Defence wins premierships - true or false?

[one-eyed]

An appropriate article for us as we are going down the Bullies run and carry path with our gameplan.

The case for the defence
Martin Blake | May 31, 2007 | The Age

There has been a tendency over the past year to suggest that the Western Bulldogs, with their run and carry from defence and their quick scoring, have reinvented the way Australian football should be played.

But on the evidence thus far, it is an idealistic view. Manuka produced the weekend's most significant game in some ways as the two disparate game-plans went head-to-head. The Bulldogs are great to watch at their best, to be sure, but in the kind of tight, in-close, accountable game that Sydney produced in Canberra, Rodney Eade's team was dreadful.

In basketball and American football, it has long been said that "defence wins championships". And in the modern world of Australian football, with the proliferation of coaches and the emphasis on opposition scouting, it has come to be a truism as well.

Of the past 15 premier teams only one, Denis Pagan's 1999 Kangaroos team, came from outside the top handful in defensive rankings, simply taken from the list of points scored against.

The best teams simply don't allow big scores to be kicked against them. You don't have to be the best defensive team; just one of the best.

DEFENSIVE RANKING

2006 West Coast 4
2005 Sydney 2
2004 Port Adelaide 4
2003 Brisbane Lions 5
2002 Brisbane Lions 2
2001 Brisbane Lions 6
2000 Essendon 1
1999 Kangaroos 10
1998 Adelaide 1
1997 Adelaide 1
1996 North Melbourne 7
1995 Carlton 1
1994 West Coast 1
1993 Essendon 5
1992 West Coast 1

As for Richmond:
Attack: 14th - score an average of 83 points  (1. Geelong 120; 16. Melbourne 76)
Defence: 15th - concede an average of 120 points  (1. West Coast 74; 16. Carlton 124)

Full article at: http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/the-case-for-the-defence/2007/05/30/1180205337990.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[mightytiges]

You can argue the best sides have the best attack and defence anyway. I think Jake mentioned before the best sides are usually those with the best percentage.