Kicking the ball inside 50

[Twodogs]

I've been thinking about the traditional way teams kick the ball inside their 50 metre arc and whether it's the best method in our circumstances.

Usually a player looking to deliver the bll inside 50 will try and spot a teammate up with a footpass, put the ball in space so a forward can run onto it or kick it to a predetermined part of the ground (top of the square, hotspot 30 metres out) in order for a teammate to mark it and have a shot.

My question is with our short, mobile forward set up would we be better kicking scrubbers into the forward line. It goes against years of preserved wisdom but it would be a less predictable kick for defenders to defend. Our game pan mainly revolves around getting the ball to ground in the forward line and having our smalls run onto it, so is it as silly as it sounds?

[FrediKanoute]

The problem with scrubbers though is that they are just as unpredictable in terms of the way they bounce as a kick to a lead is. Our problem is our ponderous build up play which means entry into the forward line is slow and thus the space is congested making a lead difficult to execute.

[LostDoggy]

Scrubbers might come off 3 times out of 10. But the other 7 we are leaving ourselves exposed on the rebound.

We struggle enough as it is to stop a team going coast to coast when we have had a minute to set up the ground from a behind, let alone a scrubber which easily leads to counter attack for the opposition.

[Twodogs]

Scrubbers might come off 3 times out of 10. But the other 7 we are leaving ourselves exposed on the rebound.

We struggle enough as it is to stop a team going coast to coast when we have had a minute to set up the ground from a behind, let alone a scrubber which easily leads to counter attack for the opposition.

Maybe but aren't we leaving ourselves open to the same problem when we bring the ball to ground or create a stoppage? Effectively we are making it a 50/50 ball and backing our guys to win control?

I think if we practised scrubbing the ball in then our players will win control of it more often than not because it's what they get used to. And we wouldnt do it everytime, not even most times, but as a point of difference it could become another part of our arsenal.

[LostDoggy]

Maybe but aren't we leaving ourselves open to the same problem when we bring the ball to ground or create a stoppage? Effectively we are making it a 50/50 ball and backing our guys to win control?

I think if we practised scrubbing the ball in then our players will win control of it more often than not because it's what they get used to. And we wouldnt do it everytime, not even most times, but as a point of difference it could become another part of our arsenal.

Your probably right! And lets be honest it can't really get any worse than our current entries. I'm willing to try anything!

[Happy Days]

I've been thinking about the traditional way teams kick the ball inside their 50 metre arc and whether it's the best method in our circumstances.

Usually a player looking to deliver the bll inside 50 will try and spot a teammate up with a footpass, put the ball in space so a forward can run onto it or kick it to a predetermined part of the ground (top of the square, hotspot 30 metres out) in order for a teammate to mark it and have a shot.

My question is with our short, mobile forward set up would we be better kicking scrubbers into the forward line. It goes against years of preserved wisdom but it would be a less predictable kick for defenders to defend. Our game pan mainly revolves around getting the ball to ground in the forward line and having our smalls run onto it, so is it as silly as it sounds?

I've thought exactly the same thing, only for Fremantle's forward line, not ours.

Our forward might be small, but only Dahl and maybe Hunter can crumb. I'd much prefer an 09 style set up with precise kicking to a lead, which plays much more to the strengths of Crameri and Stringer (the good forwards).

[soupman]

I thought this briefly around the 08-09 period when everyone kept saying how our forwardline was too small. '

It's probably not a good default tactic, but could be useful if you are playing a side that is intercept marking everything (like Brian Lake vs Carlton all those years ago). The other option would be to activate it for short 3 minute patches in a match when you just swap Dahlhaus, Hunter, Cooney, Bontempelli and Dickson into the forwardline and try and expose the big defenders.

[bornadog]

I thought this briefly around the 08-09 period when everyone kept saying how our forwardline was too small. '

It's probably not a good default tactic, but could be useful if you are playing a side that is intercept marking everything (like Brian Lake vs Carlton all those years ago). The other option would be to activate it for short 3 minute patches in a match when you just swap Dahlhaus, Hunter, Cooney, Bontempelli and Dickson into the forwardline and try and expose the big defenders.

08/09 we were in the top two or three for goals kicked with our small forward line and only Geelong kicking more goals than us. Unfortunately what the Saints did was clog up the forward line, so the smalls couldn't get their hands on the ball. We needed a tall player that could take a contested mark. The scrubber is only going to work if the forward line has some space for the ball to roll along the ground. If you have space, why not hit a player on the lead.

[Mofra]

It is a good idea with a traditional 6 vs 6 forwardline given so many of our players are good at ground level - the problem is the opposition can easily push a number back and negate this advantage.

I like this sort of thinking outside the square though.

[soupman]

08/09 we were in the top two or three for goals kicked with our small forward line and only Geelong kicking more goals than us. Unfortunately what the Saints did was clog up the forward line, so the smalls couldn't get their hands on the ball. We needed a tall player that could take a contested mark. The scrubber is only going to work if the forward line has some space for the ball to roll along the ground. If you have space, why not hit a player on the lead.

Oh I don't dispute that, we were good deliverers to our forwards anyway so it was kind of redundant. It did occur to me though that it was an alternative seeing as we had so many small guy on tall guy matchups.

I'm not saying it's a good tactic, but I think it could work in brief and limited situations, and would certainly surprise the opposition, especially if you can engineer it so that they still have big guys down back when it happens.

[soupman]

It is a good idea with a traditional 6 vs 6 forwardline given so many of our players are good at ground level - the problem is the opposition can easily push a number back and negate this advantage.

I like this sort of thinking outside the square though.

You would obviously have to man up any spares to make it even, something which doesn't come naturally to us.

[LostDoggy]

Don't know, firstly you need to make sure the ball actually gets into the 50, grubbers obviously have the chance to be intercepted at any point along their path unlike a high long ball.

Happy for it to be tried as an option in the right circumstances, but not as a hard and fast game plan.

[Mofra]

You would obviously have to man up any spares to make it even, something which doesn't come naturally to us.

This could be playing into the opposition hands - we are close to the worst in the AFL from opposition scores from turnovers, giving them space to run into by reducing congestion in their forwardline would make this worse.

I think we can try this method at times, but we need to be wary of how our moves are being countered.

[1eyedog]

We've actually been trying this technique for the past 4 years TD. Of all our list I have only seen Higgins and Tutt actually constantly hit targets in our F50.

[Greystache]

We've actually been trying this technique for the past 4 years TD. Of all our list I have only seen Higgins and Tutt actually constantly hit targets in our F50.

True. Boyd and Howard, for example, have been kicking flat wobbly floaters at the forward's feet most of the time. There's no chance a defender will intercept mark one of those.