Centre Bounce Attendees

After the game against Collingwood Bailey Smith was interviewed and was asked how is it determined which player goes into the centre bounce.

Smith answered the players work in pairs and it is up to the pairs who attends. Smith is partnered with Treloar - which makes sense considering their similar strengths.

On Friday night our CBA numbers were;

Sweet 20, Macrae 16, Liberatore 16, Bontempelli 14, Treloar 12, Smith 11, Dunkley 6 and Cordy 5.

Last week Melbourne against Saints CBA were Petracca 23, Oliver 21, Viney 20, Gawn 14, Jackson 12, Sparrow 10, Harmes 3, Neal-Bullen 1.

Last night Lions rotated through Neale 25, McInerney 17, McCluaggae 16, Lyons 16, Zorko 10, Fort 10, Rayner 8, Bailey 6.

Yes, it is only a small sample size but it does seem that the coaching group prefer to mix it up.

Woofers what are your thoughts; are you happy with our approach of mixing it up or would you prefer we are more stable with our approach?

As I’m a sucker for punishment I took one for the team and here is the GF CBA breakdown

Petracca 31, Oliver 31, Viney 30, Gawn 21, Jackson 13, Harmes 7, Sparrow 3,
Liberatore 30, Bontempelli 29, Martin 25, Macrae 19, Treloar 17, English 9, Smith 4, Dunkley 3

I am more than happy with centre clearances. We are ranked third on average and Dees are 12th for CL.

Surprised Dunkley is not used as much in the centre, but maybe he hasn't be in form so the coach has held him back.

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Originally Posted by bornadog

I am more than happy with centre clearances. We are ranked third on average and Dees are 12th for CL.

Surprised Dunkley is not used as much in the centre, but maybe he hasn't be in form so the coach has held him back.

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On Dunkley he is probably competing with Macrae and Liberatore, so tough competition.

We have five midfielders who in their own right could attend 100% of centre bounces - does that mess with our balance and structure in other parts of the ground?

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Originally Posted by azabob

On Dunkley he is probably competing with Macrae and Liberatore, so tough competition.

We have five midfielders who in their own right could attend 100% of centre bounces - does that mess with our balance and structure in other parts of the ground?

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I don't think it messes with balance and structure at all.

Back in 2016, when our mids were kids, we rotated 9 players through the centre.

Are you saying we should have less rotations?

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Originally Posted by bornadog

I don't think it messes with balance and structure at all.

Back in 2016, when our mids were kids, we rotated 9 players through the centre.

Are you saying we should have less rotations?

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I honestly don’t know. I am more opening it up for discussion as 2022 has not gone to plan at all.

Thanks for that very interesting reading.

I think maybe due to our list balance being so mid heavy we have to go with the mix it up approach.

I'm surprised Dunkley's numbers are so low but Libba recovered with Covid explains it.

Stability has probably been the formula that wins it recently (think tigers) so maybe when we get the list balanced we will go that formula.

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Originally Posted by azabob

I honestly don’t know. I am more opening it up for discussion as 2022 has not gone to plan at all.

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I was looking at the last home and away game last year. 19 goals were scored and with four quarter starts that would be 23 centre bounces.

The result was 9 : 9. The clearances In total were 28:35 (us:them)

I see them as reasonable outcomes. We lost by a narrow margin in a game that was consequential. Would a couple of extra clearances be worth anything? I suspect so. How might we have gotten them? Possibly by fixing this: hitouts: 18:51

It might have also fixed

naughton 8 disposals 1 goal. JJ 6 disposals 1 goal. Bont 15 disposals 1 goal

The midfielders are operating under a massive disadvantage and doing a great job.

Would they do even better if we were winning the hitouts? Cleaner exits, more direct line to goal quicker forward entries. I don’t know- I looked at 15 consecutive games and couldn’t find one. We lost the hitouts in every case by between 50% and 100%.

The previous game was 15:55

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Originally Posted by Danjul

I was looking at the last home and away game last year. 19 goals were scored and with four quarter starts that would be 23 centre bounces.

The result was 9 : 9. The clearances In total were 28:35 (us:them)

I see them as reasonable outcomes. We lost by a narrow margin in a game that was consequential. Would a couple of extra clearances be worth anything? I suspect so. How might we have gotten them? Possibly by fixing this: hitouts: 18:51

It might have also fixed

naughton 8 disposals 1 goal. JJ 6 disposals 1 goal. Bont 15 disposals 1 goal

The midfielders are operating under a massive disadvantage and doing a great job.

Would they do even better if we were winning the hitouts? Cleaner exits, more direct line to goal quicker forward entries. I don’t know- I looked at 15 consecutive games and couldn’t find one. We lost the hitouts in every case by between 50% and 100%.

The previous game was 15:55

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I guess you'd assume that more hit outs = more hit outs to advantage. That'd have to help. It probably means fewer hit outs to advantage to the opposition also. And likely, more 50/50 balls which our mids are pretty good at winning.

I definitely think rucks are important to the mix of the midfield and the performance of the team in general. While the hit out stats don't always tell the full story, I think they're important. I'd suggest we'd have more direct / damaging inside 50s from centre clearance if we won the hit outs in there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bornadog

I am more than happy with centre clearances. We are ranked third on average and Dees are 12th for CL.

Surprised Dunkley is not used as much in the centre, but maybe he hasn't be in form so the coach has held him back.

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Melbourne don't really care about clearances so much because they love to draw you into their defence and launch score from there.

Not sure why teams don't just pass the ball back and forth across half back against them and draw them out more.

Has anyone tried anything!?

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Originally Posted by Grantysghost

Melbourne don't really care about clearances so much because they love to draw you into their defence and launch score from there.

Not sure why teams don't just pass the ball back and forth across half back against them and draw them out more.

Has anyone tried anything!?

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We tried not defending them at centre bounces.

It didn't go well. I doubt you'd remember that though, what with the whiteout and all :).

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Originally Posted by EasternWest

We tried not defending them at centre bounces.

It didn't go well. I doubt you'd remember that though, what with the whiteout and all :).

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Haha, it's true.

On Friday night we won something like the first seven centre clearances which really set the game up for us.

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Originally Posted by angelopetraglia

On Friday night we won something like the first seven centre clearances which really set the game up for us.

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I wonder what the win/loss ratio is V who wins the centre clearances; especially considering 6,6,6 and unable to drop a 7th defender back.

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Originally Posted by azabob

I wonder what the win/loss ratio is V who wins the centre clearances; especially considering 6,6,6 and unable to drop a 7th defender back.

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In round 21 last year (Essendon) the bombers had 9 scoring shots from centre clearances for 6 goals 3 (afl website). More than what we lost by. It certainly helps.