out. 

At the moment, the gameplan does look strong, it just needs to be tested. 

[In Harmes Way 3,704]

2 hours ago, A F said:

 Nah, it'll take off. You watch David King.  #goodyfooty

I was looking at your hashtag and it reminded me of goody two shoes.

Maybe we need to send Alan Richardson some #goodytissues

[Grapeviney 4,671]

9 hours ago, A F said:

 Nah, it'll take off. You watch David King.  #goodyfooty

Goody footy? Nah..

King has already christened it "Simon Says"

I like it.