LAYERING YOUR TRAINING ACTIVITIES

You've come up with a great game model but then the questions announce themselves?

How will you teach it?

How will the players learn it?

How will the players retain the concept?

What about the mixed ability of the playing group?

How can we build it robust enough to stand up in the chaos of an actual game?

I'm certain most coaches don't go through a process anything like this.

We had 2 new girls come and train with us Wednesday from a powerhouse division 1 women's team and the feedback from both was that training was "different to what I've done before (50 games)" and "it was different but good (97 games)", shoeing that even the biggest/best clubs still have a huge way to go to nailing their training practices (imagine their results if they do!).

So time and care need to be taken into your selection of training activities, when you introduce them, how you introduce them, and how you build on them.

It's also crucial to take into account how people learn and retain information.

For this example, it's basic transition offense where we want to maintain possession and progress towards our goals.

LAYER #1...

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

20 NEW STREAMLINE TRAINING ACTIVITIES

                                    

A new edition of this covering training activities #192 - #2?? and as usual there's only a quick explanation, no diagrams or images.

#192 - OUTNUMBER ADVANTAGE TO OUTNUMBER DISADVANTAGE 

#193 - TACKLING SEQUENCE

#194 - PROTECT THE BALL SEQUENCE

#195 - WALL RONDO PASS

#196 - FINISHING WAVE

#197 - TEAMS IN TEAMS SEQUENCE

#198 - PRESSING VICTIM

#199 - 5v5+4 POSSESSION

#200 - 6v6+2

#201 - TIEBREAK

#202 - TEAM TIMER

#203 - DEFENSIVE SHAPE/POSITION

#204 - ROLE PLAYERS

#205 - HOLDING HANDS RONDO

#206 - TAKING ADVANTAGE

#207 - 3v3 SEQUENCE

#208 - 2x4v3+2 RONDO

#209 - TRI COLOR GAME SEQUENCE

#210 - 6v4 BUILD UP

#211 - CONTINUOUS OVERLOAD SEQUENCE

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

COACHING MODERN FOOTBALL CHAPTER 18 - CENTER BOUNCE CLEARANCE VOLUME 2

                                                       

I have just completed a 2nd volume for Center Bounce Clearance and an 18th chapter in the Coaching Modern Football series that is now available from the register page. 

We start out looking at organising your set up by taking into account things like:

• How To Set Up
• What Are We Trying to Achieve?
• In the Contest
• Tap Zone
• Contingencies

Then in the 38 center bounce clearance examples I have we look at the different tactics used such as:

• Push In
• Reverse Sweeper
• Explosion
• Deception
• All In
• Block
• Roles
• Hold Out
• Big Punch

SPATIAL STRUCTURES OF COMPETEING SOCCER TEAMS STUDY

I haven't posted a study for a while but I'm still reading them all the time and this one looks at how soccer teams use the ground space at various times of the game and how it then contributes their success.

• Studies usually analyse teams’ convex hull which gives the measure for the overall spread of the team in space but which ignores the contributions of the players that are within it

• In this latest study they computed the convex hull of those internal players and then calculated the ratio of the area of the inner convex hull over the area of the outer convex hull which provides a single number that encapsulates the geometry of a team for a given point in time
• The ratio of the areas of these 2 convex layers almost always dies out at .5 meaning there are almost no cases where the area of the inner layer exceeds 50% of the area of the outer layer in both attacking and defensive phases of play
• You can determine how many opposition players a pass out-plays based on longitude coordinates
• AFL uses talent tracker (?) at junior level to reveal spatial patterns in player development
• Reduced player dispersion = shorter passing strategies
• Greater player dispersion = longer passing strategies
• On defense, teams devise formations to limit the oppositions space while maintaining cohesion
• If a player goes outside of this then a teammate can be exposed to high demands to compensate for it
• The convex hull is the area where all players fit into but the probability is that not all players in the hull are contributing to it so here they used an inner player convex hull and then looked at the ratio of the areas encapsulating (mostly) all spatial structure of a team to 1 interpretable number
• This is to be used along with the external convex hull, not replace it, as they provide different data
• Convex hull is great for overall team dispersion but doesn’t give you a lot on the intricate contributions of internal players to the team’s spatial structure where they’re pivotal in maintaining cohesion, controlling transition and sustaining tactical balance
• Data consists of positional data including player and ball coordinates
• Categories for collection x possession (deliberate control of ball for 3+secs), out of possession (opposition has deliberate control of the ball x 3+secs), undefined state (ball in play but lacking clear control), set pieces (10secs before/after a player returns the ball to play by taking a set piece such as a throw in, in/direct free kick, penalties and corners), dead ball (ball typically out of play)
• Attacking success x play ball into forward 3^rd + defensive success x ball stopped prior to the opposition forward 3^rd
• Divide the inner area by the outer area and results would range from 0 (if there were 0 – 1 player's contributing to the inner layer) to 1 (if the inner layer would fit perfectly into the outer layer which is practically impossible)
• The convex hull is all players + the goal-keeper then the inner layer so a small area surrounded by big area
• If the inner area is 10% of the outer layer then that’s a score of 0.1
• Beyond splitting the data up according to different modes of play, they also wanted to separate it according to a ball-progressing measure such as when a team has possession, are they successfully progressing forward towards their goal and/or is the defensive team successful at preventing them from doing so
• This is done via splitting the pitch into 3rds x defense, middle and forward 3^rds
• A successful ball-progression occurs when the ball is played from 1 area to another in a single possession
• On defense, teams can invite them deep to counter with more space but it still stands for the most part
• The study was able to compute the convex hull for both inner and outer layers and technically there could even be 3 layers but it won't be the case for the relatively small amount of players on 2 soccer teams but for AFL it definitely could be
• A universal patter emerged that was regardless of whether you were in attack or defense, that both result in drastically different spatial structures – spread/compact - or even whether they were successful ball progression attempts or not, the ratios peak at .18 (inner is 18% of outer) and these distributions always die out at .5
• There were barely any cases where the ratio was .5 or more
• The typical number of players that created the inner layer was 3 - 5 players (4 mostly) and 5 – 7 for the outer layer (6 mostly)
• Goal keepers are now often involved in transition offense but once they gain control in their forward half then they frequently remain near the opposition goal so that can skew things a touch but the ratio of where things die out is similar anyway
• In the search for a possible 3rd layer, they typically found 0 – 2 players within the inner layer (core players)
• The higher the layer ratio, the closer the players in the inner layer are to the outer layer
• The area of the inner layer (convex hull of the central players) is always up to 50% of the outer layer
• Layer ratio always dies out at .5 regardless of the phase of play, whether ball progression was successful or not or whether goal-keepers were taken into account or not
• A previous study showed that the average distance between defensive and midfield lines was 7 - 13m v midfield/attacking lines 9 - 17m but can vary depending on team strategy as a high pressing approach reduces inter-line distances while deep defending can also compress those spaces
• This study facilitates a rapid assessment of whether teams are occupying significant portions of the peripheral zone, thereby creating a narrow corridor between inner and outer layers
• If this is the case then it may indicate a vulnerability in the team’s defensive positioning and potentially exposing them to exploitation by the opposition but if this is always true then could teams adapt to new forms of collecting defending and are such gaps necessarily an issue for attacking?
• Further questions to address include how does 1 team's instantaneous layer ratio depend on the oppositions? Where on the pitch and in what situations do we typically see smaller layer ratios depending on opposition? How does the location of the inner convex hull relative to the outer convex hull affect team performance?

AFLW GRAND FINAL GAME ANALYSIS - NORTH MELBOURNE v BRISBANE PART 2

                             

There's not too much left to say really but I did attend 5 or 6 North Melbourne AFLW training sessions so I do have a small database of the training activities they use so I might package it all up at some point but I have been using their warm up with my senior women's team and it works really well in focusing and training with intensity from the very 1st second of training.

There are 3 clips left from the Grand Final with each being posted individually below.

- Brisbane Transition Offense

- Brisbane Defenders

- Numbers

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW GRAND FINAL - NORTH MELBOURNE v BRISBANE PART 1/2

Season 10 is done and dusted and it was a whitewash really with the dominance of North Melbourne.

The Roos went 12-0 with a % of 321.5 in the regular season and then backed that up in the finals going 3-0 with a % of 262.

Dare we add that they were missing 2 of their starting 18 in Mia King and Nicole Bresnehan not being available through injury.

It's hard to see them not winning 3 on the trot or more at this point as they'll just keep adding top free agents where needed until the AFLW payment structure is changed.

The Lions were the 2nd best team in it this year but it just shows the chasm between North and the 2nd best - in their 2 games this year it was cumulative score of 121 - 48.

North Melbourne's depth is immense and it was THE difference in this game as I alluded to in this tweet:

 https://x.com/AFLTraining/status/1994919992870264849?s=20

All that being said it's not like Brisbane were never in it - they were +5 for inside 50's even though they were -13 for clearance so they were able to move the ball through the North defense but watching the game you could clearly see that major issues with their method of going inside forward 50.

Today we look at:

• Brisbane Forward Press Defense
• North Melbourne Forward Press Defense
• North Melbourne Going Inside Forward 50
• North Melbourne Creating/Utilising the Outnumber Advantage
• Brisbane Going Back to the Numbers in Defensive Half
• Brisbane Forward Half Intercept

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

PLAYING STYLES OF AFL TEAMS IN 2025 PART 3

                                         

After the shit show that was AFL-media in 2025 and the just-passed trade period, if it's real game analysis you're after then you should be following these guys:

Ricky Mangidis, James Ives, Cody Atkinson, Emlyn Breese and One Percenters

There's a few others that popped up through the course of the year but for the sake of this post, I'll keep at this lot as this information mostly comes from them with some other bits from other sources like Fox Footy etc.

What you'll see is little tid-bits I've chosen from most AFL teams that describes how they play, why they play like that and the results they get from doing so posted prior and during the 2025 AFL season.

For community coaches, you might recognise a team's traits in your own team's and then gather some ideas on how to make it more effective for your own team.

NORTH MELBOURNE

• In 1 game they started defending directly in front the ball but very also skinny so the opposition were easily able to get to the outside of them and go around them. The change was to defend with the same set up but in a far wider formation which forced the opposition to kick to the crowd straight in front of them or to extra wide that is more easily covered and defended.
• Again on defense, when the ball is on 1 side then cut off the corridor and force the opposition to chip-kick along the boundary line until you can recover and then spoil one out of bounds for a reset

PORT ADELIADE

• Fast transition offense means you're also susceptible to rapid counter-attack on turnover
• The big 3 in the middle (Butters, Rozee, JHF) all work best forward of center which leaves too much defensive work to Drew unless they start using defensive wingers

RICHMOND

• Went long down the line but couldn’t do anything at contest and resulted in a high turnover rate

ST KILDA

• They choke the corridor to force a slowdown in how the opposition can use the ball where they conceded the 2^nd most marks by choice
• They often had a +1 on the defensive side at stoppage
• They used superior numbers/structure to force turnovers in their defensive half
• Marshall loves to grab and kick out of the ruck (their best clearance player) but that was more a hinderance with the Saints being 17^th for scores from stoppage
• They win on control/marks, not chaos/groundballs
• They play a safety-first approach where they control the ball for so long it allows them to dictate tempo which also gives the opposition far less possession time which is an excellent theory if you are outmatched on talent but still wanting to win - the negative is that it leads to a low-event game and then you’re more susceptible to variance deciding the result

SYDNEY

• Combine control with chaos by gaining territory with short kicks/uncontested marks from the defensive half before looking for inboard kicks to beat the 1st layer of opposition defense and/or open space in/near the corridor
• Happy to take time to find the right option = 2^nd slowest ball movement team and 5^th most possessions per possession chain
• Once through the defense then it's off to the races
• 2^nd for bounces that creates player overloads
• Liked to station a midfielder (Parker, JJ, Adams, Chad) at half forward to negate opposition rebounders and force front half turnovers
• Brisbane changed lanes 56 times in the 2023 Grand Final v Syd 29 and almost all of the Swans' losses came from teams being able to change lanes laterally with high numbers of uncontested marks (Brisbane GF 150, Saints 123, Port 122, Bris 115, Freo 100, Rich 108, Dogs 98)
• Defend high so can easily cut off chaos balls out of forward 50 but could be too across the ground (3 talls+ruck) to cover the ground laterally when the opposition control their ball movement

WEST COAST

• Under McQualter, they want to become a territory team, apply high pressure to force turnovers with the end result being forward half footy
• The higher the groundball gets number, the higher the chaos style

WESTERN BULLDOGS

• Everything is still built on clearance strength and moving the ball outside by hand