Frontal Zone Pressure

[angelopetraglia]

In the NAB Cup we executed this style of play. In particular in the GF, St Kilda could not come through our forward zone.

It looked like we had copied the best parts of the St Kilda game plan from 2009 and made it our own.

What happened? Why did we abandon these tactics.

If anything the low-light of our last six weeks was how the opposition were able to just walk the ball out of our forward line with ridiculous ease.

We did not appear to use these frontal zone defensive tactics with success during the H&A season and in particular in the finals series.

It is no coincidence in my opinion that the two sides with the best tactical skill at executing frontal zone pressure (or whatever you want to call it) are playing off in the GF. It was also responsible from taking Fremantle to cellar dwellers in 2009 to spending most of 2010 camped inside the top 4.

Whether we like it or not, AFL is becoming more tactical and zones and defensive pressures appear to be around for some time.

I don't like that our game is going down this soccer influenced zone style of defensive play with most of the scoring done on the counter from forced turnovers. However if it is part of the ticket to success, I'm happy to forsake some beauty of the game for a premiership or two.

Two questions;

1) Why did we not develop and implement these tactics in the 2010 H&A?

2) Will we develop our version of these tactics over the summer?