'Watters Football'

[SainterK]

A fair way into the season now, and there are signs that things have clicked, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how the game plan has evolved.

Not saying one coach is better than another, just that styles are very different, and we probably have enough insight now to really look at the current gameplan.

Scott has always been big on the sides he has coached being in the top 3 for attack and defence, that whiles he holds defence important, not at the expense of putting a score on the board. Early in the season you could see the shift, and the attack almost came at the expense of the defence, but now it appears to be evening out.

Even looking at the squad purely in a numbers way and how they structure up.

Under Ross, it was guaranteed that each week we had two run with players (Sean and CJ) and a defensive forward (Mini or Armo) 6 defenders and a usually a loose behind the ball (Fisher or BJ)

So 11 players, half the team, dedicated to defence. Not saying it was wrong, it was just Ross Lyons style to nullify and restrict the opposition to win.

Now it's completely different as far as roles go, which lends itself to the football the boys are playing.

There is now one run with player (CJ) and 6 genuine attacking forwards (Roo, Kosi, Milne, Saad, Schneider and one of Stanley, Milera, Dunnel) and a whole range of mids who can rotate and push forward (dare I say quite Collingwood like)

Only 7 players dedicated to defensive football, and you could easily argue that Clinton isn't a tagger in it's purest form anymore. He appears to go into games now with an opponent like any other mid, winning his own ball, yet flexible enough to still go to someone causing a headache if neccessary (like to Simon Black in the second half last week)

So in theory, that frees up 3 more players, and I believe that has led to the improvement in our midfield in recent weeks...and it really has a Collingwood approach written all over it.

We are finally conceding less goals, but more because our defenders are learning to mind their own opponent and play one on one again rather than any heavy zone. We are kicking more goals, because ALL our forwards are dangerous options causing headaches for opposition defences, and Scott appears to view scoreboard pressure as intimidating as F50 tackles. Finally, I truly believe our midfield is finally emerging again as a strong clearance side, as we have more numbers now to run through there and ease the load and not leave it to a few, also making it harder for the opposition to keep a tab on their opponents.

You'd have to say it's a much more instinctive game, still very much based on accountability, but more at an individual level than a team focus?

A lot of guys have been given a good old fashioned footy lesson for periods of this year, but I actually think schools finally out for summer!

I believe we'll see in the coming weeks, Watters footy, in it's purest form.

[gringo]

I was away and missed the last couple of games but from reading about the games and what I observed before that he has seemed to drop the slower style Collingwood game plan which seemed to be ridiculously weighted towards boundary hugging and made a bit more use of the corridor. At the start of the season it looked like we were in two minds about going wide and turned it over there. Hopefully we will have grasped the game plan now and with each win a little more confidence in the way they are going about it builds.

[Quixote]

Hope so - interesting post!

[SainterK]

I was away and missed the last couple of games but from reading about the games and what I observed before that he has seemed to drop the slower style Collingwood game plan which seemed to be ridiculously weighted towards boundary hugging and made a bit more use of the corridor. At the start of the season it looked like we were in two minds about going wide and turned it over there. Hopefully we will have grasped the game plan now and with each win a little more confidence in the way they are going about it builds.

Not sure we have the precision kicking to carry that off, he probably realised that.

The amount of guys currently running through the midfield though is very Pie like.

[plugger66]

Its what you kick around the ground.

[noreason41]

Not sure i agree completely re the defence. We'll see how we go this week against a side with a decent attack, but the best defensive record so far.

It's only a few weeks since we conceded 115 and 136 consecutively. (Even last week 92 against Brisbane is above our average of 88)

Though i agree in the sense that Fisher has had a very interrupted year, Gwilt is coming back from a knee Reco, and we lost Dawson. I think having a settled backline is more important then any other area of the ground. You really need to know your teammates inside out playing in the backline.

This week should really show how far we've come, and confidence from a win is key.

[66 Saints]

Attack is clearly at the expense of defense. We had one good week against essendon but that's about it. What you've written sounds more like sydney than us. We score more but we also have more scored against us. Adelaide, north, Brisbane as pointed out above. I'm hopeful against Sydney but think they are playing the all rounded football you speak of so it will be tough.

[bobmurray]

We'll be better defensively when we recruit our key backs...providing they don't take 4 years to come good.....or fail....

[philtee]

Nice post SainterK.
A lot of the static "mark and hold" stuff has disappeared - a lot more playing-on,
a lot more risk-taking up the corridor.
Defensive pressure has been variable, but when the whole team applies it we usually win - Carlton, Ess, Sydney.