AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/3

 

Finishing off the team-by-team for round 9:

Suns - recording their highest possession total for the season (327) and highest marks total (75) yet were -8 in clearance but they just starved Melbourne of the ball (+75 disposals, +64 uncontested possession, +7% time in possession and +33 in marks)

Demons - +1 for inside 50's but was always going to struggle to score with Hore and Austin both missing and have scored just 34 v Roos, 42 v Pies and 39 v Suns after not scoring less than 58 in any game previous to that but have Richmond this week to get their scoring dress back on  

Kangaroos - with Essendon, Adelaide and Richmond to come and top spot sewn up it's all about nailing the finer details and managing player health from here out

Dockers - gave North some food for thought and had a pretty good plan going in but just don't have the cattle to carry that out against someone that good but I'd like to see them try it again v the Saints and see what it looks like then

Hawks - the hawks have lost, won, won, lost, won, won, lost, lost, won in a topsy turvy season where they've beaten North but lost to Adeliade by 28pts and could win 2 finals win zero

Lions - have lost 5 in a row, this will be their lowest finish to a season and the refresh cannot come quick enough 

Swans - just hanging on to a finals spot and have Collingwood, West Coast and Freo to come and need to win 2 of those to keep Port (Brisbane, Collingwood and St Kilda to come) in 9th but win just 1 and it's all about % 

Blues - have just been going along recently but we'll find out what they're about (and the Dogs for that matter) after this weekend in a potential finish-top 4 clash

Today we look at:

• Geelong at Center Bounce x 2
• GWS on Fast Play
• Melbourne Going Inside Forward 50
• Melbourne in Possession
• Gold Coast at Center Bounce
• Sydney on Kick Out

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AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/3

The Saints broke through for their 1st win of the season and a rare come from behind win at that, Geelong offense is still off the charts and the Suns beat an undermanned Dees.

Dogs - unpeeled another layer of development with a 2nd quarter defensive effort that fuelled a 4.2 to 0.1 2nd quarter that put the gap in the game

Bombers - had some early momentum but could not take their chances forward when they had them (2 goals from 26 entries + 10 behinds from 12 scoring shots) and they don't defend anywhere near well enough not to

Saints - were almost down and out at half time after being goalless for 6 quarters over 2 games but completely turned this on its head with a 4.5 to 1.0 3rd quarter with that 25 point quarter being equal or higher than total scores in 5 of their 9 games this season 

Pies - looked to be progressing but then gave this one away and coupled with the news coming out about player contracts at the moment you can't see Centra wanting to reup her contract for season 2028

Power - played a team that plays exactly like them but not as good so just scrapped by with a 4pt win

Eagles - can't transition and score with any efficiency but went to work at center bounce going 6-0 in clearance there while losing hit outs 23 - 35 but when Port win time in possession by 9% and marks by 28 then your ball movement needs an overhaul

Cats - 46-0 start was almost expected are currently sit 98pts ahead of North at the top of the offense tree - take away their 27 in their only loss in round 1 and they're averaging 78pts/game so who cares about defense

Giants - was never going to be pretty and it wasn't...-102 for disposals, -59 for handballs, -18 for inside 50's, -14 in clearance, -81 in uncontested possession and -18% for time in possession but what's changing?

Tigers - they can look good on offense the Tiges but seem to not even have a defensive coach this year as teams just walk through them through the middle of the ground 

Crows - really should have won by more in this one given they were +118 for disposals, +55 in kicks, +64 in handballs, +20 inside 50's, +88 in uncontested possession, +12% time in possessions and only -10 in tackles

Over 3 videos today we look at:

• Bulldogs Too Slow
• Saints Outnumber Advantage Fail
• St Kilda Going Corridor x 2
• Hogan Supreme Balance
• Pies at Center Bounce
• Dalgleish Crumb
• Eagles Forward 50 Stoppage Goal
• West Coast at Center Bounce
• Port Forward 50 Stoppage Goal

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ESSENDON AFLW DEEP DIVE

Essendon played the Bulldogs Friday night.

Quarter 1 showed some positive offensive play but poor conversion (9-4 inside 50 advantage for 1.4) and even poorer defense (2.1 against) kept the Dogs in it.

There Bombers spent about 70% of the quarter in their forward half (73.6% at the 15min mark) but their forward half disposal efficiency of just 38% hurt them just as much.

I mentioned last week that GWS do have a clear brand, Collingwood seem to have a brand but are 4 - 5 extra players away from being able to fully show it but Essendon and the Saints are yet to show theirs - if they even have one - and that's a huge part of the disappointment around those 2 teams.

Saturday morning I went silly with an 18-post thread on all things Essendon v Bulldogs, not to shitcan the Bombers at all, but moreso in response to Tom Morris' comments on the lack of critical analysis of AFLW coming from a man who I doubt hasn't watched 1 single game he wasn't working at and doesn't give AFLW first thought, let alone a 2nd one unless there's a headline or online click involved.

From a coaching standpoint there's plenty of food for thought so let me know any questions you have on it.

Keep clicking the comments on each post and you'll work your way through all 18 posts.

https://x.com/AFLTraining/status/2108730080554070342

AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

Finishing off this round:

Lions - the dominance is officially over for Brisbane and Adeliade after being the best teams since the inception of AFLW but be happy it happened. The group needs reinvigorating, will bring in a new coach and then I wonder what alterations they can make to that list to bounce in 2028 as there's enough there to play finals

Suns - you can't help but look forward to what this team can be in 2029-30 but passed pretty much every test so far this year with 10 first year players in their 23. Melbourne at home is a mammoth opportunity.

Power - sometimes you win when you really shouldn't and that's football but taking your chances early is a huge factor in AFLW and the Power will definitely take this one after their recent form

Crows - +49 disposals, +12 inside 50's, +5 hit outs, + 48 uncontested possession, + 2% time in possession, + 23 marks and all for going goalless until 9mins into the last quarter. Look they probably weren't making finals but if you falling short by this game if you were?

Kangaroos - a very similar stat line to the Crows but ended up scoring at will in the last quarter and a bit and back to premiership winning form on both sides of the ball with 8th, 16th, 12th and 11th to come so god help us

Swans - battled but just didn't have the magnets to cover everything once Morphett went down. Smith/Quin in the ruck took their firepower away and any chance of stretching the Roos defense and also having to run through Molloy through the middle to get some territory also took away scoring chances. Only -7 in inside 50's but -55 for points and -15 for scoring shots

Magpies - scores in first halves for the season is 17.25.127 v opposition 27.33.195 so -68. Scores in 2nd halves is 15.32.122 v 38.28.256 for -134. Pies accuracy also goes from 40% shot on goal accuracy in 1st halves to 32% while opposition goes from 45% to a whopping 59%. 4 - 5 more quality players across the field would go a long way to handling this.

Demons - had the do what you had to do game here after getting up for the Carlton/North Melbourne double but will need to reenergise for the Suns away or risk dropping pout of the top 4 after being 1st just 2 weeks ago!

Eagles - have won 4 on the trot now and have 3 games that 50/50 opportunities but I can't get them in the 8 unfortunately unless they pull off a miracle v the Cats at home in 2 weeks time

Dockers - not the game to drop with North and Geelong to come in the last 4 games and unfortunately I cant get them into the finals.

Again over 2 videos, today we look at:

• Geelong at Center Bounce
• Richmond Thwarting Geelong at Center Bounce x 3
• Richmond Team Defense
• Who Leaves Chloe Sheer Loose?
• McKenzie Kick
• Richmond Missed Handball
• Geelong Give the Handball
• Port Adeliade at Center Bounce x 2

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AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

 

No real earth-shattering results from the weekend and the top 8 teams look set pretty much where my ladder predictor has the Hawks in for Freo but both teams are highly inconsistent so that could go either way and the inequity's of the draw is probably the most deciding factor.

Blues - were far cleaner and more direct with the ball and an early 19-0 is pretty much insurmountable in those horrendous conditions

Hawks - the Hawks defense just was not prepared adequately for the conditions and it clearly showed in their output but that's on the coaching staff

Tigers - were solid for half the game but fell away a lot going 0.0 v 3.9 in the 2nd half + 17 v 39 inside 50's so were very lucky this didn't get very ugly

Cats - due for a "down" week but were only +2 at clearance with a belting in hit outs 22 v 11 but Prespakis still managed 8 clearances her own 

Giants - just a weird set up at the Giants - they have a clear method which most-lower placed teams don't yet cannot make even 1 step of on-field progress and this might be the worst of them all after dominating the 1st half then literally stopping in the 2nd for even Essendon to come over the top of them 

Bombers - don't get used this Bomber fans but this was a huge effort and win so can we now see something resembling this week to week please?

Bulldogs - shocking conditions, shocking accuracy but a win is a win and that's easily enough in wintery conditions at Ballarat (stadium looks pretty good actually!)

Saints - what's left to say about the Saints? o wins, a % of just 37.2% and a lot of traction on social media (funny when no one pipes up when good things happen in AFLW isn't it?) yet have a real chance this week against the Pies so if there is a response to be had, and not even a win, then it has to be this Saturday 

Over 2 videos, today we look at:

• Hawks Lose Touch Inside Forward 50
• Hawthorn Crumbers Out of Position
• Blues Ignoring Corridor
• Carlton Getting Out the Back x 2
• Essendon Forwards All Over the Shop
• GWS Cutting Off Their Own Length
• O Dowd Run
• Essendon Wing Ball Watching
• Essendon Creating Length/Space
• Saints Defensive Woes
• Gold Coast Cutting Off Their Own Length

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BRISBANE LIONS BALL MOVEMENT 2025/26

Back in December last year I released a 26 page PDF on Brisbane's ball movement for season 2025.

After another year of studying the Lions on their way to a 2nd 3-Peat, it's now grown to a 42 page PDF!

I've broken it down into 6 categories being:

1 - Quick Release Short Kick

2 – Inner and Outer Layers

3 – High Half Forwards

4 – Defensive 50 Possession

5 – Creating Ground Length

6 – Kick Out Strategies

Each category contains a mixture of game clips, whiteboard clips and images to show you exactly what is happening with the just-recently added "New 2026" section added to the bottom of each category that adds to the original PDF from last year.

Brisbane are multiple levels above the rest when it comes to ball movement but that could your team as soon as 2027 but you don't need elite level kickers to do so.

Using Wheelo's Ratings, there are 2 kicking stats that tell the take:

Kick Retention is how likely a kick is to be retained by a teammate where they were 2nd to the Hawks

and;

Kick Threat is how likely a kick is to result in a shot at goal later in the chain where they were 1st by along way

They can then be broken down into expected stats:

Kick Retention Rating which is the measure of how often a player’s kicks are retained by a teammate compared to expectation where they finished 1st again

and;

Kick Threat Rating which is the measure of how often a player’s kicks result in a shot at goal later in the chain compared to expectation where they finished 15th.

This means that they are able to retain possession via easy-short kicks yet gain territory on most of them which adds up over a game when you have 108 marks, and thus, opportunities per game to do this.

And it's all in their positioning as most of the kicks you'll see in this PDF are doable at local level and/or don't require perfection either. 

This is a 1-time payment purchase and will be delivered to your email in a PDF format.

Click Brisbane Lions Ball Movement 2025/26 on the register page and kick your way to success in 2027.

GAME/TRAINING SCENARIO - GEELONG TRANSITION x2

 

Geelong are we on show right now with their clearance game + their transition handball game and are putting the league on notice with their offense.

In their 7 games this season they have scored 27 (in their only loss, albeit a bad one v North), 100, 64, 83, 57, 90 and 82 in a 6-game stretch where they're averaging 79pts/game at a total of 476pts, the highest 6-game scoring stretch in AFLW history (North are 2nd and 3rd with 475 and 474 points respectively from last season).

It shoes the rare offensive air they are occupying at the moment.

If you watched Geelong v Hawks last Thursday (seems a lifetime ago!), or even if just caught up on some of the rounds highlights then you definitely 1, if not both, pf these transition plays by the Cats, with both resulting in goals.

For both plays I'll show you the clip, provide a whiteboard set up of starting positions and running patterns - I also label each player in the actual clip.

To run this at training set them up in the starting positions from the 1st image with the only instruction being to handball chain as far as you can and when you can kick it then it has to be a shot on goal and see how far they can get.

I would suggest shortening the lengths of these plays compared to what I've laid out initially but then stretch them out as they get better at maintaining the extra number/s at the ball and keeping the handball chain alive. 

For full access to this game/training scenario, register for a level 4 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.