SUCCESSFUL CENTER BOUNCE TWEAK FROM SUNDAY'S GAME

 

I was appointed to coach an under 18 team for 2024 but we couldn't quite get the numbers early enough (it's a junior club only, no seniors at all) so I'll be assisting the under 16's as well as helping other coaches at the club for training and potentially games as well.

We had a practice game 2 Sunday's ago but with school holidays we were missing about 8 players but had round 1 with a full list this past Sunday.

Our under 16's won the Grand Final in their division last season so there's some very handy top-age players from 2023, and some very good bottom age players who came up from the under 14's.

We were playing a team who also won a grand final in under 16's last year and whose under 14 team was also right up there so were expecting a close one at least.

In the first half we had the majority of the play around but were not capitalising on our chances, but they were getting very clean center bounce exits most of the time.

Even with our general play dominance we were only a a couple of points up at half time.

Here's what I saw for our center bounce set up in the first half with us being the blue team going to the right of image...

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DEFENDING SLOW PLAY WHILE OUTNUMBERED

This is a quick clip looking at Brisbane defending a Melbourne slow play off an intercept mark and how 1 Brisbane player defends 2 Melbourne players, and the most dangerous space, all at the same time while making the least damaging kick for the ball carrier undeniable which all enables to help Brisbane keep their defensive shape in front of the ball.

A great clip to show your players as it doesn't rely on any great skill or ability.

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FRONT PRESS DEFENSE TRAINING ACTIVITY LEVELS 1 & 2

I'm club coaching this year with another coach for an under 16's team as my appointed under 18 team didn't have the numbers to get through the season so we called that last week.

We've been training as a combined group anyway since we started in Jan so everything I taught the 18's has been taught to the 16's so it's a smooth transition from a coaching and teaching point of view.

One of the earliest tactics I introduced was front press defense which I first noticed by used by Sydney back in 2021, Collingwood and Geelong AFLW in 2022 and now a few more teams in both AFL/W are using it. 

The main point of trying to use this type of defense is to turn the ball over as close to your goal as possible so you're not trying to transition all the way from your defensive 50 all the time.

In my 6th session of this year I introduced a very basic version of this which is also part of the Collingwood Training Activities package from last season, of which there are 5 - 6 versions of this

This clip shows how it can look in a game and just look at the 4 - 5 layers of front press defense that Collingwood put on the Blues here.

The level 1 version strictly focuses on closing down the space between the defender's initial position, and the ball carrier - the ball carrier and defender are going straight to each other pretty much so there's no real decision to be made by the defenders as it pretty condensed and there's not much time to make another decision but what's directly in front of you right now.

We had pretty high defensive success when we did this which is expected in the condensed area...

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THEMING

 

As a coach you've probably read of AFL head coaches using theme's for games and even seasons.

In past years Damian Hardwick used a Band of Brothers theme for one of Richmond's premiership seasons based off a Bruce Springsteen song, and only last year Craig McRae used the Take the Steps theme with Collingwood again to a premiership win. Luke Beveridge at the Bulldogs is also partial to a gameday theme.

These notes come this article on how to go about theming, whether that's for a single game, a string of games, or for an entire season.

• Why do you want to theme?
• What are you trying to dig into?
• What do you feel you’re going to get out of theming?
• Find a story that you belong to
• Why is this a story that’s going to reasonate with you and your players?
• How is this going to strike with the group you’re working with?
• How does it capture what you’re trying to achieve?
• Consider some of the landmarks of the story – the key individual's and events – and how are you going to tell that story?
• You don’t have to do it chronologically
• Your players might know the story so you've got to find angles/aspects they haven’t heard before, or are lesser-known
• Totems are physical objects that can help bring the theme to life where Richmond players were each given rocks to wrote their why on and Collingwood had the ladder that they built throughout the season
• Language is powerful in theming and it needs to be driven by everyone, not just the head coach
• It gives a higher purpose of why you’re playing
• It can help maintain long term motivation

1 LINERS FROM MY RESEARCH FILES - GAMEDAY

The first 4 parts of this series has covered youth development, learning, coaching and club culture with Game Day being the focus today which is a mix of mostly game day tactics used by teams/coaches picked up from social media, footy analysis shows and footy commentary but also some idea's from coaches from other sports that still fits the AFL model.

1. Holding Teams Back – tardiness, selfishness, complaining, not finishing, blaming others, making excuses, energy vampires, lackluster effort, no team cohesion, poor team leadership
2. Defensive Line – the position of the ball determines where the defensive line is and the defender closest to the ball is the one who sets the line regardless of their position
3. Hawthorn Forwards Box – 2 at the back who lead up towards the ball and 2 at the front that double back but crossover as well so the kicker has 4 options
4. Clarko’s Cluster – to defend a kick in position a 4 man diamond from the man on the mark, wingers fall in behind the wide points of that diamond and then there's 2 big forwards behind those wingers just outside 50 so if they manage to get past layers 1 and 2, then there’s still pressure from behind
5. On the Bench – have players write down what they’re seeing out there

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2 TEMPLATES TO LEVEL UP YOUR TRAINING-DAY COACHING

 

We're just days away from, or already have completed, round 1 for 2024 and everyone is obviously pretty pumped about it.

The success of your games comes of the back of your ability to teach your players, and thus your players ability to learn - as a direct by-product from what and how you teach.

Players can't execute skills they don't have or have ever tried, not can they play to tactics that they have never been taught.

The ability for your players to transfer what you do at training to actual games will pretty much determine your win-loss record going forward unless your cash-splashing to win on talent alone.

Here are 2 frameworks you can use to level up your training day coaching to ensure greater transfer to games.

Most coaches will go straight to a training activity as the what and how they'll do something and then go to the why but that's backwards thinking - from Gary Piggott, we'll look at the what/why's first then look at the how.

• What x have a clear learning focus, what do the players need help with?
• How x progressions, the end game, ensure repetition of focus throughout
• Why x reason for the session, is it what the players need to develop? Is it game related/simulation?
• Challenge/Motivation x appropriately stretch/challenge the players, is each athlete being motivated every session? Is the challenge point correct where it's not too hard nor easy for any player?
• Player Ownership x are you giving players all the information throughout or do you allow them to learn on their own?
• Simplicity x don’t over-complicate, keep your message/s concise
• Core Coaching Skills x how will you organise, manage, communicate, and observe during training?

Once you've got a brief outline of what you need to do and why, only then can you start to look at how you will deliver the individual session but also, how you'll develop a game concept over multiple training sessions and time periods. This is from Chris Fraser:

• Differential Practice x varied tasks to develop adaptability, decision making and creativity by changing stimulus, equipment and/or task
• Random Practice x mimic unpredictability to enhance players’ ability to think fast, react quickly and thrive in games while keeping them guessing by altering focal areas, conditions, space etc
• Isolated Practice x master fundamentals and specific skills in controlled environments to build technique, precision and muscle memory
• Conditioned Practice x set constraints and challenges to simulate games that pushes players to adapt, problem solve and excel under pressure
• Massed Practice x concentrated repetition to accelerate skill acquisition that can build confidence with maximum reps in a minimal amount of time reps
• Whole-Part-Whole x start with the big picture to inspire and then break down to refine the skill/s required and then bring it back together
• Linear Practice x progress step-by-step while mastering the skill before moving to the next
• Interleaving Practice x enhance retention and adaptability, mix and match drills, intertwine skills, challenge players to switch gears seamlessly and embrace variety, stimulate the mind and elevate performance
• Non-Linear Pedagogy x mix it up, jump between skills, keep players on their toes, embrace chaos and encourage adaptability to unlock creativity

You'll definitely have used some of these before without knowing it but which new idea's here jump out at you?

20 MORE STREAMLINE TRAINING ACTIVITIES

 

As always remember that these training activities simply have a brief description and that's it - no images, diagrams and pictures to accompany them. Let's get to activities 71 - 90.

#71 - NAVIGATOR

#72 - 6v3

#73 - OLYMPICS

#75 - HAT SCORING

#76 - MURDERBALL

#77 - CHANGING GOALS

#78 - START MARKERS

#79 - 5v5v5+1

#80 - 2 GOAL STOPPAGE

#81 - CAT AND MOUSE

#82 - HAT DEFENDERS 

#83 - CONTINUOUS 4 x 5v5 

#84 - 3 GOALS PER END 

#85 - 2 GOAL 3v3 

#86 - RUCK FOLLOW UP 

#87 - PRESS v POSSESSION 

#88 - 4v6+2 

#89 - CONTINUOUS ATTACKING RACE 

#90 - DEVELOPING WIDE PLAY

For access to these 20, and the all 90 streamline training activities (so far!) then register for a level 3 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.