Is our gameplan sustainable?

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

In his post-match press-conference, Bevo made brief mention of our need to continue to improve at slowing the game down when we need to. I think we've demonstrated we can tear sides apart quickly with our run and gun approach, but adding a few more elements are required to go the distance.

Given the already drastic changes to our game style since last year, I don't think an overnight fix is realistic, however hopefully we can see improvement in our ability to control the game tempo as the year progresses.

Matty Boyd was what we needed. A bit of hard nosed, scraped-knuckled, shaved head leadership.

[stefoid]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Its about midfield depth and having a few inside specialists available - something we have lost over the last couple of games.

Theres some guys pulling almost 'double duty' at the moment, by which I mean trying to win contested ball inside the contest and also pressuring the opposition and providing spread outside the contest. Thats going to tire them quicker.

Dalhaus, Dickson, Honeychurch, Macrae - in a perfect world these guys are not in and under players, but with Libba and Wally out of the side, we need them to be.

Plus or midfield depth has suffered. To maintain that intensity we need to run more guys through the midfield from the bench and from the forward line.

Getting Wallis and Jong back automatically increases our midfield depth significantly and provides inside grunt to free up our smaller players who do their best work on their feet.

These injuries have thrown up some interesting results, though - who would have thought Picken would turn out to be a gun - his last couple of games have been outstanding. I think we have found our Lbba replacement for the year.

Ideally we would have another small forward/mid to add to the mix which is why it would be great to have Hrovat or Hunter step up.
Im hoping Daniel will get a run at it as well, because there is a spot for him if he can get fit.

[1eyedog]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

No it's not. We are playing a style that stands up in finals no doubt, hard contested work and quick ball movement. It's hard to sustain that week in week out. You can't go anywhere in the finals just by moving the ball quickly and shoot outs ala Knights when he was at Essendon and you can't actually win enough games of football taking the contested approach ala McCartney.

It's great to see Bevo trying to amalgamate the two, but you need good depth, few injuries and a number of pre-seasons under your belt in order to sustain it. We've used a lot of our depth players, had a pretty crap run with injuries at critical times and have a young list.

We'll be better next year and even better the year after. Thing is, if we can just do enough I think there's a flag up for grabs. Hawthorn have been knocked over a few times already, we've knocked Sydney over and who knows which Freo would turn up on Grand Final day.

[ratsmac]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Matty Boyd was what we needed. A bit of hard nosed, scraped-knuckled, shaved head leadership.

Yesterdays fade out was a combination of a few injuries to the wrong personnel and the hard slog in the wet against Sydney with a young list. Wallis, Boyd, Morris, Jong, Smith and Stevens. These guys are the stronger body types in our team that were all missing yesterday with Smith and Stevens only missing in the second half. When you think about it, we were primed for the picking. Stkilda's mids realised it and out muscled and out ran ours in the second half. We are lucky we were 55 points up otherwise it would of been a belting (obviously).

Is our gameplan sustainable?

yes, as long as we don't get injuries especially to our midfielders, where we are down a rotation for starters.

No if we don't quickly learn to control the tempo when we have the ball and when we don't.

Our gameplan is all about pressure and structure and fast ball movement forward on the rebound. Once the structure isn't being upheld across the ground the pressure drops off there are no turn overs (which we are relying on), and there are gaping holes through our defensive setup. As a result we are easily scored against.

Fitness is the key but show me a gameplan these days where you can carry unfit and injured players. Our game plan is fine but we need plan B when plan A isn't working. Our plan A is still a work in progress so we might have to wait to see plan B unfold.

[Bornadog]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Our game plan wasn't really questioned when we were 55 points up just after half time.

That is what the OP is asking, can we sustain the plan for 4 quarters. You are just pointing out the obvious but not answering the question.

I think we do need a plan B especially when a couple of players go down.

[GVGjr]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Slowing the game down would have been the answer but it might not have been something we have practiced too much.
Late goals in the 3rd quarter got them within striking distance and sure we were running out of options but we didn't adjust and we didn't throw more behind the ball. We didn't even attempt to tighten up on their prime movers.

Time will well if it's sustainable but our 4th quarters haven't been great and we need to be capable of controlling the tempo in a much slower manner when we have to.

Might be a good lesson for the coach on if the playing group is capable of doing what he wants.

[FrediKanoute]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

I believe it is but you can't keep taking a key mid out of the side week after week and expect continued good form, especially from kids.

You lose Libba, and the pressure goes down the chain to the next guy. You lose Wallis and the same thing happens. You lose Jong etc etc.

Completely agree. If the side that had played Sydney had played this week the result would have been different. You would back M BOyd and Jong to make us 7 points better.

[Sedat]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

That is what the OP is asking, can we sustain the plan for 4 quarters. You are just pointing out the obvious but not answering the question.

I think we do need a plan B especially when a couple of players go down.

Bit hard for me to question the game plan yesterday having not seen the game (and I'm not going to ). My point is that all the talk about unsustainable game plan and too many young players were not being uttered at half time, nor were they discussed against Adelaide or Sydney.

All successful teams have tempo changes in their kitbag, and we need to be no exception. Having a tempo change is not a different game plan, it is adapting to circumstances during any given game. We obviously failed to listen to instructions to alter the tempo when we needed to yesterday, which is why we lost a game we should never have lost.

[stefoid]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Who knows, maybe the coach did say 'slow it down' for the third quarter and the players took that as 'slow to a walk'?

Its all great being a young team and all, but our on-field leadership is being left to too few, and is concentrated mostly in the backline even when Morris and Boyd take the field.

Picken, Dickson and Crameri have played really well this year, but they need to add that 'senior leadership' string to their bows as well.

[Mantis]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Slowing the game down would have been the answer but it might not have been something we have practiced too much.

I would be shocked and appalled if we haven't spend considerable time on this facet of the game.. To expect a young side to play a kamikaze style for 22 rounds is ridiculous.

[jeemak]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Our game style is a taxing one, and one that will require us to put in a couple more preseasons to be able to sustain for the bulk of 22 rounds plus finals - but it is sustainable providing we have the cattle/depth at our disposal.

Some cooler heads with the footy would have been all it took to slow the game down in patches on Saturday, and as GVGjr said perhaps some numbers behind the ball and a bit of congestion might have helped as well. This sort of thing doesn't take too much training that hasn't been given to elite footballers since they were 15 and playing in representative teams. A little bit of leadeship and composure from the likes Stefoid has mentioned, and from our captain was what was needed.

I can't help but think having one or both of Boyd and Morris available on Saturday would have made a difference.

From game to game we're going to need to adapt to changing circumstances, but this shouldn't drastically alter the fundamentals of our game plan. Strong tackling, pressure on the carrier and blocking space when not in control of the ball is pretty fundamental to any defensive structure and game plan. Moving the ball forward as quickly and accurately as possible when appropriate to do so isn't rocket science either, nor should knowing when to slow it down and chew up some pressure and time. We moved away from a couple of our defencive non-negotiable's on Saturday and that put us under pressure, pressure that we couldn't work through.

[Cyberdoggie]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

In his post-match press-conference, Bevo made brief mention of our need to continue to improve at slowing the game down when we need to. I think we've demonstrated we can tear sides apart quickly with our run and gun approach, but adding a few more elements are required to go the distance.

Given the already drastic changes to our game style since last year, I don't think an overnight fix is realistic, however hopefully we can see improvement in our ability to control the game tempo as the year progresses.

That's right we do need to work on controlling the tempo, the problem is that you can practice this at training but it not the same as in games under pressure and when fatigued, which is when you need to resort to this tactic.

Doesn't help that we had only 1 player with over 150 games of experience the saints had 5. We had 7 with 50 or more games vs 10 of the saints, and far more with less than 50.

When we were tired in the second half, we stopped holding onto the ball and running and just banged the ball on the boot, which inevitably got returned straight away. Wiser heads would of realized this and tried to hold on to the ball, provide short lead up options and slowly work the ball until opportunities present themselves.

Will be a good lesson learnt for the boys, so better it happened now than later on in the season.

[Bornadog]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

Our game style is a taxing one, and one that will require us to put in a couple more preseasons to be able to sustain for the bulk of 22 rounds plus finals - but it is sustainable providing we have the cattle/depth at our disposal.

Some cooler heads with the footy would have been all it took to slow the game down in patches on Saturday, and as GVGjr said perhaps some numbers behind the ball and a bit of congestion might have helped as well. This sort of thing doesn't take too much training that hasn't been given to elite footballers since they were 15 and playing in representative teams. A little bit of leadeship and composure from the likes Stefoid has mentioned, and from our captain was what was needed.

I can't help but think having one or both of Boyd and Morris available on Saturday would have made a difference.

From game to game we're going to need to adapt to changing circumstances, but this shouldn't drastically alter the fundamentals of our game plan. Strong tackling, pressure on the carrier and blocking space when not in control of the ball is pretty fundamental to any defensive structure and game plan. Moving the ball forward as quickly and accurately as possible when appropriate to do so isn't rocket science either, nor should knowing when to slow it down and chew up some pressure and time. We moved away from a couple of our defencive non-negotiable's on Saturday and that put us under pressure, pressure that we couldn't work through.

Just goes to show why you need older players in the team. For years on WOOF, the call was to get rid of older guys for various reasons, but you can't go into a game with only two players with more than 100 games. I appreciate you must have the right older players and not just anyone.

[1eyedog]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

I would be shocked and appalled if we haven't spend considerable time on this facet of the game.. To expect a young side to play a kamikaze style for 22 rounds is ridiculous.

Agreed. I would be shocked if Bevo didn't get the runner to get around to all our guys after we kicked the first two goals of the last quarter to slow the game down at all costs. It was pretty clear through the duration of the 3rd that we were knackered.

[Twodogs]

Re: Is our gameplan sustainable?

The defensive group spent a lot of time practising measuring kicks and icing the clock over preseason.