LOCAL/AMATEUR WOMEN'S FOOTBALL TIPS PART 2

Part 1 from last week can be found here.

I got the chance to watch our women's again yesterday even though from the Saturday night/Sunday morning rain and ground was knackered.

Luckily we escaped actual rain during the entire game.

Here's some more tips/thoughts I picked up from yesterday and a few I left out of last week's post.

1 - DON'T ALLOW THE AUSKICK HUDDLE TO HAPPEN

Coaches don't want the huddle style of play but they also need to make sure it doesn't happen, or limit how often it happen as best they can.

Giving out positions to players is fine but you also need to let them know exactly how they should play that position but pointing out that when the ball is "here" then you should do a, b and c for a variety of scenarios.

2 - GET THE BALL OR MAKE THE TACKLE

Paul Roos introduced this to the Sydney Swans back in the early 2000's when he took over as coach and it's pretty simple.

If you can make an impact on the contest, then either of those things needs to happen and should be EXPECTED that it happens so teammates in the vicinity play off one of those 2 results.

RESULT 1: WIN THE BALL

Once you've won the ball you can get all offensive and start to run forward of the ball to provide a wave of options going forward.

RESULT 2: MAKE THE TACKLE

If a tackle is made then players can stick to their own players without getting sucked into the contest, leaving a spare on the outside where the ball can easily spill out to an uncovered player.

#3 - 1 METER RULE

The 1 meter rule piggy backs off the previous point and is again pretty simple.

If you are within 1m of the ball or contest then go as hard as you can except this needs to be a split second decision as their might be a few teammates in this same situation as the ball moves slower and gets congested.

#4 - PICK UP THE BALL WHILE YOU'RE MOVING

A lot of women are brand new to this game and extra brand new to a ball that doesn't roll in a straight line but I've seen a lot of ground balls where players run to the ball, literally stop to bend down to pick it up, literally stand back up to a full vertical base, and then try and run off again.

Unfortunately the time it takes to do all of this means the opposition catches up, makes the tackle, the huddle forms again and it's another congested stoppage.

Plenty of practice of ground balls should be used each and every week, probably more then marking considering the ground ball to mark ratio in most levels of women;s footy right now.

The team we played yesterday were excellent at handballing off the ground, limiting the amount of time our girls has to get there and make the tackle, keeping the ball moving and us chasing.

#5 - THERE MUST BE 1 BACKLINE PLAYER BETWEEN THE GOAL AND BALL AT ALL TIMES

Most goals seem to be getting kicked from 0 - 15m out so a goal keeper to cut off this kick or to apply front on pressure is crucial.

We must have allowed 3 - 4 goals from this not happening yesterday and when we went down by 4 girls, was probably the difference in the end.

#6 - FASTER REACTION TIME TO THE PLAY

This is an all-around footy issue at various levels but being able to react to what's just happened on the in play is very important.

Quick reactions to basic things like manning up when there's a turnover, mids and wingers getting back when the ball is going into the opposition forward line and even just someone manning the mark, can be as good as an extra kick.

#7 - PERCEIVED PRESSURE

With most women still developing the skill of mastering the art of handing a footy, like point #4 more time is taken to get a handle of the roll of the footy and picking it up.

By encouraging your players to chase and/or run towards the opposition when this scenario occurs, they may just fumble enough to get you a chance to get there and get right into point #2 - but only if you keep chasing.

You're never out of the contest until the ball is literally cleared the area as you can apply perceived pressure from further away.

#8 - ASK YOUR PLAYERS DO THEY HAVE ANY QUESTIONS

New players to a new game - there has to be a million questions they have.

Don't assume that what you've told them pre-game and at training has been enough for them to go on.

Yesterday our back up ruck who isn't overly tall, asked me "what should I do against this girl, she's way taller then me?"

Fair question.

A simple tip of making contact with her will probably result in the ball dropping to the ground where you can then use your strength - which she did on 3 - 4 occasions from then on.

1 question usually leads to more questions which leads to more learning!