An alternative gameplan...

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by chammond
So, I guess we're unlikely to win a flag this year or next . . . but we'll still make the finals, and once you're in that lottery, anything can happen!

No - once we're in that lottery we lose big time.

[chammond]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
No - once we're in that lottery we lose big time.

Nah . . . just makes the journey more exciting

[Schneiderman]

To answer the post question:

Spread out. Thats all. Have players running through the middle and down the wings, but by themselves.

We won a lot in 2003 by running in WAVES. We now have "perfected" it by running in PACKS. The former works, the latter does not.

Watching the games on Friday and Saturday night, the thing that stood out was justhow much space the Demons players had, and how little ours have. This was also the main reason so many handballs missed their targets... the receiving player was almost in the pocket of the handballer.

This requires a major lift in confidence from the team. In each other, in the gameplan, in the structure.

Players with low skill-levels will naturally need to be culled over time, but even now we should deliberately trust that our forwards can kick enough goals, and our backs can prevent enough, to play that way anyway. Limit the stoppages, move it on quickly, kick it to one-on-one contests. If you make some mistakes, get over it and try again.

I believe our players are more skilled than in 2003, and have developed to the point where the same approach would get us a premiership. In truth there wasn't a massive improvement required then, and the improvement we've had is enough.

[liz]

I don't believe that the team's skills are inherently as bad as they seem to be at the moment. The disposal skill level was much higher in 2003, and if anything I think they might have improved their ball winning ability.

They're just not doing the basic controllable things at the moment - running, playing in front, even tackling properly on last night's evidence. And yes, they seem to be so scared of making mistakes that they take the soft options - and still make mistakes!

[ScottH]

I couldn't understand why when we turned it over there was a plethora of Saints all over the ground unmarked.

When they turned it over, we had no one to kick to.

Over use of the ball, too many h/balls, too many h/balls to players who are hot, too many handballs to no one, too many handballs to Saints (Ok maybe only one).

Crouch marks on the 50m (2nd time) in the 3rd. Walks back to take the kick sees Hall streaming forward with a saint on his heels. Instead of going back for a shot, after already nailing one from a more difficult angle, he gives off to Hall who runs str8 into 3 saints and we lose the ball. Hall has tried to out muscle too many players this year and getting tackled and feeding off a crap h/ball.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by chammond
Nah . . . just makes the journey more exciting

No, just more tedious!

[NMWBloods]

Here's a good thought on the game plan - don't have two players as loose men in the backline and don't have our key forwards playing up near the middle of the ground!!

[chammond]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Here's a good thought on the game plan - don't have two players as loose men in the backline and don't have our key forwards playing up near the middle of the ground!!

Actually, on Saturday both sides generally set up at centre bounces with only 5 forwards/defenders at each end . . . no sweepers or 'loose' men.

Which I guess made it inevitable that the midfield would always be clogged.

[barry]

I'm actually in favour of tanking the year by playing young guys and going for draft picks. I'd also play the following players in "easy" positions to up their trade value which will trade for more draft picks:
O'keefe, - going nowhere.
Leo Barry, - Not up to a KP, so not what we need long term
MOL, - Too injury prone.
Nicks, - Inconsistant
Davis, - Too injury prone.
Crouch, - Taggers dont win flags.
Saddington - Hack.
.. and anyone over 27 who wont be with us by the time we rebuild.

You only get monkeys if you only offer peanuts.

[dann]

This thread is just about the most sensible and beneficial that I have ever seen on RWO.

I especially agree with putting schniderman into the forward line. The Swans are desperate for forward pressure from a small, fast goalkicker.

The points that have been made are all good - I sort of wish that they could be addressed by the coaching staff. Again the lack of real 'press' pressure to the Swans team really stops that taking to task that the Melbourne press do so well with Victorian clubs.

[wollongongswan]

Walls carved us up last night but a lot of what he said is true. Roos is afraid to fail because you can't afford to in the sydney market. He's winning as many games as possible with this list. I certainly want Roos to stay in charge.

But, the game plan at the moment is not going to put bums on seats. It's not good to watch and it hurts me to say that. Most importantly, we wont improve playing that way, we'll stay mid table which is starting to get frustrating cause we've been doing it pretty much since 1996. So even though it may cost us in the short term, we need to change to a more attacking style and try to develop some young players (you don't develop them by picking them for one game, giving them a 20 minute run then dropping them back to the reserves). Lets have a crack at being a great team.

Time to take risks again- the best thing about Roos when he started was that the players had confidence that if they made a mistake they wouldn't get dragged and they were willing to back themselves. That doesn't seem to happen anymore.

Play direct and through the centre, it's the best way to play the scg anyway. Make some changes in the midfield- Kennelly onto the wing, give McVeigh a chance to develop, give Davis a run there when (or if ) he's fit again. Buchanan is not a small forward, he can't find the goals, his last chance is in the midfield and I think he's good enough at getting the ball and has enough pace to be handy there. Put Schneider up forward as a crumber cause he's the best one we have.

Most importantly, lets try and get a superstar in the trade period (easier said than done though) and clean out those who are going nowhere or past their use by- Spriggs, Doyle, Nicks etc.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by chammond
Actually, on Saturday both sides generally set up at centre bounces with only 5 forwards/defenders at each end . . . no sweepers or 'loose' men.

Which I guess made it inevitable that the midfield would always be clogged.

The clogged up game was disgusting to watch. Every other game is better to watch than our's.

ROK and Jolly/Ball seemed to play loose across half back or just inside the defensive half of the square.

St Kilda countered our flooding with their flooding, but at least they seemed to have the ability to shift the ball to open space and run forward.

[Steve]

Originally posted by chammond
As far as I can see, Roos assessment of our squad is precise . . . apart from a handful of stars, we lack talent and ability and will only win games by scrapping and fighting every step of the way . . .

That's my assessment as well.

We have a B-grade midfield and our defence is drastically undersized - last night we had Barry, C.Bolton and LRT playing as tall defenders.

I understand exactly why Roos is so paranoid about playing an open flowing style for those reasons. It's almost unwatchable at times but if we're winning it's tolerable.

The massive problem is that by utilising a gameplan that mitigates those problems, how will we ever develop midfielders or key defenders?

[NMWBloods]

Well that's the key problem isn't it. We might be working really hard to eke out a few wins, but to take some big steps forward we'll need to take a few back.

This is part of my point on the teams playing attacking football. They might lose some games, but they are learning how to move the ball and kick goals, and thus are always giving themselves some chance and are setting themselves up better for future improvement.

[Nico]

Originally posted by liz
I don't believe that the team's skills are inherently as bad as they seem to be at the moment. The disposal skill level was much higher in 2003, and if anything I think they might have improved their ball winning ability.

They're just not doing the basic controllable things at the moment - running, playing in front, even tackling properly on last night's evidence. And yes, they seem to be so scared of making mistakes that they take the soft options - and still make mistakes!

Codswollop.