If you've played football for any stretch of time you've probably heard your coach mention space and for good reason.
For a team sport played on largest mass of land, the utilisation of space is hugely underrated and important to team success.
What we have below is a quick video of the Western Bulldogs during a defensive/transition offensive moment this weekend against North Melbourne where they utilise the wide expanses of the ground by first going laterally to A) find a free teammate and B) shift the North Melbourne a little to free up some space elsewhere on the ground and/or isolate NM defenders.
What happens next occurs in the bottom left corner of the video where a Western Bulldogs player provides an option by leading hard to the boundary line to drag their defender out of where the WB want the ball to go, decreasing congestion and increasing NM defender isolation.
Immediately after that, another WB player does the same thing with the same effect but they didn't quite lead far enough as the defender was still able to peel off them and reach the next contest that the WB kick to.
As a forward you should probably do more leads to create space behind you than actual leads where you're the focal point to receive the footy.
KATIE BRENNAN DOUBLE LEAD
Katie Brennan's talent cannot be questioned but she is also one of the smarter players in AFLW as well.
What you will see here is someone who wants the footy but will also work hard to get it.
In my fuzzy image taken from the TV you'll see that KB is pretty much at the true center half forward position as the ball has made it's way to the far half forward flank along the boundary line.
OK so with the ball being kicked to a teammate in the bottom left corner and on the boundary, then the easiest kick is to just kick it along the same lie to a pack just inside the forward 50 to a pack of 5+ players where NM are waiting to spoil.
That kick is going to be there no matter what so there's no need to just blaze away and do that kick just to get territory if you're going to badly outnumbered and the ball is repelled twice as fast back over your head.
KB provides the ever offensive 45 degree lead into space and even though she didn't get it kicked to her, she lead to a dangerous position it made her NM opposition player follow her all the way in.
Great first lead.
Not just happy to have done that first lead and then simply clog that space she knows exactly what has to happen next and that is the kick down the line so she does a sharp right hand turn and turns back towards where the ball now has to go and actually makes it there in time to get a decent look at taking the mark before her teammate cleans her up in the marking contest.
Lazy forwards kill forward entries coaches need to teach, and players need to know, where the dead space is, where the dangerous space is and what to do with both of them to ensure every forward 50 entry has a chance to be a scoring opportunity.
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