Still no RFC players in AFL's top 25 tacklers

[thejinx]

I once did a correlation between all the stat categories and ladder position. The best predictor of ladder position was actually uncontested posessions followed by long kicks.

And if you ask me, to acheive high numbers with these sorts of statistics, you're players have to be willing to run and run and run. It's quite obvious that our guys hate running, and hate putting in effort, on the offensive or defensive side.

 

[Liverpool]

For fear of being chased down by a posse wielding pitchforks led by Disco08......I better watch what I say here....oh... *smile* it...what the hell.... :hihi

Lids has improved his tackle count this year by an average of 0.1
His total tackles for the year is 9.
5 of those were in the one game (.v. Bulldogs)

Jaxson Barham....a first gamer for Collingwood last weekend had 9 tackles, in the one game.

The leader (Brett Kirk) has 36 tackles to his name...thats 4 times the amount of someone like Lids.

Now while I understand that Lids plays a different role to Kirk.....and maybe Barham, being his first game, was full of adrenalin and ran around like a man possessed.....the worrying thing is that we aren't just hard enough, we're not motivated enough, and we are not big enough.

I know this is going back a bit....but I remember that 1995 season where we had D.Kellaway, Rogers, Campbell, Broders, Tape, Naish, Daffy, etc gang-tackling like their lives depended on it.
That team didn't have a lot of skill but boy, they worked hard and had a go.
I also remember that year...the week after Richo did his knee in Sydney and we played out at Optus Oval against the Eagles (reigning premiers) and the tackling and harassment was fantastic.

If our team now could somehow find that 'motivation' to play similarly, we would be a FAR better and more competitive team.

Look at North Melbourne....prime example of a team that doesn't have a lot of flair players (even Collingwood are similar)....but they work hard, they run hard, and they tackle hard and this makes up somewhat for their shortfall in skill/talent.

If you can put the opposition under pressure then that can cause all sorts of problems for them.
Its about time we did it.

 

[Hungry]

For fear of being chased down by a posse wielding pitchforks led by Disco08......I better watch what I say here....oh... *smile* it...what the hell.... :hihi

Lids has improved his tackle count this year by an average of 0.1
His total tackles for the year is 9.
5 of those were in the one game (.v. Bulldogs)

Jaxson Barham....a first gamer for Collingwood last weekend had 9 tackles, in the one game.

The leader (Brett Kirk) has 36 tackles to his name...thats 4 times the amount of someone like Lids.

Now while I understand that Lids plays a different role to Kirk.....and maybe Barham, being his first game, was full of adrenalin and ran around like a man possessed.....the worrying thing is that we aren't just hard enough, we're not motivated enough, and we are not big enough.

I know this is going back a bit....but I remember that 1995 season where we had D.Kellaway, Rogers, Campbell, Broders, Tape, Naish, Daffy, etc gang-tackling like their lives depended on it.
That team didn't have a lot of skill but boy, they worked hard and had a go.
I also remember that year...the week after Richo did his knee in Sydney and we played out at Optus Oval against the Eagles (reigning premiers) and the tackling and harassment was fantastic.

If our team now could somehow find that 'motivation' to play similarly, we would be a FAR better and more competitive team.

Look at North Melbourne....prime example of a team that doesn't have a lot of flair players (even Collingwood are similar)....but they work hard, they run hard, and they tackle hard and this makes up somewhat for their shortfall in skill/talent.

If you can put the opposition under pressure then that can cause all sorts of problems for them.
Its about time we did it.

Yes, pressure is a must if you want to break teams down nowadays. The AFL's rule changes in recent years mean that if you cannot pressure hard and tackle hard then the opposition will move the ball with accuracy at light speed.

I don't know why we've been so slow on the uptake here - maybe they're trying but it's not working?

And yes, the difference between Deledio lifting to be a top-line player or not comes down to intensity, tackling and one percenters. He does all the other stuff well, and has the potential to be a fearsome tackler with his pace and strength, but it's not happening yet.

If we could replicate the Swans, Roos, Pies and Saints in this regard we'd be much, much better.

 

[Big Cat Lover]

The interesting thing about tackling is the week after the Saints v Adelaide game, Leigh Montagna was interviewed with questions on the Saints improved tackling/pressure. He said they had not specifically focused on it at training nor done any extra work on it in the preseason but that it was simply an improved mindset to tackle that had been the difference. Implied it was all about attitude. Go figure.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

That stat will be around for as long as Wallace is coach.

 

[BBC]

Cogs is the only player who will challenge this whilst Plough is in the seat.

 

[Backbone]

It's quite obvious that our guys hate running, and hate putting in effort, on the offensive or defensive side.

Agree with that jinxy, let's think about where we get smashed :-
- not enough tackles - is it just because our players wont tackle or because not enough of them are getting to contests?
- too many turnovers - clearly our skills are a problem here, but how much of this exacerbated by not enough gut running to create options for the player with the ball?

Fixing the running issue will help a lot.

 

[Tubytiger]

Nothing unusal about the title of this thread this year or most other years. Totally soft in that department and is just one of our achilles in the hope of being a better team - especially in our forward half when we should be trapping the ball in.