bornadog
20-08-2013, 11:39 PM
20 August 2013
On Sunday against Adelaide, it was a difficult game to negotiate as it was quite open at times which isn’t our preferred way of playing, but we were able to fight our way back and get the game the way we wanted — and score quite efficiently.
I’ve said this before, but we are getting a really strong link between how we prepare during the week and what we see out on the ground on game day. Over the past few weeks, we have been able to pick a specific team based around form, but also in reference to our opposition. As a result, we have been able to place our players in positions that would work to our strengths.
As simplistic as that sounds, it’s not something we’ve always been able to do because we’ve more often than not over the past 18 months been fighting above our weight against more experienced opposition clubs.
We are still working extremely hard and more effectively week to week with reviewing, analysing the opposition, selection, planning and implementation — which gives our players and staff more confidence, and we know our supporters are really enjoying what they are seeing too.
People have spoken recently about our depth and ability to have players come in and fill a role in our team, but that hasn’t just happened over night — some of those players have served an apprenticeship for almost two years. It’s a bit of a myth, that all of a sudden a player can come in and fill an important position. When opportunities present through injury or any other reason, we want players who are mentally and physically ready to take them — and we are seeing that more often.
We’ve brought in a number of players who have a capacity to play in a variety of positions and the promising part of that is they still have more upside and growth in their career to come. They have slotted in on our list and have played important roles for our club.
While we won on the weekend, we believe we played about 60-70% of the game to our strengths, the key for us is to be able to do it for at least 80-90% — that’s the challenge to our group. Play the way we want to play, for longer periods.
This week we will turn our attention firmly on Brisbane and their strengths. We know that if we go up there and just run out without too much thought, without identifying what the game needs, then we won’t play well. But if we prepare well and get our heads around playing our brand of footy from the first bounce, I think we’ll be in for a good day. We’ve been quite consistent, statistically in all areas over the past few weeks, so we want to build on that this weekend.
See you at the game,
Brendan
On Sunday against Adelaide, it was a difficult game to negotiate as it was quite open at times which isn’t our preferred way of playing, but we were able to fight our way back and get the game the way we wanted — and score quite efficiently.
I’ve said this before, but we are getting a really strong link between how we prepare during the week and what we see out on the ground on game day. Over the past few weeks, we have been able to pick a specific team based around form, but also in reference to our opposition. As a result, we have been able to place our players in positions that would work to our strengths.
As simplistic as that sounds, it’s not something we’ve always been able to do because we’ve more often than not over the past 18 months been fighting above our weight against more experienced opposition clubs.
We are still working extremely hard and more effectively week to week with reviewing, analysing the opposition, selection, planning and implementation — which gives our players and staff more confidence, and we know our supporters are really enjoying what they are seeing too.
People have spoken recently about our depth and ability to have players come in and fill a role in our team, but that hasn’t just happened over night — some of those players have served an apprenticeship for almost two years. It’s a bit of a myth, that all of a sudden a player can come in and fill an important position. When opportunities present through injury or any other reason, we want players who are mentally and physically ready to take them — and we are seeing that more often.
We’ve brought in a number of players who have a capacity to play in a variety of positions and the promising part of that is they still have more upside and growth in their career to come. They have slotted in on our list and have played important roles for our club.
While we won on the weekend, we believe we played about 60-70% of the game to our strengths, the key for us is to be able to do it for at least 80-90% — that’s the challenge to our group. Play the way we want to play, for longer periods.
This week we will turn our attention firmly on Brisbane and their strengths. We know that if we go up there and just run out without too much thought, without identifying what the game needs, then we won’t play well. But if we prepare well and get our heads around playing our brand of footy from the first bounce, I think we’ll be in for a good day. We’ve been quite consistent, statistically in all areas over the past few weeks, so we want to build on that this weekend.
See you at the game,
Brendan