Many people here and in the media talk about game plans.

What I would like to know is; what is a game plan. Is it an algorithm or something?

What is the MFC game plan.  We seem  to play on a lot.  Is that it?- our game plan?  

I have been here for yonks see the phrase 'game plan' and gloss on without thinking about it.  

That stops here. I want to know all about  game plans.                                  

Can some one actually explain to me what a game plan is and why it is important to have one.                                     

PS I played footie for 40 odd years  and  in that time I never  knew I was part of a plan or  that one existed.      

Do we have one?

To strangle 17 opposition teams into submission. 
Otherwise it fails

1 hour ago, old dee said:

Do we have one?

 

38 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

To strangle 17 opposition teams into submission. 
Otherwise it fails

Can you please explain Richmond's game plan for example?

Just now, Pollyanna said:

 

Can you please explain Richmond's game plan for example?

I don't watch them I feel ill thinking of the game we tried very hard to lose and they have gone on to win flags and we cannot even get into the top eight most years.

1 minute ago, old dee said:

I don't watch them I feel ill thinking of the game we tried very hard to lose and they have gone on to win flags and we cannot even get into the top eight most years.

Surely you've watched Richmond vs MFC in recent years and saw them in the Grand Final?  I'm keen to understand from you what their premiership winning game plan entails?

Skills 101 of AFL game plans.  Kick a higher score than the opposition.

Just now, dl4e said:

Skills 101 of AFL game plans.  Kick a higher score than the opposition.

That plan will get you a flag every year. our missing ingredient is we cannot hit targets going forward.

i would have thought our gameplan was fairly self-evident in the way we have played for several years

• win stoppages and clearances is the #1 mandate
• move the ball via overlap run
• fan wide on the rebound / entering 50
• clear out / block central corridor and force teams to use the boundary thus theoretically maximising repeat stoppages and limiting oppo run (doesn't work if we don't defend exits effectively)
• defend maniacally
• limit turnovers (which can mean we sometimes look overly cautious when in possession)

what i like is that it's not overly complicated, which is genuinely a good guide to the kiss principle; tiggas' game plan to me essentially appears to be defend maniacally, force turnover, run in waves on the rebound

That is not a game plan. You have just described  a game of footy.

1 minute ago, skills32 said:

That is not a game plan. You have just described  a game of footy.

perhaps that was the point...

2018 we had a clear game plan. 
Since then, we haven’t. 

1 hour ago, Pollyanna said:

 

Can you please explain Richmond's game plan for example?

What purpose does that fulfill?

We need to beat them regularly, that is all that matters 

1 hour ago, Pollyanna said:

Can you please explain Richmond's game plan for example?

I believe it revolves around inter-office relationships. 

The game plan has to be built around the players and their capabilities and strengths.  We have suffered too much from seagull football (all midfielders getting drawn into contests like it is a bag of hot chips) and red mist (get ball, get rid of ball any way that I can).

Our game plan has to be fluid and respond to where we are at in the game - we have to smart enough to turn up the gas or to choke the opposition.  Knowing when to go fast or go slow is what we lacked.  When we just banged our heads doing the same stuff all the time, people here complained about no ‘plan B’.

Our game plan needs to be focused around how we can best move the ball and score.  We have failed to do that effectively over the last two seasons.

54 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

What purpose does that fulfill?

We need to beat them regularly, that is all that matters 

Well to be honest I don't think you, @old dee or I are qualified to understand what a modern AFL gameplan involves.

Maybe you are?  Surely Richmond has a well defined and successful one and you can explain it to me.

I think this may be what @skills32 is pointing to in the OP

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by Pollyanna

2 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

defend maniacally

That bit wasn't self evident to me.

The rest is spot on.

Understanding a game plan should not be difficult. However, unless you are at the ground and observing from a reasonable height, it is difficult if not impossible to watch where the players run to receive the ball relative to their team mates and opponents.

A game plan should comprise instructions on where to run, when to crowd and when to open up, how many at the ball, a consistent and planned approach to clearing the ball from defence and a structured path to goal. Not an accident waiting to happen.

MFC in 2018 exhibited a successful game plan (chaos ball and players at the ball) and the tiggas have developed a manic running plan that suits their playing group. The dorks used to play Mitchell at the back of the ;pack as a distributor and everyone knew what to do when they won the ball.

It must cater to, and offer support to, the skills and abilities of the players so that a particular game plan might take several years to become apparent whilst the playing squad is assembled.

If the players do not match, either the playing group or the game plan must be altered.

I'd go back and listen to this interview with Craig Jennings via this thread.

 

1 hour ago, Pollyanna said:

Well to be honest I don't think you, @old dee or I are qualified to understand what a modern AFL gameplan involves.

Maybe you are?  Surely Richmond has a well defined and successful one and you can explain it to me.

I think this may be what @skills32 is pointing to in the OP

Richmond seem to have specific jobs for certain players and they stick to it. Difficult to see exactly from a TV Screen. 
personally i think “Gameplan” is a word journalists and commentators use in the media to take up space. 
inside a football club i would think looking at the opposition list each week would be more useful, each team is different  

Kicking, Handballing and Marking efficiently should be a standard of any AFL side. Not a luxury of good teams

4 hours ago, skills32 said:

Many people here and in the media talk about game plans.

What I would like to know is; what is a game plan. Is it an algorithm or something?

What is the MFC game plan.  We seem  to play on a lot.  Is that it?- our game plan?  

I have been here for yonks see the phrase 'game plan' and gloss on without thinking about it.  

That stops here. I want to know all about  game plans.                                  

Can some one actually explain to me what a game plan is and why it is important to have one.                                     

PS I played footie for 40 odd years  and  in that time I never  knew I was part of a plan or  that one existed.      

THE GAME PLAN    HMMM ! this is what l think ,  Get the ball to Big Ben as quickly as possible and if he doesn't get it then the crumbers have a chance if it hits the ground or the Weid and LJ could chip in for a mark. It is Simple just get the ball deep into the forward line. 

If that doesn't work then there is no game plan. The Game plan is get it to big Ben ! 

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by nosoupforme

Get out the back 

I'll have a go.

The midfield run as a pack, defensively and in attack.They get possession by pressuring the opposition or getting to the ball first. They move it around to find an open corridor (centre, centre wing or boundary) to the forward line by spread, switches and run.

Sometimes they get it forward as quickly as possible, (the chaos balls). 

The forwards all work together in a small area. Getting mismatches or causing separation by running around in a “ring-a-ring-a-rosey” pattern.

Other patterns include:

Clearing out to the 50 m arc leaving one on one or two on two in the scoring area.

Lining up in the central area with some spacing down the line, then, leading laterally.

The standard positions, allowing the smalls to get under the pack.

Defensively we seem to gut run, filling zones, while the backs coordinate who picks up whom. When they gain possession they spread and create a mark.

We used to go all out, but I noticed we were now occasionally controlling the tempo.

Hold the ball in an area. Used to be, hold it in the forward zone now they hold it a bit more at half-back (attacking from there).

Get repeated 50 entries by having a loose player, a kick and a bit back from play.

Break through the lines with run and quick ball use.

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by kev martin

3 hours ago, Vineytime said:

2018 we had a clear game plan. 
Since then, we haven’t. 

We didnt even have one in 2018.  We won through sheer weight of numbers by dominating clearances and getting an ungodly amount of inside 50's

West Coast showed in the prelim final how easy we were to beat.  Now they had a gameplan.

There was an excellent interview on SENile with Wayne Campbell in the last couple of months, where he was asked to articulate Richmond's success, starting with their first premiership. I happened to listen to it at the time and highly recommend it. It's particularly insightful as he looks at it from an ex-Richmond player perspective and as the opposition (GWS)

He emphasised how it was a club wide metamorphoses and went into some detail across all facets of the club. I could see many parallels with the MFC.

I wont pretend to understand our or any club's game plan, other than the nutshell analysis that chaos ball strategy worked well for us in 2018, but we've struggled to evolve from that. I'm reasonably confident that chaos ball wins finals (in the current climate), but you need to be able to switch in and out of it, which Richmond can and we can't. Yes, there are endless other variables and considerations.