One-Eyed Richmond Forum

Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on July 07, 2012, 02:44:30 AM

Title: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: one-eyed on July 07, 2012, 02:44:30 AM
Victims of the rebound
Garry Lyon
The Age
July 7, 2012


IF YOU are Alex Rance or James Frawley, the key defensive linchpins for both Richmond and Melbourne, watching the ball go inside your own 50-metre zone should be an enjoyable experience.

Playing stuff is a largely thankless task. You're charged with the responsibility of playing on the opposition match-winner each week with the result often pivotal to the result.

It requires a steely nerve, an ability to handle and absorb pressure and levels of discipline and concentration often unique to those who make the position their own.

An inside-50 entry for their own team should bring about some degree of temporary respite from that pressure.

Sadly for Rance and Frawley, this is not the case. In fact for them, an inside-50 entry for their team is a signal for them both to get very, very nervous.

As commentators and analysts we are automatically drawn to the inside-50 numbers when assessing the trend and patterns of a game. We use it as validation for a team's superiority over the opposition and automatically assume that the side with the greater inside 50-count will, as a rule, win.

For Melbourne fans, that trend is not hard to measure. The Demons have won only two games for the year, and in one, over GWS, the inside 50 count was very much in their favour. In their other win, over Essendon, they lost the inside-50 count by 13.

More worrying for them was they won the count against Brisbane last week, 54 to 50, yet lost the game by 61 points. They are the sorts of numbers that must keep Frawley up at night.

Each forward-50 entry simply provided Brisbane with yet another scoring opportunity as Pearce Hanley, Josh Drummond and Ryan Harwood rebounded the ball, time after time, with little or no pressure.

For the Tigers, the numbers are even more worrying. They have been a far more competitive outfit than Melbourne with four more wins and a massive advantage in percentage.

Of the 14 games played, the Tigers have managed to win the inside-50 count eight times. That is equal with top-placed Collingwood, and one more than second-placed Sydney.

They have, however, failed to convert this statistical advantage into wins on three of those eight occasions.

In the past three weeks, against Fremantle, GWS and Adelaide, Richmond has not only won the inside-50 numbers, they are ranked No. 1 in the competition for inside-50 differential, plus 19, yet have managed just one win, surviving a scare against the lowly Giants.

It is a similar tale for the Demons, who have won the inside 50s in two of the last three games they've played and are ranked seventh for inside 50 differential, plus 12, yet recorded their sole win during that time, also over the Giants.

There are clearly issues for both teams in terms of not only converting opportunities once the ball enters their forward 50, but more significantly allowing the opposition to rebound the ball from defence with little or no pressure.

The Tigers, in the past three games, have allowed the opposition to rebound the ball from their forward 50 at a rate of 81 per cent, while they have sat at 66 per cent. The Demons have also struggled in the rebound-50 stat, allowing the opposition to rebound 76 per cent of the time while they managed a 63 per cent rebound rate.

So there have been issues for both sides in converting inside-50 entries to scoring opportunities. The Tigers had 10 more inside 50s against Adelaide, yet their scoring efficiency was a lowly 39 per cent, 11 per cent below the league average.

Interestingly, Richmond sits third in the AFL for disposals inside 50, yet 14th for inside 50s per goal scored.

What does it all mean? It would appear that Richmond is overusing the ball once it gets into the forward arc, allowing sides to exert pressure on the man with the ball.

Clubs will tell you that the inside-50 stat can also be very misleading, for it is not necessarily how many times you go inside that counts, but rather the manner in which it is delivered and the areas of the ground you go to. In fact, the kick inside 50 is arguably the most important in the game.

A failure to hit a target or, worse, to directly turn over the ball is a recipe for disaster. With extra numbers in defence, and an increased willingness to play the most efficient ball-users and decision-makers in the back half, the chance to win the ball back is becoming harder each week.

A quick, hard-running, rebounding defence will make you pay at every opportunity. And if the forward-50 pressure is not there, then the defenders at the other end become enormously vulnerable. Playing more than two genuine talls in a forward line now has to be weighed up against the volume of forward-50 pressure that can be exerted. The talls, generally, lose out.

It is one of the reasons that sides, if in doubt, will go long to a contest close to the boundary line in an attempt to generate a throw-in, rather than run the risk of turning over the football in a vulnerable position.

The hurried kick from a congested passage of play into the forward 50 is also despised. Where once a forward was blessed with the advantage of reacting quicker, and getting to the ball first, that kick will, now, more often than not fall into the hands of the ''free'' man in the back half. The result is usually a swift and efficient counter-attack that goes the length of the ground.

For Demons fans watching the Melbourne-Brisbane game, every forward-50 entry was a signal to cover your eyes. Without Mitch Clark as a marking target, the ball inevitably found its way to the deck where Hanley and company were able to counter-punch with devastating effect.

With Chris Newman the preferred ''free'' player for the Tigers, a very good ball-user and decision-maker, Melbourne will need to make him a particular focus, or run the risk of paying the ultimate price.

It is also why I would like to see Jeremy Howe spend more time in the forward 50. He is in outstanding marking form and has the type of midfield endurance to put real pressure on the Tiger defence.

Richmond is without Jake King, its best defensive small forward, and will look for a lift from Robin Nahas, who terrorised the Demons earlier in the season.

Supporters of both teams want to get excited when they see the ball move deep into attack, rather than fear for the wellbeing of Rance and Frawley at the other end of the ground.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/victims-of-the-rebound-20120706-21mnb.html#ixzz1zrTM8VKU
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Hard Roar Tiger on July 07, 2012, 04:27:55 AM
"IF YOU are Alex Rance or James Frawley, the key defensive linchpins for both Richmond and Melbourne, watchiblah blah blah"

There is something about a columnist, cocaine sex parties and vested interest that for some reason made me trail off.

Might be a good read but all I see is blah
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Smokey on July 07, 2012, 08:00:22 AM
Considering the author it was actually a very good article HRT and was spot on in identifying the area of the game that we are seriously deficient in.
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Eat_em_Alive on July 07, 2012, 08:02:24 AM
Agree with you smokes
This is a damning stat:

in the past three weeks, against Fremantle, GWS and Adelaide, Richmond has not only won the inside-50 numbers, they are ranked No. 1 in the competition for inside-50 differential, plus 19, yet have managed just one win, surviving a scare against the lowly Giants.
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: 1965 on July 07, 2012, 08:06:04 AM
Agree with you smokes
This is a damning stat:

in the past three weeks, against Fremantle, GWS and Adelaide, Richmond has not only won the inside-50 numbers, they are ranked No. 1 in the competition for inside-50 differential, plus 19, yet have managed just one win, surviving a scare against the lowly Giants.


Hence the shakeup of our forward line.

Will be interesting to see what the club does with the forward line but no Miller or Elton means there will be a different line-up.

 :bow
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Hard Roar Tiger on July 07, 2012, 08:48:41 AM
Considering the author it was actually a very good article HRT and was spot on in identifying the area of the game that we are seriously deficient in.

Must've been a ghost writer  ;D
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: bojangles17 on July 07, 2012, 09:15:15 AM
Agree with you smokes
This is a damning stat:

in the past three weeks, against Fremantle, GWS and Adelaide, Richmond has not only won the inside-50 numbers, they are ranked No. 1 in the competition for inside-50 differential, plus 19, yet have managed just one win, surviving a scare against the lowly Giants.


Yet when i question the hairbrained idea we need another big bodied in favour of a goal kicking stuff people think im crazy

So i pose this...if we had mick martyn would have won any more games...howzabout garry ablett senior...case closed :shh
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Yeahright on July 07, 2012, 09:43:28 AM

It is one of the reasons that sides, if in doubt, will go long to a contest close to the boundary line in an attempt to generate a throw-in, rather than run the risk of turning over the football in a vulnerable position.

Perhaps why Riewoldt leads to the pockets?
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: rfctigers05 on July 07, 2012, 10:19:45 AM
Terribly damning stats which have been evident pretty well all year minus the kingy games
It's amazing DimSim and his merry men of staff have done nothing about it
How embarrassing Gary lying picked it up and our apologetic excuse for a coach hasn't
FFS RFC get fair dinkum
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: rfctigers05 on July 07, 2012, 10:24:52 AM
That's why games into Elton are crucial but the DimSim drops him against a struggling team
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: crackertiger on July 07, 2012, 10:36:46 AM
No wonder we have an ineffective forward line when Millers continues to get a game. The problem last week was we had 1 x first gamer and 1 x Miller in the same forward line. Result = major rebound.

Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Penelope on July 07, 2012, 10:43:06 AM
what lyon doesn't tell us is how many times they scored directly from rebound 50s, or the amount of time spent in our forward 50.

I'm pretty sure we are one of the best sides for causing and and scroring from turnovers inside our forward 50.

The last month our main problem has been simply converting our chances. we have actually created our fair share of opportunities, but kicked poorly
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: tigs2011 on July 07, 2012, 10:53:39 AM
That's why games into Elton are crucial but the DimSim drops him against a struggling team

At least he didn't pick Post.
8 posts on a field is enough FFS.  :banghead
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: tigs2011 on July 07, 2012, 10:55:07 AM
Does anyone think it's a disadvantage having the ball in your forward line 80% of the time. Game is played with 30 guys in your forward line with no space. When opposition finally get it out they are on a fast break.
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: rfctigers05 on July 07, 2012, 11:10:40 AM
Richmond get scored against too easily that's why teams including gws kick accurately against us
Check our last three games we give up easy goals
It's a rabble game plan but surprisingly if we had a cloke we would be premiership favourites
It's the hawks game plan minus Franklin and Roughy
Miller and jack combo don't compare but jack and cloke maybe
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Coach on July 07, 2012, 01:18:19 PM
That's why games into Elton are crucial but the DimSim drops him against a struggling team

At least he didn't pick Post.
8 posts on a field is enough FFS.  :banghead

He needs to get tough and fly outs of Terry's nest
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Dubstep Dookie on July 07, 2012, 01:21:20 PM
Oh dear  :-[
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: WA Tiger on July 07, 2012, 01:22:06 PM
Dead set stupid dropping Elton, just the Coach looking for a scape goat.....
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: Coach on July 07, 2012, 01:29:09 PM
Dead set stupid dropping Elton, just the Coach looking for a scape goat.....

No mate, I like Elton
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: WA Tiger on July 07, 2012, 02:06:29 PM
Dead set stupid dropping Elton, just the Coach looking for a scape goat.....

No mate, I like Elton

Haha, not you a clown....haha
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: mightytiges on July 07, 2012, 09:34:40 PM
Kicking the ball between the two big sticks would help for starters  :scream.

IMO playing 3 talls forward isn't working especially when the second stringers are hardly proven at this level. Then add we kick deep to the pockets which means we have a number of lower percentage shots (mind you today we missed the gimme sitters as well  ::) ).

Plenty of goalkicking practice needed this week Tiges. A few times this year we've had shockers in front of the big sticks (GWS game comes first to mind as does the Essendon game after half-time).
Title: Re: Victims of the rebound --- Richmond's ineffective forward line (Age)
Post by: tigs2011 on July 07, 2012, 09:55:16 PM
Got cut up on the rebound today. waitwut? Might have been though if MelTank hadn't kept kicking it on the full. Even I was  :banghead