Engorged Onion

I think you have successfully dismantled my thesis ?but I'll retort after my work day.

Sense making on our 'brand'. I just came to a realisation around 15 minutes ago. I feel as though this year is the fruition of years of research from Goodwin whereby has has drawn from other sports around the world and made a mix that works well, whilst combining elements that are relevant to the uniqueness of AFL. In this thread there have been plenty of links to soccer (mostly EPL as a reference point) and in particular Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool system. I want to revisit the notion of Gengenpressing as I believe this is a core tenant of how we play. Thus, it is of no coincidence that Darren Burgess was recruited in the last three years to help facilitate this style. But I want to be clear - Darren is not the reason that we play this way (he is one of the reasons we now can). The move to play this way began before Darren was hired and is evidenced by Goodwin's experimentation of Diamond Defence's, which in turn alludes to his deep tactical awareness and his creativity in setting up a system that can sustain success. So a revision on what Gengenpressing is Gegenpressing, which is German for 'counter pressing', is a tactical philosophy that has been popularised by Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool teams. The essence of the philosophy is not only that teams press their opponents, but that they do so with particular focus and zeal when the ball is in the opposition territory; in effect, countering the counter-attack. It requires the forward line to commit to a lot of running as they are instructed to rapidly close down opposition defenders in order to force an error when an attempt is made to play the ball out from the back. Klopp explained: "Gegenpressing lets you win back the ball nearer to the goal. It's only one pass away from a really good opportunity. No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good gegenpressing situation, and that's why it's so important." The intense pressing game is, naturally, stuctured insofar as it involves the targeting of weak links in the defence - those least adept on the ball, for instance - and it involves careful calculation of risk. So, while it is important in gegenpressing to maintain a high level of pressing throughout the game, players must be able to evaluate when to fall back into a defensive position in order to conserve energy. It simply cannot function if a team is completely exhausted or prone to injury. However, it is not just the forward line who play their part in the gegenpressing system. The entire team must be correctly positioned in order to support the press from the front by closing down any potential passing options for the opponent who has the ball. Part of the thinking behind this unitary pressing is that it allows the team that presses greater options in the counter-attack which arises from the counter-press. So to me this makes perfect sense to link it back to how we are now operating at centre clearences AS WELL as the evidence of where we sit on capitalising on turnovers. Remembering that clearances are only one part of the story – what really matters is what happens after them, and whether a team can convert their ability to win the ball into points on the scoreboard. On this, our defence is clearly rock solid, from an overall points conceded perspective as well as being first (a record?) at % of scores per inside 50. Finally, we sit first on capitalising on turnovers - or point's difference from turnovers. I'm advocating adopting the term Goodwinpressing, as language to understand some of the mechanics of what our system does, and how it allows us to play and capitalise the way we do. I look forward to David King using this at some stage ?

Mmmmm, which one is it boys?

Very very clever....

A/S/L sorry -that's an early internet riff. Anyway - what's the location?

Ok - so to confirm - if we break even in clearances - you are suggesting (and the evidence is there) that this equates to a 6 goal better side? @Swooper1987 just posted a great link from last year which details why this is not the case.

Absolutely [censored] brilliant @Swooper1987 Can we pin this article to the first page and make it compulsory reading?

You're being very diplomatic ? If it's not a priority, because of what it takes away from the game plan - then irrespective of the calibre of players that we have -breaking even doesn't matter if it gets in the way of the deliberate, methodical strategy that is in place.

Favourite movie of my childhood - well bloody done! ?

I think it's helpful to recognise that even if a ruckman is so so dominant that he can win most taps (though he has to do so under duress and will still mistime/mis direct) it is far easier to to set up around him as the defensive team, than if each tap was a 50/50 role of the dice. Max's dominance is not advantageous to the team at centre clearances - it is his aerobic ability and marking around the ground that helps.

I would say that the evidence is that the club does not place a premium on centre clearances as an avenue to goal. As enough data has been obtained to suggest that winning a centre clearance is typically hurried and does not result in enough scoring shots directly from a centre clearance. Vs Generating scoring shots from the back half and intercepts. What did we learn as supporters by our dominate I50's in 2018-2019 ? We absolutely smashed teams in clearances and I50's - but we would still lose matches. So now it's about quality - not quantity. The other thing is - thus far in 2021 - we have lost centre clearances consistently. (I dispute that we are 'poor' as I don't believe the team values them the same way anymore - so you can't be poor at it if it doesnt matter) So we keep losing centre clearances but keep winning matches... so what's the correlation? What's different? How does one not effect the other. Being hard at the contest - doesn't necessitate getting the ball every time. So this is Goodwins and the FD's department 'geekdom' coming out in looking at data to formulate a Plan B, if we don't win it, what do we prioritise - pressure the ball carrier for dump kick to find clearer avenues to goal.

FYI @DubDee @Patches O’houlihan To the blokes jibing about TMAC - here are his last 3 heatmaps

Personally, I am really pleased to see the team function well - and in particularly the forwardline - in the first game of the iteration that they have presumably wanted with Brown, Tmac, Weid and Fritsch in. 29 scoring shots - plus a couple that went wide, in wet conditions. Satisfying.

I'm expecting a comfortable win today - but historical trauma means I would not be surprised if we lost. Just on your quote above @Colin B. Flaubert - I would argue that even if you win matches - it doesn't mean you're 'up' all the time. Be that the team as a whole, or individuals. I feel we've had 3 out of 8 wins thus far where we have been far from our best, thus not being consistently 'up' but still getting the points (it's what all very good teams do). An 'up' win would be capitalising and kicking 70%+ of our scoring opportunities, and demolishing a team. We haven't done that yet in 2021 Let's hope that begins today. Go Dees!

Were they 'celebrating too much'? ?

Mmmm Arbroath smokies... would be good on a day like today.

Woweee- why does this [censored] matter?

Port V Western Bulldogs Are we going 2 games clear or what - this week boys and girls!

I'd rather be labelled an 'Imposter at the top of the ladder' as we haven't had numerous 10 goal wins... due to certain biases rather than a down hill skiing club. If anything the last 8 weeks has put that conversation to bed, by the constant resilience shown at different times throughout our games. Blowing teams away is sexy and feels good - but this team, just keeps going and going and going, irrespective of strategies used to diminish our better players and at times good luck with injuries/outs to other teams.

For the EFL /SPL watchers, is a match at Casey Fields equivalent to Stoke City on a Tuesday night?

Yes, that's why I put him in there. Culture was problematic allegedly.

Perhaps I have too stronger recollections of mature age students, who ask questions of tutors/supervisors in front of a packed audience, in such a way, that they too can confirm the already know the answer, as a way to confirm superiority of knowledge (inferiority) in front of the younger students. Anyways...they were hated in the cohort. Not dissimilar to Robbo I suppose.

I gave Robbo, the benefit of the doubt, that he was asking as though it was on behalf of the general viewing public.

I take your point @Patches O’houlihan - look at our first 5 rounds (and even last week) we had significantly more scoring shots throughout games or throughout certain quarters and have failed to capitalise. We actually haven't had the forward line that we have trained for. I've loved our wins and the style of them. And there is a version of me that wishes we had smashed some teams cause it [censored] feels awesome and its genuine vindication that have a capacity to do so. BUT All of our wins - have come with elements of resilience in different ways. That is what matters. The blowing away of some teams will come... 2 games with Brown and TMAC and now Weid - we're back to the first game whereby these have played in the AFL within a system...it'll take some time. But then you see Hawkins, Cameron and Rohan - 15 goals between the 3 of them. I think we can match that with Fritsch as well. If it wasn't for the will to win each mach - it'll be genuinely interesting as a neutral to see how the forwardline structures work.

Would have thought after 5 years in the system by Weideman - all the puns would have been exhausted... I suspect 'headline writers' have around 1000 options just sitting there...and just need to scroll through Demonland ?