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cino
SotS Media Liaison
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
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Location: Stuck between South and West
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 Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:32 am Post subject: Aker's Hun column for 2009` |
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| Quote: | Moving with the times
Jason Akermanis | March 25, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25238327-19775,00.html
TO THE victor goes the spoils. So the story goes. But also to the victor goes the right to be emulated and copied, at least when it comes to AFL premiers.
It's Hawthorn's turn as the club being hunted, examined and compared by those in charge of 15 other AFL outfits.
I know what it's like. In the early 2000s when the Lions were racking up a few flags, everyone else was trying to be us or working on a supposedly clever tactic to beat us.
This pre-season has seen clubs make an unprecedented swing to a rolling zone or straight zone, as Hawthorn's last month of last year was just too good to ignore when Alastair Clarkson and his men made the zone a successful tactical weapon.
For mine, Alastair helped his side at the end of the season. A zone that is implemented and executed properly will be much easier on the energy of players in defence.
While teams played one-on-one and burnt themselves up in the last month of the season trying to be accountable, Hawthorn was staying fresher for longer. And come September, its energy and game plan was in full swing.
Putting numbers behind the ball to push teams wide and slow them down is nothing new, and sliding up and back helped Brisbane win its first flag in 2001.
Is this new style going to last and is it any good?
The simple answers are yes and yes. The ability to save energy in a sport like ours is very important. The fans may not like it and the people who paid big money for some of the forwards in their SuperCoach team certainly wouldn't be happy, but it is here to stay because it works if performed correctly.
The best tactic for any footy coach is to work with his team's strength. If he has young, light players who can run, the game plan would always be different to an experienced, hard-bodied side.
But every system known to man will break down if your players are not getting their hands on the footy first, then using it better than the opposition and scoring.
Zones and tactics and floods and whatever else clubs are using these days won't save you, which is why I love this game. Right now, everyone's a chance. Playing in the NAB Challenge a few weeks back against the Swans, it was clear that they think their style, which is based on one-on-one accountability, will remain the best fit for their list.
St Kilda didn't just zone in our Challenge game, it put many extra players in the back half of the ground.
Melbourne is likely to have a similar tactic to zoning to help its young list develop.
Fremantle and Richmond have adopted the zone as well.
Geelong remains the team to beat in '09. It has always been good against most game plans because its players play on as often as possible and everyone knows what is happening up field.
There is constant movement and it makes it harder to get set in a zone formation because there isn't enough time.
It is probably why its kicking efficiency was down compared to other teams last year. But it did win every game bar two. And, it did have many chances to make the zone of Hawthorn null and void during the Grand Final, but missed too many shots on goal.
The reason I think the Cats are the team to beat is simple. They are a hardened, experienced group with a stable list and game plan.
Their rolling zone is quite effective and the way they play on at all costs is to be admired. The game plan revolves around turnovers in the midfield and then scoring off those turnovers.
Teams will improve against Geelong and winning will be harder for the Cats, but they have a few years of torment for teams to get over mentally.
Their belief in winning is still very high and, as many of us saw in the pre-season, the ability to be consistent at any time of the year is there.
I don't think they will win as many games this year.
When I analyse which teams will be there in September, I find my musings similar to the way I watch a MotoGP race.
In qualifying, with improved technology and one-lap skill, the qualifying times get better and the difference from pole position to the rear of the field is getting less and less.
In reality, come the race there really are only four or five guys who can go flat out until the end of the race and win it.
Football is no different. Who are those teams who will be there at the end of August, ready for September?
Well, you tell me. But I only care if one of those teams is the Bulldogs. |
I'm not a footy strategist.... but will someone confirm for me that a "zone" is a layman's term for flooding and bluntly, ugly bloody footy? If that's where the AFL is going, I'll happily not bother with it, whether it gives teams wins or not.
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Lisbon
Ryan Griffen
Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 110
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
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| Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:57 am Post subject: |
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I'd say that Hawthorn won last year's Grand Final mainly by preventing the Cats from playing. As Aker said, winners get copied so yes, maybe we'll see a more defensive approach this year. It's up to the swashbuckling, attacking teams to pound the flooders into submission...
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I believe there's nothing on this earth that we own. All we do is look after it for our children. |
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cino
SotS Media Liaison
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 2145
Location: Stuck between South and West
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bulldog Jason Akermanis says there's no avoiding AFL heat
Jason Akermanis | April 01, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25271641-19775,00.html
PRESSURE. Some love it, others loathe it. Having endured it in some form for pretty much every week of the 15 years I've been part of the AFL, I have to say the most difficult type of pressure is what a man imposes on himself.
Pressure from the media and fans can be suffocating, too. But, trust me, and I reckon I speak for a lot of players if not most, the pressure attached to their own expectations and aims will take a greater toll on their minds.
There is no man who plays in this sport who won't, at some stage, find himself in the spotlight. It is only a matter of time until it comes your way.
The insatiable appetite of the Melbourne media can be intimidating. Having worked in the media, I feel I understand how it works, what drives it, and why it reports on so many aspects relating to those involved in footy.
I respect it. Others, though, well, I'm not sure they do.
Terry Wallace has been around football a long time and has also been involved with the media.
He knows how it works which, for him right now, is a good thing.
Wallace has said a top-eight finish is pretty much the only result that could guarantee his future at Richmond. Which is why the Tigers' loss to Carlton on Thursday night has created an unwanted pressure.
But if Wallace is like me, the pressure on him will be the one generated by his own expectations.
Under pressure? So what? Everyone is. That's life, and after 12 years as a coach, I'm sure he's as used to it as he can be.
My old teammate at the Brisbane Lions, Michael Voss, in his first year as coach, is under just as much pressure. Again, not because of outside pressure, but from pressure within his own head.
He managed a win in his first outing, which would have released the pressure - for a few minutes after the final siren, before it returned.
He is coaching this year, knowing that to fall short of his expectations will lead to more pressure, with the media asking if he should have done a coaching apprenticeship.
Ben Cousins has been under pressure.
Watching him the past few months, I've found myself reflecting on my own move, from Brisbane to the Western Bulldogs, and when I played my first few games for my new club in 2007.
I felt for Cousins as his hamstring pinged - I remember the exact thing happening to me in my second game for the Dogs. In the third quarter, I bent down to pick up a fast-moving ball and, bang, my hammy went in two spots.
I had done the pre-season work, more than likely too much work. I missed two weeks, but it took me another three weeks to get my confidence back.
By then, the pressure had mounted in my own mind, as it had with the media and fans - yet one more thing with which Cousins must contend.
The perception and reality of playing football is sometimes very difficult to see. Your birth certificate seems to be an issue every year for older players yet, in most cases, an older more-experienced player will be way more consistent through the quarters and games.
The only problem starts when a coach, who is mainly looking to put a positive on a season, starts to play younger players earlier than when they are ready.
I feel that. I'm sure Essendon pair Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd also feel it. No doubt North Melbourne's Adam Simpson feels it and I am positive even the great Matthew Richardson at Richmond feels it from time to time.
When you are young and in a flat spot or struggling with injury, no one says, "Hey, this guy is finished". But when you are within a year or so of finishing it is the first thing to be mentioned.
Then there are the umpires, who are virtually under pressure every minute of every game.
Pressure does different things to different people. Some love the situation, others find it too stressful and want to withdraw from the responsibility.
I found that, under pressure, my reaction was always to focus that bit more. To kick a big goal in a big game or steel yourself to take that set shot when you know the result is in the balance, is a true skill.
But some don't want to take it.
When the pressure is on in a game, quite often the first sign of it is the adoption of tunnel vision, and to hurry thoughts and actions.
Short-term fixes come to mind as well when I think of some reactions to pressure.
You see that especially when a coach might give a player a spray.
Nine times out of 10, the player will respond. The greatest relief of pressure for any side is a good win, or sometimes just a win.
I still get a chuckle when I see people over-reacting to a Round 1 result.
To succeed in this game you must have players who give up the selfish play, as well as deal with the pressure that rests in their own heads. They are the ones who make it deep into September. |
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