"In one ear and out the other"

[taurus]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bear
[B]My view is that Roos' game plan is to avoid contested situations almost at all costs, so this leads to players going wide to easy options... giving the opposition plenty of time to flood our forward line and prevent us from scoring many goals.

If this is the game plan it is short-sighted and a dead-end.


Totally agree. Hope Roos heard of Port Adelaide prior to 2004.

[Alec]

The players were clearly rattled.

We've always played a wide game, but unlike last year we're not getting the same run through the corridor. I saw many players attempt to lead down the ground towards the backs only to be ignored time after time.

Our defenders either had no confidence in their ability to make an effective disposal up the middle, or had no confidence in our midfielders' ability to win a contested possession.

Either way, when the boundary line is your only friend, who needs enemies?

That said, we still had enough breakaways to effect a win. But it's hard to get scoreboard pressure when your team leaders are winning the ball and then duffing 20m helicopters into the mud below the forwards' shins.

[sharp9]

What's NOT happening is (and this is exactly the same as in Soccer) the possessions out wide are supposed to ENGINEER SPACE IN THE MIDDLE. If you get a clear possession on the HBF, then there should be an (alsmost) uncontested possession available immediately further up the wing. If the wing is clogged up with man on man markers and static team mates then, by rights, ther MUST be space in board......see Essendon v Swans 2004!!! First the Dons did it to us then we did it to them.

Something stops players from kicking in board. Some players (Maxfield and Saddington spring to mind) alsmost never play on quickly to the next target after they have run to receive a kick....and, presumably, sometimes they look up, see a clogged wing, look in board and see.....space with no Swans running into it and a solitary defender standing there covering the acres.

Somehow we have to remember how to run, deliver and beat that extra man.....but the run has to come from midfiled/half back if we just kick it to CHF then the extra man drops back and they mop up, we need to draw that extra man further into the centre, but make sure we win that crucial possession in the middle. This is what we were doing against Port (for example) as well as against the Kangas and in the winning Qs v Demons and Dons. Kennelly, Barry, Maxfield, Mathews have not been running forward to receive through the corridor (for form or positional reasons) and Bevan, McVeigh, Ablett seem to lack the experience/confidence to do so because it implies that you are forgetting about your man for the moment, trusting your team mate to deliver and backing yourself......a tough ask when our skill levels sit where they currently do!

There is an old saying for when you are tired that may apply here....."Find the energy to do the thing by doing the thing."

In football parlance, "Find the confidence to run forward by running forward."......'cos if you wait until you feel good about it, it will be next year!

[Rizzo]

I do think after tasting some success last year fear of failure has set in. Fear can lead to paralysis of both mind and body - this is what I reckon we witnessed on Sunday.

The boys played better at the Gabba because there was no shame in losing. They got it together after being walloped at Manuka and the started to play well against the Bombers after it all looked hopeless.

It's mental.