Game plan.

[Joe Bloggs]

Can people who know a hell of a lot more about football than me and that's most of you, can you shed light on our game plan . I know it's only one game in and maybe to early to tell but can you see a marked difference to last year do you think there has been an improvement and can you explain it . Thanks

[Enrico_Misso]

Lock in #1 and #19 draft picks.

Actually lots of positive signs in the youngsters coming through.
Get games and conditioning into them.
Get a few more talented youngsters.
Then we will go up the ladder.

Be patient.

[saynta]

Can people who know a hell of a lot more about football than me and that's most of you, can you shed light on our game plan . I know it's only one game in and maybe to early to tell but can you see a marked difference to last year do you think there has been an improvement and can you explain it . Thanks

Can't help you there.

You would need to get someone with far more footy smarts than I possess.

They do seem far fitter though and able to get to more contests.

They still fiddle fart around and then kick backwards, leaving me tearing my hair out.

Extremely frustrating. Newnes is one of the worst offenders.

[plugger66]

The only think I have noticed different to last year is they are trying to play on more and also trying to go through the middle of the ground a bit more. Its very hard for anyone to tell IMO.

[Toy Saint]

It would be good to see a game plan that had (at least) a foward in the forward line.

With a forward target, the mids can be encouraged to play on quickly and kick it to a forward target.

The alternate is to have everybody in the back half, we get possesion and chip and kick sidways whilst waiting for playes to run forward.

It's not an origional game plan, but it has stood the test of time...

[remboy]

The only think I have noticed different to last year is they are trying to play on more and also trying to go through the middle of the ground a bit more. Its very hard for anyone to tell IMO.

There seems to be more of an effort to move the ball quicker and kick long into the forward 50. I thought the other games had more kicking long to a contest as well.
Then again, maybe it was just me.

[Con Gorozidis]

I think the game plan is fine - we just cant kick.

If there is one thing that irks me about the coaching staff it is their repetitive public comments about 'effort' and 'willingness to compete and put pressure on the opposition'. Now this is 60% of the game and its good there is an emphasis on it. But its not 100% of the game. Comments from Kingsley that 'outside stuff and kicking dont matter' trouble me. I mean have they watched a top 4 side play? Watch a top 4 side play and tell me kicking and outside doesn't matter. Its no good working ur ass off and winning the ball if you turn it over and it just goes straight back over your head with interest. Didnt the Hawks have the lowest tackle count in the AFL in 2013? Why because they always had the f*cking ball and didnt turn it over. The good sides can string 10 passes together - we struggle to get a chain of 3 or 4. It must be a morale killer.

Having said that it probably explains why the coach is keen to have Saad and Eli in the side because he knows they can both kick it (if they can get their hands on it).

[gringo]

I think the game plan is fine - we just cant kick.

If there is one thing that irks me about the coaching staff is their repetitive public comments about 'effort' and 'willingness to compete and put pressure on the opposition'. Now this is 60% of the game and its good there is an emphasis on it. But its not 100% of the game. Comments from Kingsley that 'outside stuff and kicking dont matter' trouble me. I mean have they watched a top 4 side play? Watch a top 4 side play and tell me kicking and outside doesn't matter. Its no good working ur ass off and winning the ball if you turn it over and just goes straight back over you head. Didnt he hawks have the lowest tackle count in the AFL in 2013? Why because they always had the f*cking ball and they didnt turn it over. The good sides can string 10 passes together - we struggle to get a chain of 3 or 4.

Good coaches work with what they have. There is no point playing Hawks footy with our list. We aren't at the point in our development that allows us to play slick footy. We are moving the ball faster I noticed. There was much more quick passing and fast ball movement. We need to keep doing it until the sloppiness goes. All teams turn the ball over a percentage of the time or it would be coast to coast goals all day. The better teams minimise the damage by lessening the high risk turn overs, that's why Collingwood would run the boundaries so wide. Hawks and Port adelaide seem to back their skills to get them out of trouble and play the ball into high risk areas like straight through the corridor. At this stage if we play with intensity and don't become risk adverse we will develop good habits for the future. Skills will take care of themselves. At least our goal kicking accuracy seems better.

[saint-stu]

I saw it pretty much the same as Con. The chain of kicks would constantly break down on the kick into the forward line. Really frustrating. If a forward got on the end of those a bit more often, I reckon the game plan looked pretty good. We certainly seemed to be pressuring and tackling well.

Having said that. It's round one, and we have a team full of kids. I think the skills will improve in time. Some of the lesser skilled players will eventually be pushed out by the likes of Billings, Acres, Webster and this years no. 1 pick . There was definitely a rusty factor though. Guys like Schneider who are well known for the skills, butchering the ball.

[gringo]

I saw it pretty much the same as Con. The chain of kicks would constantly break down on the kick into the forward line. Really frustrating. If a forward got on the end of those a bit more often, I reckon the game plan looked pretty good. We certainly seemed to be pressuring and tackling well.

Having said that. It's round one, and we have a team full of kids. I think the skills will improve in time. Some of the lesser skilled players will eventually be pushed out by the likes of Billings, Acres, Webster and this years no. 1 pick . There was definitely a rusty factor though. Guys like Schneider who are well known for the skills, butchering the ball.

Dermot and Mooney reckon it takes 50 to 80 games to get to a point where you can rigidly follow game plans, know where to run etc ....we might be waiting a while. Apart from Rooey our forward line would be lucky to have played 50 games combined. I thought Schnieder was clean I mustn't have noticed the butchering.

[saint-stu]

I saw it pretty much the same as Con. The chain of kicks would constantly break down on the kick into the forward line. Really frustrating. If a forward got on the end of those a bit more often, I reckon the game plan looked pretty good. We certainly seemed to be pressuring and tackling well.

Having said that. It's round one, and we have a team full of kids. I think the skills will improve in time. Some of the lesser skilled players will eventually be pushed out by the likes of Billings, Acres, Webster and this years no. 1 pick . There was definitely a rusty factor though. Guys like Schneider who are well known for the skills, butchering the ball.

Dermot and Mooney reckon it takes 50 to 80 games to get to a point where you can rigidly follow game plans, know where to run etc ....we might be waiting a while. Apart from Rooey our forward line would be lucky to have played 50 games combined. I thought Schnieder was clean I mustn't have noticed the butchering.

It may have been only once.. I think he kicked it out on the full front a kick in.

[bergholt]

I saw it pretty much the same as Con. The chain of kicks would constantly break down on the kick into the forward line. Really frustrating. If a forward got on the end of those a bit more often, I reckon the game plan looked pretty good. We certainly seemed to be pressuring and tackling well.

Having said that. It's round one, and we have a team full of kids. I think the skills will improve in time. Some of the lesser skilled players will eventually be pushed out by the likes of Billings, Acres, Webster and this years no. 1 pick . There was definitely a rusty factor though. Guys like Schneider who are well known for the skills, butchering the ball.

Dermot and Mooney reckon it takes 50 to 80 games to get to a point where you can rigidly follow game plans, know where to run etc ....we might be waiting a while. Apart from Rooey our forward line would be lucky to have played 50 games combined. I thought Schnieder was clean I mustn't have noticed the butchering.

It may have been only once.. I think he kicked it out on the full front a kick in.

I think that was Joey?

[kosifantutti]

We're resurrecting a plan from the mid 70s. Long bombs to Bruce.

[sainter#4]

we are looking to get the ball to safely to half back - once there we will try to bring it back through the midfield and become more attacking and really straighten up.

don't confuse this with say Essendon under matty knights who where gung ho straight down the park every chance we get...Also i highly doubt we want to bomb it into our forward 50. But we are playing alot of kids and sometimes we just need a cool head to spot a target up.

i think when jimmy webster and Jacky Billings are back in the side over the next month - it will look much prettier on the eye with our disposal.

defensively we are tactically spot on with our set ups - just with some many kids it does take time to ensure it is down pat.

Richo knows what he is doing

[Con Gorozidis]

I'll feel much better with Billings and Webster in the side. With both those guys I feel we would have won comfortably on Sunday.

[Griggsy]

Playing the game of inches by the look of it. Gain ground then win the ball there. Tbh the skill isn't there atm to fluff about with the ball anyway. Definately playing up the middle more and thought the handballs that we made were more productive than some of the wasteful ones last season.

[Verdun66]

3 years ago Port were a basket case. They seemed to have no game plan. I thought they might fold. Any good players they had seemed certain to leave. And look at them now. Had a few high draft picks, pumped games into kids, traded well.

We have to hope that is us in 3 or 4 years.

[Jacks Back]

I think we are trying to copy this except with a bit more kicking from side to side in the back half:

[spert]

Couldn't see much of a game plan against GWS, same as I couldn't see any noticeable game plan last season. The players seem pretty fit and full of running which is good, but the only thing I can gather from pre-season and game #1 is just run and attack, and I don't think Richo has a defensive bone in his body, especially to do with clearance work and structures around packs at balls ups and throw ins. Still a big weakness IMO.

[Bunk_Moreland]

We're resurrecting a plan from the mid 70s. Long bombs to Bruce.

Is that the same plan resurrected in the 80 and 90s for Plugger then Stewie, then in the naughties and this decade for G-Train and Roo?

Seems to work a treat.

[Bunk_Moreland]

3 years ago Port were a basket case. They seemed to have no game plan. I thought they might fold. Any good players they had seemed certain to leave. And look at them now. Had a few high draft picks, pumped games into kids, traded well.

We have to hope that is us in 3 or 4 years.

[magnifisaint]

The game plan is to get the ball thru the big sticks as quick as possible while restricting the opposition.

[bigcarlosis]

The game plan is to get the ball thru the big sticks as quick as possible while restricting the opposition.

Correct! Kick a barrel over their heads then beat em to it and score!
Guys streaming in from 40 mtrs and passing it off to a 50/50 contest in the pocket . . who thought up that one?

[Bluthy]

Couldn't see much of a game plan against GWS, same as I couldn't see any noticeable game plan last season. The players seem pretty fit and full of running which is good, but the only thing I can gather from pre-season and game #1 is just run and attack, and I don't think Richo has a defensive bone in his body, especially to do with clearance work and structures around packs at balls ups and throw ins. Still a big weakness IMO.

I agree. Richo doesn't seem to flood at all. I've put it down to deliberately leaving players one on one to fight their own battles as a tough learning curve. Conspiracy theory: the advantage of that is also that we don't win a lot of games and get the no. 1 pick. Its often hard to work out tactics when players are so inexperienced and are struggling to work out the basics of AFL let alone a complex tactical system. I'm not sure Richo will be the sort to invent some game changing tactical breakthrough like Clarkson or Lyon. In the praccy games he seemed to almost use a type of Pagans paddock with fwds like McCartin and Lee pushing really high up the ground and then players streaming forward into an open fwd line but I didn't see a lot that last week.

[gringo]

Couldn't see much of a game plan against GWS, same as I couldn't see any noticeable game plan last season. The players seem pretty fit and full of running which is good, but the only thing I can gather from pre-season and game #1 is just run and attack, and I don't think Richo has a defensive bone in his body, especially to do with clearance work and structures around packs at balls ups and throw ins. Still a big weakness IMO.

I agree. Richo doesn't seem to flood at all. I've put it down to deliberately leaving players one on one to fight their own battles as a tough learning curve. Conspiracy theory: the advantage of that is also that we don't win a lot of games and get the no. 1 pick. Its often hard to work out tactics when players are so inexperienced and are struggling to work out the basics of AFL let alone a complex tactical system. I'm not sure Richo will be the sort to invent some game changing tactical breakthrough like Clarkson or Lyon. In the praccy games he seemed to almost use a type of Pagans paddock with fwds like McCartin and Lee pushing really high up the ground and then players streaming forward into an open fwd line but I didn't see a lot that last week.

The team got back in numbers and often only had one guy in the forward 50. We were running a full press when they had the ball and a few set up at different points on the counter. It looked pretty old school defensive to me. A bit like the set up from about 5 years ago everyone was doing it didn't look very refined but it might be a simplified set up for kids.