SYDNEY v GOLD COAST GAME ANALYSIS

If you're a regular reader/watcher of my game analysis posts then you'll be well aware of the teams like Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane creating length through the center of the ground for to move the ball through the corridor whole getting your forwards deep inside forward 50 at the same time.

Leading up to the Sydney/Gold Coast game I posted about how both teams both want to this mid50 length from contest, who would be able to do it the best and will the dimensions of Norwood allow it to happen?

My locals’ R1 was last Fri so really looking fwd to Syd/GC who both love creating length through the m50 to run/hb chain to f50 with deep fwds (more vids in comments) - Who stops who? Does Norwood Oval allow this? Can’t wait!! #aflswanssuns #AFLSwansSuns pic.twitter.com/BMQfQUZzc9

— AFL Training (@AFLTraining) April 11, 2026

In the end the deciding factor was pressure and tackling.

Over 45 games so far this year, 15 have had a +10 tackle differential with 8 of those having a +20 tackle diff.

Only 1 of those 8 games has had a +30 or more tackle differential and it was this very game, where Sydney were +45 in tackles with an almost 2:1 tackle ratio (97-52).

Post-game the Swans' players said this was a focus which I presume was based on the ground dimensions (narrowest ground in the AFL) = less ground to cover per defender = more congestion = high pressure/tackle which also helped the Swans limit the Suns to 0 contested marks for the entire game.

On top of that the Suns had 13/14 lowest rated players on the ground v Sydney having 7/8 highest rated and to get back to the tackle factor, Gold Coast had 19 players with 3 or less tackles for the game v Sydney with 7/8 highest tacklers for the game. 

Cox thoroughly outcoached Dimma in this game.

This video is sorted into 2 parts:

• The first 12mins looks at both teams creating m50 length from center bounce clearance, general play stoppage and kick outs
• The last 3 mins looks at Rowell losing Heeney, Sydney Forward Press Defense and Grundy Ruck Run

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WESTERN BULLDOGS/ESSENDON + HAWTHORN/GEELONG GAME ANALYSIS

The Dogs could have made an awful mess of the Bombers but a late scratching for Richards and a 2nd quarter injury to English allowed an Essendon comeback of sorts for an 8-2 goal 2nd half to the Bombers.

Nothing to worry about for the Dogs who were probably looking ahead with Hawthorn this week and if Essendon want to be taken seriously then they need to be able to hang with teams when they're not in 2nd gear.

The Hawks are winning like last year but you just feel they're a rung below the other top teams and it seems like the Cats might be as well this year but both teams fielded a lot of 1st and 2nd year players so a little dip before another rise is probably on the cards for both.

Today we look at:

• Dogs Team Transition Defense
• Essendon Outnumber Advantage Fail
• Wizard Forward 50 Stoppage Goal
• Geelong Length
• Hawthorn Corridor Width
• Hawks at Center Bounce Clearance

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WEST COAST v SYDNEY GAME ANALYSIS

I expected a touch more from the Eagles in this one winning 2 games in arow and on their home deck but just shows the chasm between the top and bottom teams at the moment but that's not a change from any year we've had up until now.

The forward handball game from the Swans at the moment is going a ridiculously high level, with total meters gained for the match being 6,648 v 5009 Sydney's way.

Although we took far too long to embrace the handball game even with players perfectly suited to it, it's good to see us use it now when it can be fully taken advantage of with the new/old stand rule.

The Eagles have a clear game style which is hard to say for a lot of other younger teams so they'll be alright but until the kids can play at 100% intensity for 100% of the game, they'll still get opened up like this from time-to-time but they're on the right track.

Today we look at:

• Sydney at Center Bounce Clearance x 4
• Heeney Inside Forward 50
• Sydney at Forward 50 Stoppage
• Syndey Handball Receives

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BRISBANE v COLLINGWOOD GAME ANALYSIS

 Today we look at:

• Collingwood Team Defense
• Morris Leading Patterns
• Collingwood at Center Bounce Clearance
• Brisbane Taking Collingwood's Eyes
• Brisbane Forward Press Defense
• Schultz Ball Watching

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ROUND 3 GAME ANALYSIS - STK/BRIS + ESS/NM + CAR/MELB

                                 

The Lions are somewhat up against it after playing 23 games or more per season and going deep into finals for 5yrs now but it's come at the best time so I've no doubt they'll stay afloat during this injury-ridden time period and then be fine come the back end of the season.

The Saints season has not started like they wanted and although I'm not too up in arms about their off-season investments, they've already lost to 2 teams who are fighting for similar ladder positions come the season's end (Collingwood/Melbourne) + an undermanned Brisbane team at Marvel meaning they're going to have to win some major upsets going forward.

The less said about Essendon/North Melbourne/Carlton the better and I like the Demons this year but they're a play-in team at best although almost a must-watch team now with Kozzie Pickett about to have a NAS-type season.

Today we look at:

• Brisbane Getting Length
• Brisbane Multiple Options that Draws the Defense
• Brisbane Hit Up Lead + Length
• Essendon Outnumber Advantage Fail
• Cripps Stoppage Goal

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ROUND 3 GAME ANALYSIS - GEE/ADE + COLL/GWS

Not that anyone wants to be peaking in round 3 but there's a lot of teams with high expectations just getting by at the moment.

Geelong have been flogged by Gold Coast, had a huge come from behind victory over Freo and this past weekend just got over an offensive-allergic Adelaide but they're also blooding youngsters like O'Sullivan, Dempsey, Wiltshire, Neale, Edwards, Humphries, Bruhn and Clarke.

Adeliade have not got the memo for playing AFL footy in 2026, reaching scores of 93, 88 and 60 from an inside 50 count of -32 over the season. It's too slow and they're really missing Dan Curtin who can win 1v1's through the middle of the ground at 197cms but they need to really shift their philosophy around ball movement. For what it's worth I had them sliding this season anyway.

The Pies are boring at the moment but winning is winning and defense will keep you in almost every game you play but you need both sides cause they're not the come-from-behind types they used to be, no matter how much the TV commentators tell us they are. How they can defend teams like the Suns and Dogs to half their score while scoring above their own average remains to be seen.

GWS have been fighting the injury battle for months already and although I like their kids, they still are too thin through the midfield which can't be hidden with key defenders and forwards out of the team. If there's a great time for around 4 bye, then it's now for the Giants.

Today we look at:

• Adeliade on Kick Out
• Adeliade Outnumber Advantage Fail
• Pendles Kick to Advantage
• Collingwood High Defensive Press
• Weird Nick Daicos Run
• Pies Forward Press Defense
• Colingwood at Center Bounce Clearance
• Pies Teasong Distance

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WHAT'S MISSING FROM THE HAMSTRING EPIDEMIC DISCUSSION?

                                            

Over the first 3 rounds, AFL footy has undertaken very noticeable changes in how the game isa currently being played.

Whether this will hold is not entirely clear but the rules have been altered to do so at some level and a good amount of player damage has already been done with an extremely high risk of secondary occurrences of hamstring injuries after the initial one - poor Callum Ah Chee is on his 3rd since Xmas already! (cue the image from Useless AFL Stats!)

The talk of the game dramatically speeding up, the early start to the season and players not having enough pre-season training time are all a big part of this discussion and will be part of the solution - if the AFL wants one.  

For a multi-faceted sport like Aussie Rules, it needs to be looked at through a multi-faceted lens.

I like to use the 4 co-actives of performance to do this:

• Tactical
• Physical
• Technical
• Psychological

Tactically, we can clearly see the shift in play with a lot less stoppages and more continuous play.

This tactical shift can have an effect on the physical co-active as with more high-speed running comes more fatigue - low/medium speed running won't really shift fatigue markers in elite athletes.

The next flow-on effect is to the technical co-active as with fatigue comes sub-optimal movement patterns and players can overreach from less-then-stella positions.

But what about the psychological co-active?

Why has this not been mentioned at all?

It's definitely a black hole in daily media reporting as it's not visible and cannot be tracked by Champion Data and alike.

Enter Cognitive Overload.

Cognitive Overload occurs when a players' working memory gets overflowed by information from the environment which occurs in high pressure situations with great consequences.

In 2026 the game is far more open with tackles, clearances, ruck contests, ball up/throw ins, repeat stoppages all down with disposals, meters gained, marks all up.

More open play = More information to process = Less time to decide and execute in

Less stops in play = Less in-game rest = More high-speed running under relative fatigue

Cognitive Overload is definitely playing a part in this as well and couple that with dual tasking (performing multiple tasks at once) and attention can be pulled in too many directions, adding to this cognitive overload even more.

The simplest way I can describe cognitive overload in terms is through practice games and/or round 1.

Practive games are the hardest games from a physical standpoint as it's usually your first bout of continuous contact and has far closer game-simulated running then any training game can have.

You can do all the running you want but it doesn't compare you for the contact and 3 - 4 decent tackles can take the stuffing right out of you. 

Round 1 is different all together and although you've had the contact in the practice games, what you haven't had is the extreme level of arousal and this another major component to cognitive overload and is why it seems you haven't even trained once 7 - 10mins into the 1st quarter of the 1st game.

Even AFL teams struggle with this as players are always saying practice games aren't even close to the real stuff, much like training game-sim isn't even close to the practice games.

There's a lot of focus on running loads and the like and I don't know if they do already but if they don't, then AFL teams should try looking at interaction load and how many at the ball, near the ball and far away from the ball decisions are made by players and try simulating that at training along with the running demands they already know about.

Soccer has some software around this sort of thing I believe, and I'd be surprised if something similar wasn't being used in the AFL to some degree.