AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/3

The Saints broke through for their 1st win of the season and a rare come from behind win at that, Geelong offense is still off the charts and the Suns beat an undermanned Dees.

Dogs - unpeeled another layer of development with a 2nd quarter defensive effort that fuelled a 4.2 to 0.1 2nd quarter that put the gap in the game

Bombers - had some early momentum but could not take their chances forward when they had them (2 goals from 26 entries + 10 behinds from 12 scoring shots) and they don't defend anywhere near well enough not to

Saints - were almost down and out at half time after being goalless for 6 quarters over 2 games but completely turned this on its head with a 4.5 to 1.0 3rd quarter with that 25 point quarter being equal or higher than total scores in 5 of their 9 games this season 

Pies - looked to be progressing but then gave this one away and coupled with the news coming out about player contracts at the moment you can't see Centra wanting to reup her contract for season 2028

Power - played a team that plays exactly like them but not as good so just scrapped by with a 4pt win

Eagles - can't transition and score with any efficiency but went to work at center bounce going 6-0 in clearance there while losing hit outs 23 - 35 but when Port win time in possession by 9% and marks by 28 then your ball movement needs an overhaul

Cats - 46-0 start was almost expected are currently sit 98pts ahead of North at the top of the offense tree - take away their 27 in their only loss in round 1 and they're averaging 78pts/game so who cares about defense

Giants - was never going to be pretty and it wasn't...-102 for disposals, -59 for handballs, -18 for inside 50's, -14 in clearance, -81 in uncontested possession and -18% for time in possession but what's changing?

Tigers - they can look good on offense the Tiges but seem to not even have a defensive coach this year as teams just walk through them through the middle of the ground 

Crows - really should have won by more in this one given they were +118 for disposals, +55 in kicks, +64 in handballs, +20 inside 50's, +88 in uncontested possession, +12% time in possessions and only -10 in tackles

Over 3 videos today we look at:

• Bulldogs Too Slow
• Saints Outnumber Advantage Fail
• St Kilda Going Corridor x 2
• Hogan Supreme Balance
• Pies at Center Bounce
• Dalgleish Crumb
• Eagles Forward 50 Stoppage Goal
• West Coast at Center Bounce
• Port Forward 50 Stoppage Goal

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ESSENDON AFLW DEEP DIVE

Essendon played the Bulldogs Friday night.

Quarter 1 showed some positive offensive play but poor conversion (9-4 inside 50 advantage for 1.4) and even poorer defense (2.1 against) kept the Dogs in it.

There Bombers spent about 70% of the quarter in their forward half (73.6% at the 15min mark) but their forward half disposal efficiency of just 38% hurt them just as much.

I mentioned last week that GWS do have a clear brand, Collingwood seem to have a brand but are 4 - 5 extra players away from being able to fully show it but Essendon and the Saints are yet to show theirs - if they even have one - and that's a huge part of the disappointment around those 2 teams.

Saturday morning I went silly with an 18-post thread on all things Essendon v Bulldogs, not to shitcan the Bombers at all, but moreso in response to Tom Morris' comments on the lack of critical analysis of AFLW coming from a man who I doubt hasn't watched 1 single game he wasn't working at and doesn't give AFLW first thought, let alone a 2nd one unless there's a headline or online click involved.

From a coaching standpoint there's plenty of food for thought so let me know any questions you have on it.

Keep clicking the comments on each post and you'll work your way through all 18 posts.

https://x.com/AFLTraining/status/2108730080554070342

AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

Finishing off this round:

Lions - the dominance is officially over for Brisbane and Adeliade after being the best teams since the inception of AFLW but be happy it happened. The group needs reinvigorating, will bring in a new coach and then I wonder what alterations they can make to that list to bounce in 2028 as there's enough there to play finals

Suns - you can't help but look forward to what this team can be in 2029-30 but passed pretty much every test so far this year with 10 first year players in their 23. Melbourne at home is a mammoth opportunity.

Power - sometimes you win when you really shouldn't and that's football but taking your chances early is a huge factor in AFLW and the Power will definitely take this one after their recent form

Crows - +49 disposals, +12 inside 50's, +5 hit outs, + 48 uncontested possession, + 2% time in possession, + 23 marks and all for going goalless until 9mins into the last quarter. Look they probably weren't making finals but if you falling short by this game if you were?

Kangaroos - a very similar stat line to the Crows but ended up scoring at will in the last quarter and a bit and back to premiership winning form on both sides of the ball with 8th, 16th, 12th and 11th to come so god help us

Swans - battled but just didn't have the magnets to cover everything once Morphett went down. Smith/Quin in the ruck took their firepower away and any chance of stretching the Roos defense and also having to run through Molloy through the middle to get some territory also took away scoring chances. Only -7 in inside 50's but -55 for points and -15 for scoring shots

Magpies - scores in first halves for the season is 17.25.127 v opposition 27.33.195 so -68. Scores in 2nd halves is 15.32.122 v 38.28.256 for -134. Pies accuracy also goes from 40% shot on goal accuracy in 1st halves to 32% while opposition goes from 45% to a whopping 59%. 4 - 5 more quality players across the field would go a long way to handling this.

Demons - had the do what you had to do game here after getting up for the Carlton/North Melbourne double but will need to reenergise for the Suns away or risk dropping pout of the top 4 after being 1st just 2 weeks ago!

Eagles - have won 4 on the trot now and have 3 games that 50/50 opportunities but I can't get them in the 8 unfortunately unless they pull off a miracle v the Cats at home in 2 weeks time

Dockers - not the game to drop with North and Geelong to come in the last 4 games and unfortunately I cant get them into the finals.

Again over 2 videos, today we look at:

• Geelong at Center Bounce
• Richmond Thwarting Geelong at Center Bounce x 3
• Richmond Team Defense
• Who Leaves Chloe Sheer Loose?
• McKenzie Kick
• Richmond Missed Handball
• Geelong Give the Handball
• Port Adeliade at Center Bounce x 2

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AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

 

No real earth-shattering results from the weekend and the top 8 teams look set pretty much where my ladder predictor has the Hawks in for Freo but both teams are highly inconsistent so that could go either way and the inequity's of the draw is probably the most deciding factor.

Blues - were far cleaner and more direct with the ball and an early 19-0 is pretty much insurmountable in those horrendous conditions

Hawks - the Hawks defense just was not prepared adequately for the conditions and it clearly showed in their output but that's on the coaching staff

Tigers - were solid for half the game but fell away a lot going 0.0 v 3.9 in the 2nd half + 17 v 39 inside 50's so were very lucky this didn't get very ugly

Cats - due for a "down" week but were only +2 at clearance with a belting in hit outs 22 v 11 but Prespakis still managed 8 clearances her own 

Giants - just a weird set up at the Giants - they have a clear method which most-lower placed teams don't yet cannot make even 1 step of on-field progress and this might be the worst of them all after dominating the 1st half then literally stopping in the 2nd for even Essendon to come over the top of them 

Bombers - don't get used this Bomber fans but this was a huge effort and win so can we now see something resembling this week to week please?

Bulldogs - shocking conditions, shocking accuracy but a win is a win and that's easily enough in wintery conditions at Ballarat (stadium looks pretty good actually!)

Saints - what's left to say about the Saints? o wins, a % of just 37.2% and a lot of traction on social media (funny when no one pipes up when good things happen in AFLW isn't it?) yet have a real chance this week against the Pies so if there is a response to be had, and not even a win, then it has to be this Saturday 

Over 2 videos, today we look at:

• Hawks Lose Touch Inside Forward 50
• Hawthorn Crumbers Out of Position
• Blues Ignoring Corridor
• Carlton Getting Out the Back x 2
• Essendon Forwards All Over the Shop
• GWS Cutting Off Their Own Length
• O Dowd Run
• Essendon Wing Ball Watching
• Essendon Creating Length/Space
• Saints Defensive Woes
• Gold Coast Cutting Off Their Own Length

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BRISBANE LIONS BALL MOVEMENT 2025/26

Back in December last year I released a 26 page PDF on Brisbane's ball movement for season 2025.

After another year of studying the Lions on their way to a 2nd 3-Peat, it's now grown to a 42 page PDF!

I've broken it down into 6 categories being:

1 - Quick Release Short Kick

2 – Inner and Outer Layers

3 – High Half Forwards

4 – Defensive 50 Possession

5 – Creating Ground Length

6 – Kick Out Strategies

Each category contains a mixture of game clips, whiteboard clips and images to show you exactly what is happening with the just-recently added "New 2026" section added to the bottom of each category that adds to the original PDF from last year.

Brisbane are multiple levels above the rest when it comes to ball movement but that could your team as soon as 2027 but you don't need elite level kickers to do so.

Using Wheelo's Ratings, there are 2 kicking stats that tell the take:

Kick Retention is how likely a kick is to be retained by a teammate where they were 2nd to the Hawks

and;

Kick Threat is how likely a kick is to result in a shot at goal later in the chain where they were 1st by along way

They can then be broken down into expected stats:

Kick Retention Rating which is the measure of how often a player’s kicks are retained by a teammate compared to expectation where they finished 1st again

and;

Kick Threat Rating which is the measure of how often a player’s kicks result in a shot at goal later in the chain compared to expectation where they finished 15th.

This means that they are able to retain possession via easy-short kicks yet gain territory on most of them which adds up over a game when you have 108 marks, and thus, opportunities per game to do this.

And it's all in their positioning as most of the kicks you'll see in this PDF are doable at local level and/or don't require perfection either. 

This is a 1-time payment purchase and will be delivered to your email in a PDF format.

Click Brisbane Lions Ball Movement 2025/26 on the register page and kick your way to success in 2027.

GAME/TRAINING SCENARIO - GEELONG TRANSITION x2

 

Geelong are we on show right now with their clearance game + their transition handball game and are putting the league on notice with their offense.

In their 7 games this season they have scored 27 (in their only loss, albeit a bad one v North), 100, 64, 83, 57, 90 and 82 in a 6-game stretch where they're averaging 79pts/game at a total of 476pts, the highest 6-game scoring stretch in AFLW history (North are 2nd and 3rd with 475 and 474 points respectively from last season).

It shoes the rare offensive air they are occupying at the moment.

If you watched Geelong v Hawks last Thursday (seems a lifetime ago!), or even if just caught up on some of the rounds highlights then you definitely 1, if not both, pf these transition plays by the Cats, with both resulting in goals.

For both plays I'll show you the clip, provide a whiteboard set up of starting positions and running patterns - I also label each player in the actual clip.

To run this at training set them up in the starting positions from the 1st image with the only instruction being to handball chain as far as you can and when you can kick it then it has to be a shot on goal and see how far they can get.

I would suggest shortening the lengths of these plays compared to what I've laid out initially but then stretch them out as they get better at maintaining the extra number/s at the ball and keeping the handball chain alive. 

For full access to this game/training scenario, register for a level 4 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

Finishing up round 7.

Demons - looked to be the new number 1 but that only lasted 7 days

Kangaroos - back in top spot where they belong and are now a whopping 55% ahead of top of the ladder with no genuine contenders ahead

Magpies - took away all the time the Giants need to get their handball chains going cutting them from an average of 103 to just 76 in this game and totally stifled their ball movement

Giants - I picked them in this one thinking they could generate far more offense than the Pies but lost inside 50's by 18 and scoring shots by 4 so what do I know?

Crows - you're not gonna see a more up and down season then what the Crows have dished up so far but it's also expected when you lose very experienced players in Hatchard and Randall and replace them with 18 - 19 year olds

Dockers - I'm sure no one saw a 35 - 2 start in this one but the Dockers put some speed on the ball and went forwards a lot more then they have been and it worked an absolute treat

Swans - a mature win in conditions that usually favor the opposition but defended extremely well (allowed 10 more inside 50's) but had +7 in tackles where they've only lost that stats once this year and ave 9 more than 2nd placed Dogs

Lions - it'll be on in the QClash with Brisbane desperately needing a win in general but the Suns with a huge sniff of their 1st win across their cross-state rivals and I'll be tipping the Suns

Today we look at:

• Goody Wing Run
• Port Keeping Width
• Carlton at Center Bounce
• Wolmarans Work Rate
• Sydney at Center Bounce
• Suns Forward Handball
• Gold Coast Team Defense

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AFLW ROUND 7 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

A bunch of 60/40 games but no real surprises from the results this week except maybe the number that North Melbourne on the Dees as well as what Geelong did Hawthorn.

Cats - have the highest offense in the league on 503 total points, 47 in front of 2nd placed Melbourne, are averaging 79pts /game if you take away their 27 in round v North and with Richmond and GWS in the next 2 that gap will widen considerably more (4th and 7th worst defense - fun fact Geelong are 6th!!)

Hawks - probably the worst follow up you'll see after beating the all-conquering Kangaroos last week to a 48 - 6 in the red scoreline at half time the very next week

Bombers - 2.7 to 0.1 and +27% time in possession in the 4th is a prime example of how this season has gone for the Bombers

Eagles - have quietly won 2 on the trot even if 2 of them have been the Saints and Essendon but early losses to GWS and Gold Coast (at home) killed their season before it could get rolling 

Bulldogs - sitting nicely in 7th with St Kilda and Essendon to come then a tough finish with Carlton, Melbourne and Geelong to finish with. Not super at anything but solid in a lot of areas right now which could get them a finals win or 2 if they put it together for a string of games

Power - have gone from 7 wins and 2 finals wins to 6 wins to what looks like 4 wins this year for the Power and probably a worst drop off then the Saints for mine considering the list they have.

Blues - back to their best v the Tigers getting off to a 39-8 start but have an interesting run coming up with the Hawks, Swans and Dogs so we'll see if they've re-settled in as the 3rd best team or not

Tigers - were out of contention as soon as Conti went down but have found some players off the back of it and should be able to rebound well from this "negative" going forward. McLenzie being the number 1, Bacon/Greives getting a host of midfield of time and above all responsibility + Wolmarans forward and Graham back have all been extremely solid

Today we look at:

• West Crumbing Technique
• Geelong on Kick Out
• Geelong 2v1 to Hawks 5v1
• Surmon Defensive Run
• Essendon Unorganised on Defense

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GEELONG v PORT ADELIADE AFLW AT CENTER BOUNCE CLEARANCE

Taking a different angle for this post where I'll focus exclusively on center bounce clearance tactics used by Geelong in their game v Hawthorn and then look at Port Adeliade v Western Bulldogs.

Looking at Geelong first they have Georgie Prespakis who is currently the best player in the competition who is their go-to hit target but aren't using McDonald, Morrison and Bowan with their ruck Dunlop also solid at following up after ruck contests for the odd clearance.

What we'll also see is that they have a full menu of tap zones and combinations and rarely go to the same tap zone and player twice in a row which keeps the opposition mids on edge for the entire game, unsure of what to give and what to take away at any given time.   

Of the 8 clips I have here, we see Prespakis back wrap, Prespakis defensive side, McDonald back wrap, Prespakis Defensive Side Forward Run, McDonalds Back Wrap all in the first qt so you can clearly see the mix up of running routes and go-to players right there.

The other clips from later in the game show McDonald Back Wrap/Prespakis Defensive Side Forward Run, Prespakis Back Wrap and McDonald Back Wrap.

The back wrap is an interesting one as Dunlop is a great running single leg jumper but doesn't dominate the taps but the Cats uses the defensive side to their advantage and teams should definitely go to work on that.

Moving to Port Adeliade who have one of the top 3 tallest rucks (190cms) who also happens to be the most athletic one of the lot by a long stretch in Scholz going up against the Bulldogs without their first-string ruck Edmonds (189cms) and rolling with tall forwards as rucks in McKee (180cms) and Hardingham (179cms).

As predicted Scholt dominated taps (40 on her own v 11 in total for the Dogs) and with a 30cm+ reach as you'll see from the clips, a subsequent center bounce dominance but they severely lack the system and menu at center bounce that the Cats do, as you'll see.

Every tap goes to Dowrick and they only use 2 different tap zones that are easily scouted by the Dogs in the end but the lack of imagination from the Power was just a big a factor here in having 2 cleanish clearances from center bounce for the entire game and a convincing loss that already has them 2 games and a lot of % of out finals.

VIDEO 1 x GEELONG

VIDEO 2 x PORT ADELIADE

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FREMANTLE v BRISBANE GRAND FINAL GAME ANALYSIS

Wow.

Look I picked by the Lions by 1opts and always thought they could go to a level the Dockers couldn't but at the 4:18min mark of the last quarter, a 17 point lead out of nowhere the Lions completely turned the tide.

'Oh wait, Wharfie Time happened - an event used for when they were behind and needed a charge of energy from the crowd for one last hurrah to come back and win.

Except they were already in front and hadn't thought that the Lions could then use it against them.

Well, the Lions and Will Ashcroft.

Freo should not have lost this game.

+14 Inside 50's

+1 Tackles

+9 Contested Possessions

+10 Contested Marks

+14 Clearances including +8 Center Clearances

+3 Scoring Shots

+11.3 Expected Score

+4% Time in Possession

+50:56mins Time in Front

All that mattered very little from 4:18 onwards and we have another Lions 3-Peat.

Today we look at:

• Brisbane Creating Length from Defensive 50
• Rayner Strength
• Neale Handball
• Cameron Goal
• Freo Going Defensive at Center Bounce
• Brisbane Rebound 50
• Freo on the Attack at Center Bounce
• Ashcroft Movement at Stoppage

AFLW ROUND 6 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

I ended up with a monstrous 50mins of clips from this round and we have the 2nd half of it today but first a check up on the remaining teams:

Dockers - wind-affected games don't lend themselves to the lowest scoring teams as they really only have 2 quarters to score and if they don't then they're in a lot of trouble and that's what happened here with Freo only managing 15 in Q1 with the wind but then allowing the Dogs 26, leaving too much work to be done in Q3 where they only managed another 15 while not scoring against the wind at all.

Dogs - scored in just 3 quarters, which was helped with the Dockers scoring in just 2, to get a solid away win 

Giants - got way behind at half time but decided to kick a bit more and put up a league top 5 scoring quarter for the season in the 3rd but just fell short

Tigers - definitely had control of this one (48 to 36% time in possession) but just did enough early to creep over the line but the Giants got over the back of their defense time and time again in that 3rd quarter

Dons - managed 1 goal for an entire game 3 times last year and hit their 1st game for that same stat this year with North and Hawthorn to come

Suns - are quietly sitting in 5th right now and I have them finishing 7th on my predictor which is a great platform to springboard for the next 3 - 5 years.

Saints - somehow the Saints have scored 50 pts less than the Bombers and given up 37 more points in a simply disastrous season and will there be a mid-season coaching change - a rarity in AFLW?

Eagles - aren't what they were last year but an away win is always a good win but are playing too skinny for mine which they did move away from in year 1 of Daisy

Lions - they couldn't have been this low on the ladder ever before at this time of the season (12th on 2 wins) and with Syd (4th), GC (5th), Hawks (7th) and Carlton (6th) to come, they'll miss the finals without a dramatic turnaround in their offense which I allude to in the videos

Crows - some close losses (Syd 8pts, Gee 9pts) and great away wins over the Hawks and Lions but still have the Suns, Roos and Demons to come...ouch

Today we look at:

• If you're a coach then you HAVE to know the ins and out of affordances
• GWS on Kick Out
• Essendon Outnumber Advantage Fail
• Essendon Rebounding from D50
• GC Handball Chain
• St Kilda Handover Fail
• Saints Not Using Their Numbers
• Double-Effort Dalgleish!
• Saints Going Too Defensive
• St Kilda Outnumber Advantage Fail
• Brisbane Forwards Not Reading M50 Triggers
• Brisbane Creating/Utilising M50 Space x 3

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW ROUND 6 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

Another round of upsets with the biggest we'll see for the year in the Hawks beating the Roos they somehow manage to not win the Premiership.

Hawks - just kept showing up in the 2nd half, taking time and space away from North to exit contest forcing them into a less then 1:1 kick:mark ratio for the 1st time this season...and maybe forever

North - now can focus back on proves rather than outcome to keep the winning streak alive and we'll see a rejuvenated North now 

Pies - missed their season high game points total by 1 point in the first half in this one before falling away for an 8 goal to 1 2nd half

Cats - scoring at will but apart from holding St Kilda to 15 points who do it to themselves more than anything else, they've allowed 100pts to North, 57 to the Suns, 51 to Essendon, 46 to the Crows and 49 to the Pies in this one

Dees - now the number ranked team for 2027 with a HUUUGGGEEE game Friday night (but I'm going to the bloody movies!!)

Blues - in a bit of a spot at the moment with only 6 goals in the past 2 weeks where even the Saints have 9

Power - apart from Dowrick, no one else is taking a consistent stand for them with the Tahau injury really hurting them

Swans - still winning despite the injuries and need to do the job v the Lions this week before facing North, Carlton 

Over 27mins and 8 videos, today we look at:

• Bogue getting out the back again...and again
• Pies Too Schleicher-Focused
• Geelong at Center Bounce x 3
• Bonnici Midfield Run
• Cats at Stoppage
• Melbourne at Center Bounce
• Sydney/Port Adeliade Numbers
• Sydney at Center Bounce
• Dockers Ruck Loose in Defense
• Bulldogs Wing Run

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HAWTHORN v BRISBANE PRELIM FINAL GAME ANALYSIS

What. A. Game.

Probably the best in my lifetime from a spectacle point of view.

The Hawks were 99% of the way there...until they weren't (all correct decisions for mine by the way).

The most ridiculous aspect of this game was the momentum swings with both teams both having healthy chunks of the game purely under their control but as transition games tend to go, that can change on a dime.

The multi-goal runs for each team looked like this:

Hawks 2 in a row x 2, 3 in arow x 1, 5 in a row x 1

Lions 2 in a row x 2, 3 in a row x 1, 7 in a row x 1

There were 16 goal kickers for the game across both teams, with 8 of them going for 2 or more and after seeing the Swans forwards go for 6, 5 and 5 2 weeks ago v the Lions, the Hawks big 3 of Watson, Gunston and Lewis went for 6, 5, and 4 on them. 

Just mad game all-round and one you could easily watch over and over as a neutral supporter.

Today we look at:

• Brisbane Rebounding from D50 x 2
• Rayner v Watson at Center Bounce
• Hawks Struggling to Go Inside 50
• Hawks on Kick Out
• Lions on Kick Out
• Hawks at Center Bounce

For full access register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

10 NEW STREAMLINE TRAINING ACTIVITIES WHITEBOARD EDITION

Here's another whiteboard edition which are still streamlined but require a visual to get started, with activities #241 - #250 consisting of a simple image with a diagram and a quick explanation.

#241 - PLAY FORWARD

#242 - BREAKOUT POSSESSION

#243 - 4v4v4 CONTINUOUS WAVES

#244 - 3 TEAM RONDO

#245 - PROGRESSIVE SMALL SIDED GAME

#246 - RECOVER BELOW THE BALL

#247 - 360 DEGREE SMALL SIDED GAME

#248 - 3 +4v3

#249 - 2 SQUARES IN A ROW

#250 - PLAY FORWARD

For full access to these training activities register for a level 3 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW ROUND 5 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

Picking up where we left off yesterday:

Dees - form is indeed solid but have played teams currently placed 8th, 15th, 11th, 14th and 13th v North 5th, 11th, 9th, 18th and 3rd so a touch of difference there and they're still 68% behind the Roos 

Power - finals still in their grasp and totally in their own hands but 54% disposal efficiency and 2 goals from 30 inside 50's won't cut it

Tigers - the subtraction of Conti could be an addition as they unearth depth through their midfield forced to carry the load

Saints - from 13:20mins to 21:10mins in the 2nd quarter they allowed Richmond to score 3.2 straight and that was the game - improved performance though off the back of young talent 

Swans - Sitting 4th but lost another soldier for the year with Bris, North, Carlton to come sandwiched between Port and Collingwood - can they hold on toa finals spot?

Giants - missed a huge opportunity against a depleted Swans but were too fumbly early and the Swans dominated off their turnovers

Kangaroos - every week they get the very best of the opposition so any win is a good win, and this was more convincing the score suggested

Blues - didn't look over-awed which will benefit them later on but were still a level behind during this one but -18 inside 50's showed where this game was mostly played 

Dockers - 68% kick possession share for only 2 more inside 50's but also won clearances without Strom 

Bombers - would have liked to see Steph Wales take this one by neck v a 3rd gamer and just don't get enough from the established players

Today we look at:

•  Geelong at Center Bounce
• Crows Ball Watching
• West Coast at Center Bounce and F50 Crumbing 
• Eagles Again at Center Bounce
• North Melbourne Forward Hald Defense
• Roos Play the Pattern to Get Corridor
• GWS Turnover
• Molloy Forward Craft x 2
• Sydney Forward Press Defense
• GWS Lose Their Outnumber Advantage
• Essendon Defender Losing Player

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW ROUND 5 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

An upset with the Eagles beating the Lions, a great come from behind win by the Hawks and 5 games within 15pts for another solid round of women's footy.

Hawks - 89 marks and a 5 goals to 1 2nd half indicated far better ball movement then previous weeks 

Dogs - +15 for clearances on the season for a whole, +27 in their 3 wins, but -7 in this one and it resulted in -12 inside 50's as well

Suns - a slow start but showed some early-maturity by not letting this be a "down" game and still managed 9.7 after 1/4 time

Pies - destroyed in clearance (-19) and their ball movements struggles once again yet managed 12 scoring shots so that's progress  

Crows - will need to win 4/5 against team around them before finishing off with Melbourne and North, and even that might not be enough

Cats - covering injuries very well and are scoring for fun but are very leaky defensively

Eagles - got the win they wanted and now could go on a winning spree if they can maintain that same output

Lions - got beaten up by the young Eagles (- 6 clearances, -13 contested possession + -12 tackles) and seem to have to gone to the contest/surge well for too long 

Today we look at:

• Hawthorn at Center Bounce x 4
• Hawks Slow Play Offense x 2
• Bulldogs Maintaining Their Outnumber Advantage from D50 to F50
• Gold Coast Forwards 
• 1 Poor Kick

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

TRAINING ACTIVITY DESIGN SEQUENCE

                                    

Training activity design still has major room for improvement at local level as there's still a lot of cone-to-cone kicking going on with zero opposition or time constraints. 

Game-based activities are making their way in but without constraints then you'll just see the behaviour you see on game day that you're actually trying to get away from and change and thus the same mistakes pop up in games week after week. 

Have no doubt, this is a coaching problem so here's a training activity design sequence to improve that side of your delivery during training.

Firstly, you must have an intention before anything else and let's say in this instance it to work on offensive ball movement with a specific focus on improving time in possession.

Your first thought is to use a possession game so go into that and see what presents itself, observing closely to the limiting factors affecting your intention (offensive ball mments - time in possession).

When looking for any performance limiters, you need to look at both ball carrier and the off the ball players which may take 2 coaches to do so.

For the ball carrier you're looking at things like where/how long they search the environment for open players, how much patience they have with the ball in hand and their technique of the specific kick they need to use to solve the problem.

For the off the ball players you're looking at things like how do they manipulate space to become open options that the ball carrier can find, the timing of creating and filling space to again become a viable passing option and how teammates do this in accordance with other teammates (team coordination) + the opposition (creating outnumber advantages).   

Once you determine the main cause/s of ball movement disruption then you need to scale back and design a small slice of the game and recreate a similar situation with far less complexity.

A lot of teams till go with even team numbers using as many players as they have available so everyone is involved but this won't simplify the scenario enough and the same errors will occur as a result.

You might have to scale back to something as small as a 3v1 or 2 initially to initiate the correct behaviours you're after and then build on that - don't be so impatient as a coach that you have to keep scaling back from starting too far in front.

Building up quickly is better than progressing backwards slowly.

To improving searching of the environment, use a +2 on offense so that there will always be free players to use but you still need to search for them, progressing to a +1. Constraining the defense (number of them, where they start/how they can move) can also be used here.

For impatience with the ball, allow the ball carrier to take as long as they want to once they've taken a mark, and then start putting time constraints on that (8secs, 7secs, 6secs etc).

Technical deficiencies like kick type/trajectory, footwork or ball drop issues go into the craft basket but even then you still need to use constraints to maintain game representation so it can transfer back to training possession games and weekend games more importantly.   

For space manipulation you need to play with the area you are training in and the number of players you have in that area starting with small and big areas and low numbers so that there is lots of space to manipulate to small and big areas with more players so that there is less space to manipulate.

If success rate isn't at 75 - 80% then the space is too small and/or there are too many players 9in whatever space you are using.

For team coordination this is where you might need to take the alternate route of a theory session or 3 as it will cover all 3 lines of your team (backs, mids, forwards) that shows players how they all should move together (666-Connection, Inner-Outer Layer etc) and also cover any specific positional roles (extra at the contest, specific hit up lead options etc). Once players have some knowledge on this then you can add whatever is relevant from your theory into the possession game.

Timing is probably the last part that comes and is essentially the coordination component put into practice so if we use that hit up lead player for example, they now know their specific role, and go to work on best displaying it in the relevant training activities and coaches can observe their space manipulation/timing (forward craft/leading patterns) and the cycle starts again.

This just 1 example simplified which is already pretty detailed which shows you need complete clarity on what you need/want to improve on and then go to work on nailing that 1000% rather than simply touching on 25 things and improving on none of them.

Any questions/discussion on this, I'm happy to discuss.

AFLW ROUND 4 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

Picking up where left off from in part 1...

Tigers - might have unearthed some new midfield options without Conti but still struggled without her

Dockers - your typical mid-table team with important games v Dogs, Crows, Syd to really show what they're made of

Hawks - 29 goals with 14 from McDonagh and Dupay on the season but midfield is underperforming for them against better teams

Cats - 3rd best offense in the league even including that 27 in round 1

Essendon - better again this week breaking the 50pt barrier for the 1st time this season

Blues - 2 spurts of scoring won this game and that's all it needed

Pies - 2nd worst offense only to the 18th placed Saints (113 v 77) but surprisingly a better defense than 4th placed Cats

Eagles - definite 2nd year blues here and just seem 5% all over the ground

Demons - clear number 2 and rand Final eve can't come quick enough

Today we look at:

• Hawks Transition Defense
• Essendon Going Inside Forward 50
• Essendon Forward Press Defense
• Essendon Outnumber Advantage
• Collingwood Missed Handball
• Pies Ball Watching v Player Marking
• No Pies Help Defense
• Collingwood at Contest
• Eagles Ignoring Corridor

For full access to this game analysis register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW ROUND 4 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

Some "half" upsets and also some improved performances over the weekend.

Dogs - absolute clearance dominance in this one (33 - 18) and +19% for time in possession

Swans - some individual Molloy efforts kept this from being a complete debacle

Saints - since round 1 they've scored 15, 15 and 7 points for a total of 4 goals which is 1st year expansion area's

Roos - literally going through the motions but their 1st real test against the Blues on Sunday

Power - this could be the loss that has them miss finals

Suns - this could be the win that gets them in finals

Lions - responded like proud teams do but with the same style that doesn't stack up against North and probably not Melbourne either

Giants - if they're top 10 can put it together against a top 8 team 1 day, they're a good chance to win but it's always left to a different 5 every week except for Parker

Today we look at:

• Sydney at Center Bounce
• Saints Ignoring Corridor
• North at Center Bounce
• Saints Going Inside 50
• Slow Down Sholtz!
• Port Forward Lengthening
• O'Dwyer Wing Play
• Conway Quick Transition

For full access to this game analysis, register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.

AFLW TOP 5 GAME ANALYSIS CLIPS PRODUCT

As ridiculous we are already 25% of the way through the AFLW home and away season so I thought I'd drop a top 5 clips from my game analysis for local/community coaches to learn from.

Transitioning from 1 end to other and being able to put together possession chains is what I think is the number 1 performance gap in local footy so that's where my focus lies in a lot of my videos, including these ones.

You'll notice some unfamiliar terms in some of the titles that are my names for concepts but once you watch the clip it should be pretty clear what they mean.

I also decided to add in a video on how to tra9in each scenario specifically, as well as how you can layer the activity to increase game-like complexity and representation.

This is a stand-alone product that I will email out in a PDF for just $20.

Let the learning for 2027 begin now!   

#1 - St Kilda Losing Their Outnumber Advantage

#2 - North Melbourne Creating, Maintaining and Utilising Their Outnumber Advantage

#3 - Melbourne Fat Side Line Formation

#4 - Melbourne Displaying 666-Connection

#5 - Richmond Creating But Not Maintaining and Utilising Their Outnumber Advantage

Go to https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/, scroll to the bottom option GAME ANALYSIS TOP5 VOL 1, and click SELECT.

Once purchased, if you any further questions then just let me know.