ROUND 3 AFLW GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/3

Over the weekend I took a look at the full draw for AFLW 2025 and it's grim.

With only 12 games but 18 teams, the draw runs over a 2 - 3yr life span for everyone to play once and most of them twice in that time but that needs to stop as quick as 2026.

At the completion of round 3 we have 4 teams yet to win a game, we got AFLW single-game scoring records being broken or close too on a weekly basis and my estimated top 6 of North Melbourne Sydney, Melbourne, Hawthorn, Adelaide and Brisbane only play themselves a combined 10 times out 108 total games for the year.

I've got a feeling this season will peter out pretty quickly before a cracker of a finals series but can the interest be maintained in the interim?

In this week's game analysis, part 1 of 3 from round 3 looks at:

• Adelaide at Center Bounce Clearance
• Geelong D1 Fail in Defensive 50
• Geelong Inside 50 Kick
• Sydney Lanes Defense to Offense
• Sydney Inside 50 Kick

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FOOTY FINALS SALE - COACHING MODERN FOOTBALL

                                                   

To celebrate finals footy all over the country in local leagues and the AFL, for the entire month of September I will be holding a sale on all chapters of the Coaching Modern Football series.

If you haven't made finals then you'll already be looking to 2026 and if you did make them, then you'll be looking to go 1 better or repeat in 2026.

Either way, you'll need to up-skill.

You'll need more effective ways to play on game days.

You'll need more efficient ways to train in pre-season.

You'll need to bring something new to the table that your team can master, and that the opposition will not be prepared for.

If you're going for coaching jobs then this can provide you with the tactical acumen that clubs are looking for.

Players are always willing to learn, so give them what they want.

Footy clubs want to be refreshed - so give them a brand new and brighter on-field outlook.

There are 6 packages to choose from.

Package #1 consists of 1 chapter each for $70, $50, $40 and $30

Package #2 consists of 1 chapter each for $70, $50 and $40 

Package #3 consists of 1 chapter each for $70, $50 and $30 

Package #4 consists of 1 chapter each for $70, $40 and $30

Package #5 consists of 1 chapter each for $50, $40 and $30

Package #6 consists of all 17 chapters

You choose what chapter from each price point you want in your package, purchase from the register page and put in your order what chapters from each price point you prefer, and I'll email them out personally.

Feel free to email me your chapter options as well.

$70 Options - Wing Play, Center Bounce Clearance, Kick Out Strategies, Overlap.

$50 Options - Midfielder Running Patterns, Manufacturing Corridor, Micro Game Moments.

$40 Options - Team Formations, Creating/Utilising Length, Creating/Utilising Outnumber Advantages.

$30 Options - Forward Press Defense, Lane Running, 666 Connection, Forward Play, Playing Between the Lines, Exploiting the Stand Rule, Ruck Runs.

If some of these idea's are new to you then don't worry - each chapter has game vision or images of what it and looks like as well as some insight on how to train it - and of course I'll be at your disposal for any questions you have or help you need.

Local footy is crying out for more tactical-based coaching which challenges your already better players, and increases the effectiveness of your middle to lesser players from being organised and in best position to defend or attack from.

Sale ends the Monday after the AFL Grand Final, September 29th.

ESSENDON v WEST COAST AFLW GAME ANALYSIS

Under Daisy Pearce, the Eagles have again started the season strongly with some dodgy umpiring decisions going a long way to deciding this resulting in 2 of Essendon's goals.

There's also a clip from the Richmond/Western Bulldogs game and 1 from the Adelaide/Geelong game, with Richmond/Geelong both winless after 2 rounds going up against Essendon and Sydney respectively.

0-3 is a long way behind in a 12-game season.

Today we look at:

• Bulldogs Leading Patterns
• West Coast Covering for Each Other
• West Coast Going Slow and Taking What's Given to Them
• Dalgleish Run
• Adelaide Team Defense

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NMvPA + MELBvSTK + GCvSYD + FREvBRIS AFLW GAME ANALYSIS

I can't see North Melbourne not winning the whole thing again and they backed me up against a Port Adelaide team who, although got a roll at the right time last year, continue to double down on this long kick, low possession game which can work on it's day but when it doesn't pan out, they don't have a plan B.

The Dees were looking like they were ready to get back to the top echelon of the AFLW but injuries in the first 2 games will now really test them but with THAT forward line they'll always be a dangerous team where the Saints were unable to back up from last week at all which would be frustrating for them.

The Swans are looking very good with Molloy, Ham and Morphett + the inclusion of Zippy Fish although we have played 2 teams without a yet and face another one of those in Geelong this week, albeit a bigger test down at the Cattery v the Gold Coast who are struggling all over the park at the moment and just seem to have players in and players out every year which should subside in the future as they draft home-grown talent from Queensland.

 In the first video we look at:

• North Melbourne Forward 50 Stoppage Goal
• North Melbourne Lane Running 
• Port Adelaide Not Using Their Numbers x 2
• Port Not Identifying the Tempo of the Game
• North Forward Press Defense

In the second video we look at:

• Melbourne Drawing and Dishing
• A Spare Player-Off
• Melbourne D1/D2 Fail
• Gold Coast Collapsing Towards the Ball
• Sydney Kick Out Set Play
• Brisbane Forward Craft to Draw the Free Kick

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COLLINGWOOD v GWS AFLW GAME ANALYSIS

We're already seeing the gap between the top and bottom sides in AFLW and on top of that there's the disparity in the draw from 12 games for 18 teams so anytime there's a game between teams around each other. it's usually a very close affair, which we saw a bit of this weekend.

I actually tipped GWS in this one thinking their ability to move the ball in transition would be the difference but the Pies kept things contested and outside of a 3 goal spurt from Tarni Evans in the 1st quarter, it was a game played between the arcs.

From this game we look at:

• Collingwood using their spare player on offense
• Collingwood not using a play on and overlap opportunity
• GWS going slow enabling thier defender to set up behind the ball
• GWS forward 50 stoppage goal
• Ash Centra Alert

I took so many clips from this week (20+) I've failed to order them properly in the editing process so we also get a quick clip from Melbourne/St Kilda looking at drawing the player then handballing.

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ANCHORS AND FLOATERS + WEST COAST/SYDNEY GAME ANALYSIS

I read about the anchors and floaters system a couple of years ago from a soccer coach on Twitter and it's a stuck with me ever since as it's a very simplified way of explaining inner and outer positioning in team sports, of which Aussie Rules is of course included.

This system provides off-ball players positional reference points at and around the ball regardless of ball location, providing a framework of space occupation.

Another thing I once read that sticks with me constantly is that good decisions are made from good positions and nailing the anchors/floaters system creates opportunities for interactions based on your position relative to the ball.

This provides an overall structure to create a foundation fro which payers can be creative + as you always payers close to the ball, you can press immediately upon turning the ball over, regaining possession as soon as you can, and as close to our goal as you can.

In this game analysis we look at anchors and floaters as well as:

• Sydney at Boundary Throw In
• Sydney Kick Out
• Liz Run
• 3 x Sydney at Center Bounce Clearance

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COACHING MODERN FOOTBALL CHAPTER 6 TEAM FORMATIONS - SNEAK PEAK

                                                     

A few years ago I read that the best decisions are made from the best positions and not a truer thing has been said in relation to invasion sports, such as Aussie Rules Football.

A lot of time is put into making things happen in different parts of the ground but without full team cohesion across the ground, it usually falls down pretty quick or it doesn't hold for very long.

For example you can work on clearance work but if the rest of your team isn't set up to capitalise on them then you might get more clearances, but then you end up not getting much from them scoreboard wise.

If I had to name the biggest thing besides talent that can be successful in local/amateur football, then it has to be organisation which can actually make lesser talent, look more talented than they actually are.

And this is where team formations come into play.

The most popular formation local/amateur teams work on is the zone defense against an opposition kick out and we'll often spend 30mins on that alone in some training sessions!

This indeed suggests that we think formations are important enough to dedicate time to, but us coaches need to train them far more often then we do.

Just be aware that the formation won't do the work for you but getting back to my original statement, players will be able to make better decisions from better positions, if they're in them, and that's what consistent team formations can do.

I go on to show different used in different ground locations such as:

• MIDDLE OF THE GROUND
• MID 50 BOUNDARY THROW IN
• MID 50 IN GENERAL PLAY

For full access to this chapter, click the Team Formations purchase link from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

MEN'S ROUND 24/WOMEN'S ROUND 1 GAME ANALYSIS

With a busy weekend and too much footy to watch, I've just finished watching what I wanted to watch and have some left over clips to share from both men's and women's games this past weekend.

In the men's we look at:

• A picture perfect center bounce clearance from Gold Coast
• Sydney with a new kick out play
• Collingwood formation on Adelaide kick out fueling their forward half offense

In the women's we look at

• GWS and Hawthorn not utilising their outnumber advantages and both resulting in turnover goals against them

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AFLW GAME ANALYSIS - CARvCOLL + WCvGC + SYDvRICH

                              

In today's game analysis for AFLW Round, we stay with the Carlton/Collingwood, West Coast/Gold Coast and Sydney/Richmond games from Thursday/Friday where we look at:

• Carlton going right back to where the ball came from inside forward 50
• Collingwood defensive set up and Carlton ball movement
• Carlton aggressive corridor kick
• Gold Coast going off the mark
• Gold Coast not releasing the quick fast enough
• Gold Coast defending the fast break overlap
• Zippy Fish Blakey kick out
• Zippy Fish Gulden overlap
• Chloe Molloy Game Intelligence

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COACHING MODERN FOOTBALL CHAPTER 13 - OUTNUMBER ADVANTAGES SNEEK PEAK + ROUND 1 AFLW EXAMPLES

Watching the first 2 games of AFLW on Thursday night, I noticed a lot of outnumber advantage situations and as I took a bunch of clips of them I'll be fast-tracking to chapter 13 for this sneak peek as well as including these most recent clips of AFLW.

From a tactical standpoint, the ability to create, have teammates recognise and then utilise outnumber advantages is probably the number 1 thing team sports should focus on as it greatly enhances your chances of success at the micro level during games, which in turn enhances your success at the macro level and you win more then you lose - hopefully a lot more.

AFL has taken so much from Soccer it's not funny and Soccer has been doing this for decades through their own tactics and formations.

What may seem complicated isn't really complicated at all when you put it in a framework (which is the point of frameworks!):

Step 1 - Create the outnumber where you want it

Step 2 - Ensure the involved players recognise where the outnumber is located

Step 3 - Ensure players have many different ways of utilising the outnumber

Step 4 - Utilise the outnumber when the situation presents itself

That's pretty much it – it’s not rocket science - but steps 2 and 3 are the ones most teams fail on and when they do, it presents as kicking to outnumber disadvantages.

The scenarios we'll often see are teams with number advantages around the ball opting to blast kick out of contested situations instead of handballing out of them and those blast don't force the loose defenders in front of the ball to have to be drawn to a player and/or the ball.

We can often see teams running in numbers but while they’re in such a hurry to get territory, they kick long and forwards without using the numbers around the ball and again, the defense can simply sag back and defend the long ball easily as you’re again in an outnumber disadvantaged situation.

You've got to use your number advantage, whether it's a +1 or +3, to maintain possession of the ball but also to draw any defenders who haven't gone into the contest via running with the ball and/or using a handball chain out of stoppage with several draw and gives.

There are a million ways to create/utilise outnumber advantages and it's a matter of directing the players attention to them, and using lots of game play during training so they get exposed to as many of these scenarios as possible.

I'd even go so far as to video training game play for both players and coaches to study how they develop outnumber advantages and then how they go about recognising and utilising them.

It's not just work rate to get numbers to the every contest, it's extremely high game intelligence because if you work hard to create outnumber advantages but don't use them, then you’re simply getting more tired with every subsequent outnumber you create!

Extremely high game intelligence comes from hours and hours of game play with directed attention to specific game aspects.

Here are a bunch of quick outnumber advantage clips from the 2 AFLW games from Thursday night:

For full access to this chapter, click the Outnumber Advantages purchase link from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

BRISBANE v SYDNEY GAME ANALYSIS

Today we have 3 quick clips left over from this game where we look at and we're still working analogue until next week.

- BRISBANE KICK OUT

- HEENEY RUN

- SYDNEY NOT GIVING HANDBALL

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SYDNEY SLINGSHOT

The Swans shifted their offense a touch on Saturday, attempting to run and handball from defense and through the middle and then kicking inside 50 as opposed to the heavy kick-biased style of current times.

I've been waiting and hoping for us to introduce more handball into our offense, not just a way to exit clearance to get a mark and gain control.

The kick style definitely has its merits as every time you kick and mark, you have full control of the game and you keep the game out of chaos but it's far easier defended then a running handball style which freezes defenders as they don't know when the kick will come as they continue to tun towards them with handball.

Here's what it looked like:

I half watched the game at the footy club so I already knew we had put this in action before I went back and watched the game in full so I was ready to document every time we tried this handball chain from defense strategy.

It's not that we scored a great deal from these handball chains, but it did further unsettle an already unsettled Brisbane defense down a few troops from the usual, plus it's a different layer to our offense and we have the runners to do this consistently.

It's a bit of a throwback to the old Sydney who would reguarly punch off half back but more with a single runner like Crouch, Kennelly, Williams in 2005 or a Malceski, Shaw, Jetta in 2012.

Here's how they fared.

QUARTER #1...

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HAWTHORN v COLLINGWOOD GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

                               

After yesterday's themed game analysis, today we look at the rest of game from Thursday night.

- COLLINGWOOD INSIDE 50

- NICK DIACOS SMARTS

- HAWTHORN KICK OUT

- HAWTHORN SPREAD

- COLLINGWOOD KICK OUT

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HAWTHORN v COLLINGWOOD GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

                                

The wife is at her mum's for the week so I don't have access to the IPad so this will be old school stylez.

The Hawks did a umber on Collingwood in many facets on Thursday night but today we'll look at their use of the expansions of the MCG.

Last season the Hawks used the full width and length of the ground to a massive advantage during their mid-to-late season run of wins and not that I'v watched a lot of Hawks this year but they didn't go back to it anywhere near as hard as last year but it made a huge comeback v the Pies.

Let's see what it looks like.

- THE ACCORDION

- TALL WIDE OUTLET TARGET

- THE ACCORDION IN TRANSITION

- FAT SIDE LINE

- FULL EXPANSION OF GROUND

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20 NEW STREAMLINE TRAINING ACTIVITIES

                                           

A new edition of this covering training activities #152 - #171 and as usual there's only a quick explanation, no diagrams or images.

#152 - 3 x 3v2

#153 - INSIDE TO OUTSIDE HANDBALL

#154 - 1 IN THE MIDDLE

#155 - 4 + 1v4

#156 - 2 PIVOTS

#157 - INSIDE TO OUTSIDE RONDO

#158 - 5 + 2v6

#159 - ADD PLAYERS

#160 - 2 x 3+4

#161 - DIAMOND SHAPED PLAYING AREAS

#162 - 2 x 5v4 + WIDE

#163 - 666 CONNECTION

#164 - 2 GAME REBOUND RONDO

#165 - ROTATING BUILD UP

#166 - CHAOS RONDO

#167 - 2v1 IN GOAL

#168 - MARKS LEVELS GAME

#169 - AROUND THE GROUND 1v1'S

#170 - 3 BALL GAME

#171 - SECRET SCORER

For full access to these training activities, register for a level 3 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

COLLINGWOOD v BRISBANE GAME ANALYSIS

I did pick the Lions to beat the Pies Saturday night after the debacle they put out the week before + the Pies are in that so-far-ahead-were-gonna-lose-a-few phase of the season.

Before this weekend I had a Collingwood/Brisbane Grand Final but now my predictor says Adelaide finish top and Brisbane 2nd so someone's gonna have to beat the Crows at home to put them out.

I'm not too worried about the Pies with troops to come back but home ground advantage usually reigns supreme in finals so not having a top 2 finish will hurt come Preliminary Final week.

In this game we take a look at:

• Both teams using their defensive formation to feed into their offensive formation and ball movement
• Collingwood Center Bounce Clearance
• Sidebottom Inside 50 Kick
• 1 quick clip from Sydney/Essendon looking at Gulden creating overlap and an outnumber advantage

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