AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS PART 2/2

North are, and will continue to be, North Melbourne - they're more of a chance to go undefeated and win the premiership than not which s quite ridiculous.

With Essendon and Port, Richmond have not been anywhere close to repeating their finals positioning from a season ago and even with encouraging performances in the last 3 weeks, they still have the 1 win to show for it v 6 from last year.

They did lose Sheerin (North Melbourne incidentally but didn't play) and have had some notable injuries (Egan early, Seymour late) but no one saw this drop off.

This games'performance was a pass but with the likes of Conti, Egan, Mackenzie, Brennan and Greiser, you'd be hoping for a better return on the season.

Today we look at:

• Gold Coast Defending Deep
• 1 Link in the Chain Breaks Richmond's Team Defense
• Tigers Over Commit
• Tigers Let Bogue Goal Side
• Tiger Mids Caught Boundary Side
• Tigers Ignore Corridor for a 1v3
• Sydney Repeat Kick Out Set Play

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AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS PART 1/2

After yesterday's center bounce clearance special game analysis post, we dove deeper into round 9 in our next 2 posts.

The Dogs have now scored 60pts in 2 out of their last 3 games after being one of the lowest scoring teams in the AFLW so far this season - albeit against Collingwood and Essendon - but it shows the capacity to score consistently if they play in a manner that allows them to, which they usually don't against the better teams.

The Bombers have been ravaged by injury but have also had enough time to work forward from that as they mostly happened very early in the season with scores of 8, 22 and 10 in 3 of their last 4 games they clearly haven't, and playing with 1 or 2 extra defenders all game doesn't help either.

Adelaide did what they had to do against the Eagles who are your classic mid-tier team with a record of 5-4 with a % of 117 - on an upward trajectory but just behind the top-tier of the middle but better than the bottom tier but tracking nicely overall on the whole.

We'll find out more about Adelaide v North Melbourne this weekend,not that they'll win but in how close they can keep the margin.

Geelong will probably fall just short of finals this year and but there's a slate of middle team games so but should be the bounce team next year with a middle 6 draw at best and some players back who haven't/won't feature this year.

GWS and Gold Coast each need a pre-season exclusively focused on going inside forward 50 and then converting!

Today we look at:

• Bombers Not Numbering Off Once the Ball is Cleared
• Bombers Poor Spread and It's Domino Effect
• Adelaide Not Cutting Off Stoppage Exits
• Geelong Inside Forward Kick
• GWS Going Corridor
• Gold Coast Not Identifying/Utilising the Outnumber Advantage
• Gold Coast Poor Use of Space

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AFLW ROUND 9 GAME ANALYSIS - CENTER BOUNCE CLEARANCE SPECIAL

In past years there has only been a smattering of center bounce clearance set plays and most of them have been from North Melbourne who had the most dominant tap ruck in Emma King to go along with their star-studded midfield.

Most teams now have established rucks rather then converted basketball, netball and volleyball players who have ruck craft from their 10 years in the AFL pathway.

In this current season I have see far more teams be more assertive at center bounce clearance as it's the only chance you'll have a 4v4 so a dominant ruck needs to be be taken advantage of.

Some points that I bring up in these 7 clips of the Bulldogs, Geelong and Richmond this past weekend include:

• Owning Space
• Holding Opposition Out
• Stay With Your Go-To Player
• What's Your Domino Effect if You Win or Lose?

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10 NEW STREAMLINE TRAINING ACTIVITIES WHITEBOARD EDITION

After posting 171 streamline activities with just a brief written description, I've now probably got more diagram activities in my files that I haven't posted, then written one's.

Today is the 2nd whiteboard edition which are still streamlined but require a visual to get started, with activities #182 - #191 consisting a simple image with a diagram and a quick explanation.

#182 - PRESSURE DIAMOND

#183 - ESCAPE 

#184 - 4 CORNER PRESSURE

#185 -SUPPORT OR FILL

#186 - MULTI DIRECTIONAL 3v2 

#187 - HANDBALL + SPRINT

#188 - 4v4 (+2) MIDFIELD PENETRATION

#189 - 4 TEAMS OF 3

#190 - 6v5 WINGS

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AFLW ROUND 8 GAME ANALYSIS - RICH/ADE + GEE/CAR

The Tigers still seem to have adequate talent on most, if not all lines, but have just looked so disconnected on the field that player quality didn't really matter.

Enter last week against Brisbane and they were actually in front at half time while being able to get the ball in their front half and trap it in for minutes at a time, albeit the Lions did what they thought they would do in the end.

This week the Tigers were behind for the entire 1st half but having the same amount of scoring shots indicated they were well in the game and by the end of it, ran over their much more fancied opponent.

It also helps when McKenzie and Conti have career games and Brennan and Greiser can have great impact up forward.

The Crows have been the mirror-image of Brisbane this year - past perennial Grand Finalists but some of the shine is coming off in 2026.

They have beaten 1 team in the 8 (Hawthorn) with other wins against Geelong, GWS, Gold Coast and Sydney so not a terrible form line by any means but we'll get the ultimate look at them v North Melbourne in round 10.

The Geelong/Carlton match up was an 8-point game - with a Blues loss they fall back to the multitude of teams on 5 wins and a Geelong win puts 1 game of that same pack.

Geelong just haven't been bale to get it going this year and is probably a wasted year in the end.

The Blues have been the surprise packet of the year going from unwatchable to 1 of the most watchable teams in the league in the space of 1 season - Bucky's done a huge amount work on their offense and it's very clear to see.

This time last season they had scored 266 total points v 358 this year but their defense has also gone through the roof, conceding 532 points this time last year v 292 this year - a remarkable turnaround - and they might be the 2nd best team in it come finals time.

Today we look at:

• Richmond Going Inside Forward 50
• Richmond Showing the AFLW Cheat Code for Going Inside Forward 50
• Geelong at Center Bounce Clearance
• Geelong Forward Press Defense
• McDonald Run
• Poor Carlton Defense
• Geelong Manufacturing a Free Player

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AFLW ROUND 8 GAME ANALYSIS - GWS/STK + GC/BRIS

                             

GWS are a frustrating watch for me. 

The positive is that their brand is clear with a high use of handball (3rd) and uncontested possession (3rd) while also being 4th for disposal efficiency and 2nd for bounces - all on the surface looking like a fast ball movement, high scoring outfit.

The negatives are that they are 16th for clearances (last for center clearances), 4th for clangers and 11th in inside 50's and now it becomes a bit more clearer.

Losing clearance means you're generating most of your offense from your defensive half which requires a lot of possessions to get the ball back to your own forward 50, and with that coming from a lot of handball an clangers, they rarely make it inside forward 50 and when they do it's usually to an outnumber or a vacant forward line resulting in equal 3rd last for scoring shots (with Richmond) but they're not the only one's with this problem (Essendon 2nd last and Gold Coast/Collingwood last).

The Saints were Jekyll again this week losing pretty much every stat except the most important one to now actually be in the 8 as we speak.

Gold Coast are just plain struggling but with a young team and 1st year head coach, that's to be expected but when can we expect something from them? Maybe there is a Daisy Pearce-like bump year next season as there is enough talent there already, and with the boom that is Queensland junior pathway coming through year-after-year, for that to be a possibility.

Brisbane are the interesting one's right now. The perennial powerhouse have 5 wins right now against Freo, Adelaide, Bulldogs, Richmond and Gold Coast with losses to Hawthorn, Carlton and North Melbourne so are they now just flat-track bullies? 

For mine they've been the same for too long but they can easily tinker and bounce back as a force again next season.

Today we look at:

• GWS Not Using Their Numbers
• GWS Defender's Not Being Offensive Options
• GWS Play On Handball Fail
• North Melbourne Kick Out Zone Defense (image below video)
• GC Going Inside Forward 50
• GC Going Too Fast to an Outnumber Disadvantage

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AFLW ROUND 8 GAME ANALYSIS - MELBOURNE v ESSENDON

The Demons seem to be the 2nd best team in it but as mentioned yesterday, they've had a very suspect draw up until now as they finished in the bottom 8 last year so that's not their fault and with Freo away, Sydney at home, Brisbane away and Geelong away we might get a bit more of a handle of what they can do in finals re: how far away from North Melbourne are they really?

The Bombers are having the year from hell as far as health is concerned but that doesn't mean they should continue to play with 2 extra defenders for the entirety of games, which will be highlighted here.

There's also a companion video to 1 of the clips that serves as a further teaching aid to forward structure while staying connected during transition.

Today we look at:

• Essendon Going Inside 50 x 2, 1 Good and 1 Not So Good
• A Wing-Off
• Melbourne Forward Structure During Transition (+ companion video below the main video here)
• The Essendon Numbers Game
• Bannister Inside Forward 50
• Essendon Not Play to Their Strengths

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