- Mar 10, 2014
- 10,263
- 11,921
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Man Utd, Celtic, Tanunda
Look at Geelong and Sydney as examples.We waste so much energy trying to lock the ball in our forward line, not really caring how we get it in there, are piss poor at ground level, and poor at conversion, that we are hitting high fatigue levels and start to drop our heads late in the quarter, and so the oppo can slice thru our high press and have plenty of space in their forward line and score easy goals from right in front and usually from the goal square.
I told Ford at Alberton at one of the trials this year, I have to keep some stats on goal square conversion because our oppo seems to kick a lot more goals than us from the goal square over a season. I have been too lazy to keep these stats, but my eyes tell me nothing has really changed.
Have a look at the 1st quarter against the Saints. Those piss poor missed shots we had, meant we wasted energy and we lost the enthusiastic energy generated that comes from kicking goals.
Kick a goal from a set shot and you get about a minutes rest by the time the ball is bounced after the goal is signalled. Kick a goal and everyone is buzzing and up and about. During the 30 seconds our player is taking to kick a set shot the oppo can set up to get the ball out of our forward 50 from a miss by us and their kick in.
Kick a 5th or 6th point for the quarter, or more, late into the quarter, and say a 3rd or 4th consecutive one, from a straight forward shot, you don't get that extra rest, you have to run to a defensive position, the goal shooter drops his head, others drop their head, bloody hell we missed an easy shot again goes thru most players head, and if the oppo are on the ball, they know they can move the ball thru our high press as the oxygen has just been sucked out of us.
My mate who I played footy with, is Port supporter, was over from Sydney so we caught up for a meal and talked a lot of footy before, during and after the match.
After the game we came to the conclusion we are a frustrating team to watch because we work too bloody hard to kick goals and don't kick enough, given how much of the ball we get into our forward line. We waste energy early in the quarter, early in games, don't put the score on the board, and when you have less petrol in the tank, we leave ourselves exposed to be scored against late in quarters and games.
When we were 29 pts up against Collingwood in the 2nd quarter we proceeded to kick 3 shots on goal and all went out on the full, whilst Collingwood kicked a goal in that time frame. If those had been goals, and yes everything else had to stay equal, we would have been 41 pts up and a completely different equation as we had the momentum and it was past the half way point of the quarter.
You can only train players so much to have a peak energy / fitness level. You can't push them past that point. If we are close to that point and then came game day we waste so much of that energy we have, because of an inefficient and average effectiveness game plan, that wont change, then we can't really improve our fitness levels that much.
Uber efficient in the way they are structured up, and their first-choice game plans epitomise an economy of effort, and are sustainable. Then they also have back up plans 'B' and 'C' to fall back on, if the worst comes to worse.
It's true that we waste effort and energy coping with a disjointed cow paddock of a game plan, which is flawed, leads to mistakes and taking shots on goal from awkward angles, etc. And with no coherent back up game plans in the event of a catastrophe!
Watch the better sides tackle, so there are less chances for blokes to get their arms free and give off an outlet handball. We tackle the hips, not pin the arms, hence the oppo get the ball away from the tackle point.
Good sides make space, and their guys walk into that space to get a pass in front of them and on the chest. Easy kicks and little energy expenditure. We stand like bollards, and basically give our guys no option but a high dump kick onto a team mate's head, in a contested situation, because there are no acres of space to lead into.
Good sides have one grab players who move the ball on quickly and efficiently. We fumble, drop easy marks, fall over for no reason, and put ourselves under pressure - which leads to errant disposals. Then we have to chase the oppo back extra times and use up fuel.
Better sides always know where their team mates are. They run to designated spaces, so a "blind" disposal isn't really that at all, and why it usually ends up in a team mate's hand. We have to spot up team mates first before we get rid of the ball, because we just run anywhere we want to, instead of to a formulated strategy.
Just dumb strategically, and poorly coached and skilled. Good sides have efficient systems. We don't. It's a fundamentally simple game, but we over complicate things way too much. Get to the base level of why we are so frustrating to watch and why results aren't what we would expect, and start from scratch, and I reckon you'd see a quantum leap in improvement.
We aren't using our players' strengths to their best advantage so often it's not funny.