Contenders go their own wayEric George
The Australian
26 May 2018Clubs have broken free of the groupthink to strike out in bold new directions.
The “follow-the-leader” convention — where the style of play is heavily influenced by the reigning premier’s method — has been usurped by a new spirit of individuality.
Suddenly, not everyone is aping the premier, in this case Richmond’s crash-land-bash, unsociable brand of football featuring pacy small forwards and extreme pressure.
Instead the challengers are cutting their cloth to fashion styles from their available talent.
The barnstorming Eagles, for example, are playing to their strengths by going long and strong to their brace of tall players.
Jack Darling and Jeremy McGovern are Nos 1 and 2 for contested marks and the Eagles lead the league tin the stat.
As such, the Eagles have no need to pick their way through zones with handball, so they go long to their big men — they’re No 1 in the league for kicks.
The Demons have settled upon a different formula. Clayton Oliver and the rest of their impressive on-ballers flip the ball around more — the Demons are 15th for kicks but fourth for handballs.
Max Gawn leads the league for hit-outs, further boosting the Dees’ midfield productivity.
And they lead the competition in the all-important — but often overrated — contested possessions column.
When they do kick, they kick long. And their tackling is far superior to the other top sides. The Demons are third for tackles; the Tigers are 13th and the Eagles 17th.
Simon Goodwin appears to be searching for a balanced method and he might have found just the right blend.
The Champion Data spreadsheets seem to indicate that the Swans have little to recommend them other than an excellent defence — they’re ranked No 1 for rebound 50m percentage — and Lance Franklin.
Their middling rankings in most categories might explain why the Swans have lost three home games and we’re not even halfway into the season.
The numbers suggest Port’s strength is in close and tight; Ollie Wines and company have the Power ranked first for clearances and second for tackles.
The clearances ranking is impressive given the Power started the season without a ruckman.
The Kangaroos have bounded down yet another path. They appear to have abandoned both the chip kick game they favoured a few seasons ago, and also the kamikaze handball style also seen in the Brad Scott era.
They’re kicking longer to Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite. They’re winning just enough of the ball (fourth in contested possessions) to hold their own so far this year.
Collingwood and the Bulldogs’ styles are similar. Both use handball to get the ball to a player in the open. The Pies are No 1 and the Dogs No 3 for handballs.
When it works it’s lethal; Collingwood ripped apart the Crows wing by bloody wing in round 4, and they did it with their handball.
When the Dogs tried to do the same thing against Adelaide a few weeks later — and failed — the familiar cries of “too much handball” rang out. One leg good, two hands bad.
Never mind that the Dogs had more inside-50s than Adelaide. And never mind that they won the 2016 flag with handball. It’s always handball’s fault … All the contrasting styles suggest that, rather than replicate Richmond’s flag-winning template, clubs are chasing success in different ways with methods that are often guided by the type of players they have at their disposal.
There’s no right way or wrong way. Only the winning way. (And all of this comes with a caveat; and that is that every club, at times, is smothering the ball with rolling mauls.)
There might be another reason clubs are choosing their own paths. Because the Tigers’ style is too hard to reproduce.
Other than their extreme pressure and a small forward line, it’s hard to pin down exactly what they do differently. It’s tough to mimic chaos ball.
And it’s impossible to recreate the tide of emotion that swept the Tigers to glory last year.
Perhaps the only club copying Richmond is the one that most fears Richmond. The one that knows the Tigers’ game better than anyone because they’ve seen it from point blank range.
The one cut the deepest by the Tiger tooth.
The Crows, like the 2017 Richmond, are highly ranked for loose ball gets and long kicks. They’re quick and they’re direct.
Whether imitating the side that caused the Crows so much pain — in a premiership that was theirs to win — is a sound strategy remains to be seen.
A word of warning to the other 17 clubs though. The Tigers’ biggest weakness last year was their at times sloppy skills.
They were No 2 for clangers last year. This year they’re No 18.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/contenders-go-their-own-way/news-story/cfdbfde47affe722bca17e2777a902a2
