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Switching to a man on man setup during necessary periods of the game would certainly change things up and be less predictable. Guarding grass is like a cone drill to goals for teams chipping around and over. I'd also like to see us slow the game down when required. This play on at all costs mentality has been worked out by most sides now and is too easy to combat. Opposition players aren't tackling the ball carrier and are covering the guy running past or sitting waiting to easily intercept the handball.It was mentioned several times in the post-match review - the lack of defensive pressure and accountability from our forwards and mids when Essendon was moving out of their defence. Not sure if it was coaching instructions or lack of effort and gut-running from the players, but just guarding grass and allowing a team to exit defence so easily was one of the reasons why we were beaten IMHO. I am hoping this gets addressed in the Geelong game.
In fact, "zoning off" anywhere on the ground does not seem to be working for us anymore. Are our current batch of players lacking the foot speed overall to make it work? Is it time to return to the old-fashioned concept of man on man defending, allowing for greater proximity to and attack on the ball??
We missed Nobles run and McCreery's closing speed last night. We also desperately miss Jamie's forward pressure and I will say it, Cox's ability to bring a ball to ground and give us a bail out down the line.
It's very frustrating to watch at the moment and Fly is going to have his hands full trying to maintain this calm approach of telling the players it's all just about living the moment and be happy.