Being a Sydney Swans supporter and the latest episode of The W podcast by Sam Lane and Sharni Norder being released, I gave it a listen last night as I have a few of the episodes so far - it's an excellent podcast actually coming from a non-podcast listener.
I wanted to hear from Scott as he is the new Sydney Swans AFLW coach for our inaugural season in 2023 but it was the discussion between Sam and Sharni at the start of the podcast that caught my eye, and then Scott dropped some knowledge bombs that connected a lot of the dots for me and as always I put my thoughts immediately down on paper, or screen as we're in 2022.
Here's 800+ what I typed immediately after listening to the podcast unfiltered and unedited on the back of Sharni explaining how scoring is at it's lowest point since year 1, which she did quite well by providing some of the tactical reasons behind it but as you know I review literally every game and have gained some valuable insight into AFLW and thought I'd add my 2 cents in.
"...Here’s what I’ve seen re: low scoring - as Sharni said players aren’t and haven’t trained enough in the last couple of years and thus have probably not trained enough game simulation and thus they haven’t been exposed to enough different scenarios such as a game presents, in a relatively controlled but lowered pressure environment where mistakes can, and are encouraged, to made to enhance learning.
Sharni said players then go into unsure of their exact capabilities, and also their teammates, which causes in decision and then panic when the umpire calls play on which is all true.
A few things I’ve seen from watching and analysing every game of the season so far (search my account here, it's full of them at the moment), are aspects/principles of play that can be improved via coaching-only.
1) Forward 50 – I have seen this as an issue for more teams then not this season and my theory is, not that I would know of course! – is that with the limited contact time between coaching and players, teams put more work into contest work around the ball and then defensive half tactics that it looks to me that they don’t get a lot of time to address tactics/play in the forward half and without a dominant forward or 2, there’s a lot of kick, hope and see what happens.
Sharni mentioned that maybe AFLW players need to be willing to put more time into vision etc but Scott Gowan followed that up by saying there’s also a time shortage for assistant coaches, who would push these types of things at club level more then the head coach, and this also holds back player development as both players and assistant coaches need extra time to do this.
2) Most teams opt to defend very deep into their own defensive half which is fine if that’s what’s needed on the day but some teams roll their forwards up and some don’t with each having their own issues. By rolling them up you have numbers for any kick coming out which I would reckon is what you want but then not having anyone between you and your own goal, which Sharni mentioned. By not rolling them up, yes you’ll forwards closer to your goal but you’ll be outnumbered in the space between you and the ball and it won't get that far anyway and then you’re right back to defending deep in your defensive 50 again.
3) Now a couple of minor detail game tidbits to help this along.
Firstly all players need to be taught to not go off their line once they get a mark and cause the umpire to call play on as you can possess and control the ball far better in a slower and controlled manner then in a chaotic manner. You defended like demons and now you’ve just got a mark and 100% control of the ball, so keep it that way and stay on your line.
Secondly there needs to be a lot more slow play in these situations too so going back to the same scenario, you’ve got all your defenders and mids in the back 50 going like the clappers and as a forward you’ve rolled up to the defensive 50m line or so so you can be an option for any sort of kick that your team can generate out of there and as above you get the mark. You turn and look up-field but it’s 2v5 in front of you and what we see is a kick and hope situation after shifting off your line where you’re called to play on and now forced to kick or instead of waiting for your other forwards to get in front of the ball and to even up that 2v5, while your mids also work back to get between you the ball carrier and your other forwards and now giving you 8 – 12 numbers to kick to and defend with if you lose possession, you simply kick to that 2v5 and hope that something miraculous happens.
In a game this past weekend 1 team actually played on from a mark and kicked inside 50, well inside 35, to a 3v9 and you you simply can’t do anything with that, especially with your mids doing a power of work in the back 50 then having to work all the way back up the field to get involved in a forward thrust chain or to defend when inevitable the ball comes out because it’s 3v9.
Lastly I think its worth training to “deliberately” get the ball over the boundary without it being a lasso free kick so that actually get “free”time to regain formation around, in front of and behind the ball. So long story short – find a way to get more forward half work into your training if it isn’t a staple already, if you can manage a mark then stay on your line, and wait for your teammates to get ahead of the ball, do not kick to unwinnable outnumber situations and take all the time you can to allow more players to get into better offensive and defensive positions..."
All feedback and comments most welcome.
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