The New Way To Play

[Boodnutz]

Hope I'm not drawing too long a bow on this, but tonight I think we will see a further recognition that Sydney play a brand, or method, of football that hasn't been attempted by anyone else before.
As this season has gone on it has become increasingly obvious that the players are developing a pretty unique style. we all know the characteristics - no 1 on 1 contests, hold the ball til the right option opens up etc. but I don't yet think that most AFL observers have really understood what a formidable challenge Sydney have now put down.
All other teams (maybe exception of Port to some degree) play to their strengths that is, West Coast rely on a strong midfield, Melbourne on Neitz/White to lift them above the norm and Brisbane and St. Kilda just rely on the quality of their stars to bash and crash their way through.
Sydney's sole focus is now "control the terms on which the game is played". It is a subtle but crucial difference to how our game is played. And I think it relates to basketball more than any other sport. I think it explains why our games now follow a certain pattern - apparently slow to start, other team kicks early goals, we shut them down, game over. I think the slow starts are a critical part of us gaining control over the flow of the game.
Anyway, the point is the more success Sydney have with it, the more it will change other team's approaches to the game. It isn't enough anymore to have a strong midfield, big defence or key ruckman. The stats that have permeated the game for the last 10 years are now meaningless. We don't have anyone in the top 20 for disposals. Most of those that are in the top 20 are in teams that didn't make the finals (Brisbane's freaks apart).
Anyway, I don't want to ramble on but, when other teams start copying what we do - look for a basketball style "shot clock" to be introduced. Not a nice thought, but Sydney's changing the game in a profound way and not necessarily for the overall good of the game.

[ROK Lobster]

I think you are right and rather than copy it I hope other coaches 'invent' ways to counter it. I think Roos is developing a different sort of team too in that players will become more versatile (with the exception of a few KPP's). Players will play dif roles during the season and even during games... time will tell I suppose

[Damien]

Article in the SMH today.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530771810.html

.."Tap the football grapevine of opposition assistant coaches and scouts and you get a fairly uniform appraisal of the Swans' tactics. They often try to create stoppages (ball-ups and throw-ins), kick defensively to the boundary, never kick to one-on-one contests and sometimes retain the football until the leather has almost eroded while they milk the clock."

[Bart]

Couldn't care less. Win at all costs.

Besides styles of playing come and go. You rarely here of the flood these days as strategies have been developed to counter it, but the silence may also be because the current masters are the all conquering Lions.

As Roosy said tongue in cheek that media criticism or comments from other coaches keeps him awake at night.

Besides, what would footy be like if you didn't have some teams that are good at applying pressure. 100 point blow outs would be regular. Would that be better ? I don't think so.

Shutting down your opponent is IMO an importnat skill, one which many of our so called prettier opponents are way behind us.

[SimonH]

Excellent thoughtful comment. Whether it's for the overall good of the game is something that we'll need to wait 5 years before we can answer.

What we can say is that everyone circa 2001/2 was going mental about 'flooding' and what it would do to the game. In retrospect, flooding (at least in its infancy) was an incredibly simple, reactive tactic. What Sydney is doing (and I think some other clubs are doing as well, e.g. I have heard that Port Adelaide are bottom of the league for hard-ball gets, but their style of play means it doesn't matter) is far more sophisticated and far-reaching.

No team has no weak spot (and even Richmond have at least one strength). Over most of the last 125 years, the attitude has been 'we trust at our best we are better than them- let's roll the dice and see if we're right'.

With a more analytical approach to the game coming into fashion, I think it's inevitable that as time goes on coaches will place a greater priority in playing the game on terms that maximise the team's strengths and hide its weaknesses, while trying to do the converse to the opposition. The winning team will usually be the one that plays the game on its terms, rather than just the one that has the highest number of clearances, or the biggest inside 50 count, or whatever other statistic is the flavour of the month.

[Boodnutz]

The first game against Brisbane signalled what was to come. It has only been multiple injuries that has stopped this team from strangling every other team in the competition over the course of the year.

Now we're back to full strength and it's too late in the year for any other team to do anything about it. Yes, they all recognise it, but stopping Sydney doing it is another thing. And the best thing is that our style of play holds up well under pressure - finals time. Maxfield and Willo both said in recent weeks "we know exactly what we have to do, we know our game plan works". I don't think other teams (Brisbane included) have that same level of confidence.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has watched the Swans training drills during the year. My guess is that they would be doing match practice movements ad nauseum.

[Bart]

Originally posted by Boodnutz
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has watched the Swans training drills during the year. My guess is that they would be doing match practice movements ad nauseum.

They've been doing those ones behind closed doors apprantly, and using the magoos to mimic the opposition teams they are preparing to play

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Just about every commentatory has waffled on about the "drab 4" and the stoppages etc. etc.
Yet Walls is the only commentator to point out that it's only half the story. When we score we do it in a rush yet as he points out "You can't play helter-skelter footy for 100 minutes, and you see a bit of everything from them."

[Ryan Bomford]

A sure sign of the quality of a good coach is the ability to adapt the team's playing style to the capabilities of the team players - AT THE MOMENT. Others coaches seem to persist with the coaches' preferred style of play even though the players are not capable of executing it successfully.

The former style of coaching is what has impressed me about Roosy. I have no doubt that our style of play will change again as player form or personnel changes.

[Bart]

Swans v Bulldogs will be an interesting meeting of minds next year

[Thunder Shaker]

We play like snakes. Sometimes we strike our opposition with the speed of a king cobra. At other times we slowly suffocate the opposition with the patience of a boa constrictor.

[SimonH]

Nice analogy, Thunder Shaker.

I remember thinking in the last quarter of the Brisbane SCG game, 'This is just like a boa constrictor squeezing the last breath of life out of its prey'. Not pretty, but oddly compelling. And I'm not normally prone to drawing animal comparisons with football teams' style of play!

[TheHood]

One thing it does provide is a very tangible game plan. I have to admit to feeling a lot more secure going into a game with a plan as opposed to Saints for example which Rocket said this morning that they have "scant regard for opposition tactics".

It kind of summed up St Kilda for me. I have been saying (call me Wallsy) for a little while now that St Kilda don't have a Plan B should their natural game not work.

They are mostly young and it is experience that gives you the amunition to implement an alternative when all around you is crashing. Maybe next season.

I also resent the line that St Kilda have been espousing all week and that is that the Lions would have crushed anyone with the way they played last week. I don't buy that at all. If the Lions are 100 points better than Port and Sydney, I'll eat me hat. We crushed a team on a real roll last week.

We don't get a lot of accolades from the Melbourne media, but the past few weeks have seen them say, Lions and Port by a long way but beware of Sydney. In fact Sydney have become a disclaimer in itself when it comes to Flag predicitions because they just don't know what we're capable of.

P.S. Great thread Bloodnutz! Better than discussing the weather ad nauseum.

[Ryan Bomford]

Originally posted by SimonH
Nice analogy, Thunder Shaker.

I remember thinking in the last quarter of the Brisbane SCG game, 'This is just like a boa constrictor squeezing the last breath of life out of its prey'. Not pretty, but oddly compelling. And I'm not normally prone to drawing animal comparisons with football teams' style of play!

Doin' it like they do on the Discovery Channel?

[Boodnutz]

Yes, good analogy re snakes.
But who and what triggers the change? John Barnes for all his false bravado has a smart football brain and he mentioned on Fox League Teams after the Essendon game that he was sure that someone within the Swans structure triggers the change. He said that Essendon could see it was a planned change in tempo but no-one could determine how or when it occurs. Consequently, opposition teams are caught out strategically for 3-5 minutes when the change occurs. Match-ups are all of a sudden wrong and players are caught flat-footed.