forward line

[bigcarl]

Since the demise of the G-train we've looked pretty average up front.

agree, and the game plan's been a big factor, too, as plugger66 pointed out.

we had 18 guys behind the ball before brisbane had even scored on saturday.

[Saint Bev]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

[bigcarl]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

thanks for that saint bev. if we play like we did in the second half we'll win more than we lose.

[Solar]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

is it lots of quick handpasses off half back to try and beat the zone?

[WayneJudson42]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

is it lots of quick handpasses off half back to try and beat the zone?

You might be on to something.

RL mentioned that they were working on this pre season.

Hawks strength was that they forced you to kick to a contest.

By sharing the ball around, it appears to draw opponents, hence breaking the zone.

Then again, I wouldn't have a clue.

[saint66au]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

is it lots of quick handpasses off half back to try and beat the zone?

Not just us...all 4 teams that played over the weekend had a positive handball:kick ratio. Nathan Foley had 32 touches of which only 10 were kicks

Does anyone remember the good old days when you used to handpass forwards to a bloke running towards goal? I reckon theres more backward handpasses then forward ones now..

[PJ]

Part of the style played would be directed at the Hawks rolling zone but I reckon Ross's still got one eye looking over his shoulder at what the cats have been doing.

It's not difficult to see how the cats high possession game can bring the hawks undone. Kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak.

By sharing the ball around, it appears to draw opponents, hence breaking the zone.

Thanks WJ this demonstrtes the point.

Be prepared for plenty of frenetic handball plays in the coming weeks. Hope this doesn't mean we've neglected the kick.

Players like Eljay are information soaks at his stage of development - you can see he's following instructions to the T - Firstly handball if that fails then handball and if there's no other option handball. It'll probably die down a bit when the more experienced players come back.

yyyyup!

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Forgot to mention also that we have a new game plan. Players struggled with it and didn't play according to the plan in the 1st half. When this was addressed at half time and tweeked we played better as we know in the second half.

is it lots of quick handpasses off half back to try and beat the zone?

Quick couple of thoughts on handpassing to beat the zone, as I wonder whether it really is the best approach for St Kilda to achieve the objective.

The reason you handpass (and run) to beat the zone is the same as the reason teams zone in the first place, to try and create situations where they have advantage at any contests - i.e. if someone's zoned off to cover space, their man must be somewhere, if you can add that man somewhere to the group on ball, you've got an advantage.

That's great as long as you've got:
a) the handskills to pull it off (i.e. keep the ball moving, and not end up standing still playing keepaway handballing to others standing still).
b) the runners to break the lines.

The couple of times I can recall seeing Hawthorn's defense struggle last year were against us, and against Brisbane at the Gabba (Hawks won the game in a Buddy v Bradshaw shootout). Both times what defined the path past the zone from half back was quick long switches, a forward kick leading to a pass to space - true CHF. The setup of the Hawthorn zone with the ball at HBF actually leaves that space open. Teams like St Kilda spend so much time trying to create 1 on 1s for their forwards, the 1 on "who happens to be close by" is a dream.

My query comes because along the backline, the Saints have plenty of players who can kick long and execute that switch (Goose, Gram, S Fisher, Raph, Gilbo... distance doesn't challenge them, they just can't pinpoint long ala Goddard). They've got far few players who execute the running handball really well (Ray appears good at this, and when Jones is doing thsi his disposal's fine... otherwise, it's only really our better mids, Hayes, Joey, Dal that pull it off well, and in Joey and Dal's case you'd rather have the ball on their boot, and the handball game is only as good as it's weakest link).

I understand and applaud the need and effort to improve the Saints running game. I wonder if there aren't options to achieve the same while playing more to our strengths and giving us the options we're after to put more quality up front.