Is Zone Defence Finished?

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,693]

3 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

It is not possible to read anything in terms of defensive structures from the Richmond-Collinwood game. 

Richmond lost Rance, their best defender.  Collingwood have Cox the tallest player in the league. 

 

In addition, Reiwoldt was playing injured. Richmond has very much been a team reliant on their top 4 players (Martin, Cotchin, Reiwoldt, Rance - a very good top 4) for the last few years. It will be very interesting how they go in the next 4 weeks without Rance and Reiwoldt (who it has been announced will likely miss the next 4. It just so happens that Anzac Eve will be the fourth...).

[Tony Tea 2,806]

The zone defence will be alive and kicking when we try to find a way through it.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

17.54 second quarter of the Port game. 

Have a look at Oscar's spoiling attempt. 

Actually unbelievable that he does that on an all too often basis. 

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

5 hours ago, Deespicable said:

The key factor missed here is that, as with the prelim final, it was mild night. Richmond's manic press works best under greasy conditions and both times against the Pies they copped perfect conditions for kicking and marking and both times they went small in the hope that the ball would be spilling onto the ground - which it wasn't.

   

That's a very interesting look at the why.  Thinking outside the box a little.

2 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Another aspect of last night is that the game allowed the Collingwood defence to sit back around the halfback line. Accordingly when Richmond got the ball and tried to go forward the Collingwood defenders were there ready and waiting.

The way to counter Collingwood is to relax the zone slightly. Sure it makes the zone easier to penetrate but it denies the continued uncontested possessions which were allowed to Collingwood. Just need a few turnovers and the Pies game would have looked second rate.

The above posts (and others here) lead us to some interesting aspects of last night's match.

Namely...

- The Tiges allowed the Pies too much room across HB with a very deep zone that started roughly about mid field.  This allowed the Pies plenty of breathing space to assess, decide then execute more effectively than usual whilst ALSO staying home (roaming) in their back half  allowing them to retain their defensive structure for longer in order to deflect more effectively against the Tiger counter/rebound on the turnover.

-  The Pies Kicking Efficiency would have been through the roof and i doubt many teams in the history of Champion Data would have racked up an overall disposal efficiency of 81%!  11% greater than the Tiges (70%) with the Tiges also 3% off the general AFL average (approx 73% ...  solid pressure from the Pies or skills were off a little at Tigerland...maybe a bit of both?).

- Playing the zone so deep meant the Tiges were mostly ineffective at closing out the switch which Collingwood exploited to great effect controlling the tempo, real estate and momentum for much of the game.

-  As a result the Tiges did not get up into the faces of the Pies across HB  or Middle quickly enough.  This allowed many more 45 kicks and switches by Collingwood and meant the Pies mid field were not forced to run both ways very often keeping them extra fresh vs their opponents.  On the contrary the Toiges' mid field was forced to sweep back and forth from one side of the field to the other on the switch which must have been exhausting and taken its toll.

The above also lead to the greatest number of marks recorded against Richmond in the history of Champion data (an insane result/number that sums up how bad the Tiger's defensive strat/effort was last night...mostly the former and the Coaches / FD will surely have to abandon that method from here...everyone saw it!).

In effect to wrestle the game back, the Tiges needed to push up on their Pie opponents either through a higher tighter zone or a period of man on man then start to control the game across their own HB more by maintaining possession and exhausting Collingwood (especially their mid fielders) a little more by making them chase.  A bit more slow rather than the usual fast break neck chaos off HB that they normally play.

- and lastly ...The Pies were damn good (albeit they were given a big assist by a very lax Tiger line up and strat)

Edited March 29, 2019 by Rusty Nails

[DV8 2,271]

7 hours ago, Watson11 said:

Richmond, us, and a few other teams rely heavily on zone defence. Richmond have been by far the best at it, but last night they were completely dismantled by Collingwoods game plan to counter it.

Did Collingwood just have an amazing night, or will good teams now consistently dismantle zone defences?  

IMO all the top 5 teams of 2018, had the best defence structures in form. and most of them lost Rnd 1 with the new rules in place.

I don't know if zones are finished  too early to say,  but It seems to me it is a lot more difficult to stop oppositions offensive plays.

[Tony Tea 2,806]

On 3/29/2019 at 10:11 AM, Dee Zephyr said:

Richmond constantly allowed the Pies to chip the ball around half back. From the TV, the Tigers has 5-6 players in a line in the middle going across the ground and seemed happy to allow the Pies to methodically move the ball from one side of the ground to the other hoping eventually it would be turned over up the field and rebound.

It felt like I was watching the round ball where a team parks the bus and waits for a counter. A poster here a while back started a thread about a basketball team that plays a full on press all game for good results. Richmond rarely pressured the controlled slow Collingwood ball movement out of defence. 

FWIW Hawthorn just about lost all the stats last week, possessions -73, contested -18 and uncontested - 64, inside 50s yet walked away with a 32 point win in Adelaide. 

Probably a bit early to determine whether the zone defence is dead, but a good talking point nonetheless.

Clarko plays a zone (which Adelaide's one-dimensional attack played straight into) but Clarko's key has always been knowing when to take the ball the other way for easy scores.