How good was this goal assist? Not just the tap but the smother up the field and then his run down the field to get into open space. Honourable mention to the pick up by Nibbler who handballed to Spargo who shimmied and kicked to Petracca in space. Great team play.

 

How's the goal assist from @christianpetracca to @jakemelksham? ??? @melbournefc #raisehell #myheartbeatstrue #godees

A post shared by Demonland (@demonland31) on May 21, 2018 at 1:24am PDT

Great vision by Spargo to see Trac, and Trac to see Milkshake. 

Was very intelligent Footy all round.Ball kept being put to advantage.

Amazing what confidence brings.

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

How good was this goal assist? Not just the tap but the smother up the field and then his run down the field to get into open space. Honourable mention to the pick up by Nibbler who handballed to Spargo who shimmied and kicked to Petracca in space. Great team play.

I really don't see this as anything special. Granted it was a smart and clever play, but we should honestly see more of this in the AFL.

It staggers me how many times a player will jump and take the ball out of mid air, wait to land and get immediately tackled and wrapped up, especially when they know an opposition player is close. Blokes like Oliver look to handball it every time they grab the ball out of mid air to a releasing player before they land, allowing him to avoid the tackle and get the ball out.

Yet most AFL players will just grab it. If anything, we need to be seeing what Trac did a lot more consistently, especially from elite AFL players who train and do this day in and day out.

Most players 9 times out of 10 would have blindly taken that ball out of the air and just get wrapped him, causing more stoppages.

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, juzzk1d said:

I really don't see this as anything special. Granted it was a smart and clever play, but we should honestly see more of this in the AFL.

It staggers me how many times a player will jump and take the ball out of mid air, wait to land and get immediately tackled and wrapped up, especially when they know an opposition player is close. Blokes like Oliver look to handball it every time they grab the ball out of mid air to a releasing player before they land, allowing him to avoid a tackle and not able to get possession out. Yet most AFL players will just grab it. If anything, we need to be seeing what Trac did a lot more consistently, especially from elite AFL players who train and do this day in and day out.

Most players 9 times out of 10 would have blindly taken that ball out of the air and just get wrapped him, causing more stoppages.

 

 

 

I have always thought exactly the same thing. If the ball is in the air and you have grabbed it with your feet off the ground with an opposition player just about to tackle you why not tap to an open team mate?

I think one reason they don't do it often is because of fear of turning the ball over. If there is no clear player to tap to (which is often with how many players are around each contest currently) then it might be better to possess the ball and if you can't get your arms clear simply wait for a ball up and try to win it from a stoppage. I think the best contested ball teams like Melbourne have possibly be trained to do this.

At least thats what it looks like the tactic is to me. But yes if there is more space and a player clear definitely tap like Trac did in that instance.

Spargo's kick is a beauty -  to just keep the ball moving quickly -   kept it simply by putting it out into space for Trac's advantage -  the kid makes good decisions.

That was a nice play but Hogan's over the pack looped handball assist (think it went to T-Mac) was the one that really stood out.

1 hour ago, Mickey said:

Great vision by Spargo to see Trac, and Trac to see Milkshake. 

Sounds like Channel 7 commentary when Stringer happens to hit a target 12 metres away...

I would have thought all those passages were pretty straightforward when you've got good awareness and relatively skilled

Nonetheless, it looked great and was full of effort...

Good team effort, but nothing special really. The best bit of play in that passage was Spargos side step through 3 opponents and quick kick to Trac moving into space.

Passages of play like that can seem simple when looked at and analysed later, it's have the presence of mind at the time that it important and you can't analyse that in the split second you have to do it.

Demon fans watching Trac's goal assist:

55 minutes ago, mongrel said:

Demon fans watching Trac's goal assist:

Tell me about it. You'd think they were bored Hawks fans in the last quarter of the 2015 Grand Final.

Team footy like this is something that has been sadly missing for a long decayed decade and is great to see.

Team footy like this, the shepherding, running to create space, knock ons ..... part of the recipe for success.

Well done guys - players and coaches alike. 

Now, just keep it up against the more skilled and more mature opposition teams we will be facing over the next month or so.  Play like that and you WILL get places; go back in the shell and you will not.

2 hours ago, Mickey said:

Great vision by Spargo to see Trac, and Trac to see Milkshake. 

I called it during the game, that effort by Spargo was all class.

What should be pointed out too is that smother that Petracca put on to set the whole passage up.

2 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I called it during the game, that effort by Spargo was all class.

What should be pointed out too is that smother that Petracca put on to set the whole passage up.

See OP.

The whole play was magnificent. From the Trac smother to the Nibbler pickup and handball to Spargo's dance and kick to space to Tracs run down the field to get in space and have the vision and presence of mind to tap it to Melk to Melk's snap and goal.

Anyone who thinks that's ho hum and run of the mill obviously hasn't seen the last decade that I've seen.

At the ground it looked great. I think Petracca does a lot of things that look normal when he does them but others would struggle to do. What stood  out all day was how often we shared the ball around in our fwd 50. At first I was thinking geez just take the frikn shot...but by giving it off to others in better positions we kicked super accurately and everyone gets to feel good...not just the goal kicker.

I wonder though,  against really sharp high pressure opposition,  how this tactic going to go. Time will tell. 

1 minute ago, Wells 11 said:

At the ground it looked great. I think Petracca does a lot of things that look normal when he does them but others would struggle to do. What stood  out all day was how often we shared the ball around in our fwd 50. At first I was thinking geez just take the frikn shot...but by giving it off to others in better positions we kicked super accurately and everyone gets to feel good...not just the goal kicker.

I wonder though,  against really sharp high pressure opposition,  how this tactic going to go. Time will tell. 

I don't think this was a tactic or a set play per se. I think it was just football smarts all round by some classy players. Sure the witches hat opposition probably assisted but I bet we'll see more of this stuff in years to come.

3 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I don't think this was a tactic or a set play per se. I think it was just football smarts all round by some classy players. Sure the witches hat opposition probably assisted but I bet we'll see more of this stuff in years to come.

Hope your right. I think we'll be finding out as soon as this coming Sunday! 

3 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

Hope your right. I think we'll be finding out as soon as this coming Sunday! 

Agreed. I'm under no illusions that we've had a relatively easy month but you can only play who you play and we've done well and improved each week. This week (and the 2 after) is a big test for sure. The back half of the year will prove whether we are contenders or pretenders. We have the cattle do we have the mettle?

2 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Agreed. I'm under no illusions that we've had a relatively easy month but you can only play who you play and we've done well and improved each week. This week (and the 2 after) is a big test for sure. The back half of the year will prove whether we are contenders or pretenders. We have the cattle do we have the mettle?

Just one week at a time. Don't want to count your chickens before they hatch.

13 minutes ago, Devil is in the Detail said:

Just one week at a time. Don't want to count your chickens before they hatch.

I'm taking it a quarter at a time.

I was impressed by how sharp we looked in intermittent rain with a damp and greasy ball...in the past the wet weather has destroyed our style of footy but that wasn't an issue on Sunday.

3 hours ago, juzzk1d said:

I really don't see this as anything special. Granted it was a smart and clever play, but we should honestly see more of this in the AFL.

It staggers me how many times a player will jump and take the ball out of mid air, wait to land and get immediately tackled and wrapped up, especially when they know an opposition player is close. Blokes like Oliver look to handball it every time they grab the ball out of mid air to a releasing player before they land, allowing him to avoid the tackle and get the ball out.

Yet most AFL players will just grab it. If anything, we need to be seeing what Trac did a lot more consistently, especially from elite AFL players who train and do this day in and day out.

Most players 9 times out of 10 would have blindly taken that ball out of the air and just get wrapped him, causing more stoppages.

 

 

 

Agree it needs to be done more and goody is clearly coaching the team to, in the absence of the chance of a clean disposal,  keep it going forward in our forward half by any means necessary  - punch, tap, jamming it onto the boot (right or wrong foot) etc.

However for many players the sort of tap trac did - and the even better one melk did in the previous game where he deflected it to allow a player to run into an open goal - is not instinctive for most footballers who have been trained to grab the ball. Whereas basketballers do it much more instinctively, which is why players like Watts and pendles do so many deft taps etc.

17 minutes ago, binman said:

Agree it needs to be done more and goody is clearly coaching the team to, in the absence of the chance gor a clean proposal,  keep it going forward in our forward half by any means necessary  - punch, tap, jamming it onto rhe boot (right or wrong foot) etc.

However for many players  rhe sort of tap trac did - and rhe even better one melk did in the previos game where he deflected it to allow a player to run into an open goal - is not instictive for mist footballers who have been trained to grab the ball. Wheras basketballers do it much more instinctively, which is why ayers like Watts and pendles do so many deft taps etc.

Firstly 'mist footballers' is a nice term. Trying to think how best it could be used haha.

But in regards to tapping it on I made the point earlier in this thread that with high levels of congestion around the ball players might be trained get tackled and bring the ball down to create a stoppage with there being potentially less risk of turning the ball over to the opposition. I think Melbourne being the best (currently) contested ball side in the comp do this often to restart and try to win a clearance.

I think it was last year I noticed a lot more use of the tap by the MFC.

It suits our present game plan but it also needs the recipient to be moving at the time of receipt if it is to work best.

Many might feel that the worst disposal is the handball back into traffic to the flat footed team mate .

If you think about it ..it's not always a bad move in that the kick to advantage is not presumably available and if the holder keeps the ball he will give away a free kick for holding the ball. By handballing to the static team mate who is immediately claimed the result is a ball up.

The play which does not work as well anymore is the high looping handball. GWS at their best are experts at this but equally other clubs know they will do this and accordingly they do not over commit to the ball carrier and wait to attack the recipient and hopefully cause the turnover. I thought we were very good at causing the turnovers against Carlton even though we had a few turnovers ourselves.