Best Forward Line in the AFL...on paper

[TOT70]

tot, good observations and i agree and disagree

flooding wins home and away games, but man on man wins finals

a good side needs to be able to compete against both strategies

thats why you need smart fwds, they can work this out as the game unfolds

you cant coach a team of uncoachables (richo, bowden, tiva, johnson)

you can train and teach a team of kids?

Mature footballers win finals. The ones with the hard bodies, the motivation that comes from overcoming adversity and the hunger to take their opportunity. Let's do whatever we can to make finals first.

 

[IanG]

i thought our forwards were pushing too high up and this meant the saints defenders were happy to drop back and eat up all our entrys inside 50

Thats what the TV commentators said was happening.

 

[Leysy Days]

Sometimes we need to understand what happens in modern footy. Towards the end of last season, Wallace gave up on the loose man in defence strategy and implemented a man-on-man strategy. Well and good, he caught a couple of teams out with it and finished the season off reasonably well.

Lyon was ready for this. He refused to play man-on-man around the ground. He played several spare players across half-back and instructed them to clag the Richmond forward line and hurt on the counter-attack. Did you notice how much of the play was between centre and our half-forward line with both teams winning the ball and then losing it to weight of numbers? We had the numbers in the midfield, they had them in our forward line. No room for our forwards. Every time St Kilda broke clear of our midfield, they had room all over the forward line. Milne, Gehrig and Kosi were one-out.

Eventually, Wallace manned up their loose defenders and most of the players on the field were in our forward half. No room for us, stacks for them. That was when they broke the game wide open. It is a strategy that Wallace has used for years and is the reason why so many teams play unattractive, numbers-behind-the-ball footy. It usually works.

If Wallace believes he has a gun froward line, then he needs to go back to the numbers in defence strategy and use it more regularly to give them the room they need. Man-on-man footy invites flooded defence and counter-attack. It is a dinosaur.......unfortunately....much as we would like it to be otherwise..

Good post Toots & most games start with this tug of war now.

One thing though, This style that Lyon, Roos & Clarkson amongst others like to play is far far less effective at the MCG than telstra. There is such a vast difference between the two grounds.

Its also the main reason why there are so few "easy on the eye" games at Telstra. Leysy's thought it for a long time & its only getting worse as teams become better drilled. Leysy can barely recall a decent game he's ever seen at telstra, Richmond competing or not. Its amazing the effect the respective grounds have on the spectacle.

 

[TOT70]

Good post Toots & most games start with this tug of war now.

One thing though, This style that Lyon, Roos & Clarkson amongst others like to play is far far less effective at the MCG than telstra. There is such a vast difference between the two grounds.

Its also the main reason why there are so few "easy on the eye" games at Telstra. Leysy's thought it for a long time & its only getting worse as teams become better drilled. Leysy can barely recall a decent game he's ever seen at telstra, Richmond competing or not. Its amazing the effect the respective grounds have on the spectacle.

Telstra is the perfect ground for it because it is small. It is very easy to clag the opposition's forward line on grounds like Telstra and the SCG. It is also harder to counter-attack on the bigger grounds because the ball has to move further once the midfield is broken open and this gives the defenders time to get back. It makes the flooded defence a bit more problematic.

RFC do play better on the G because it is harder to control Richo when he has a bit of space. It would be nice if we could play all our home games at the right ground.