Kick2Kick was asked a question from Vikki last week asking “what are Three defence and attacking skills?”. Only three of each is hard when in the game of football there is plenty of skills to learn and perfect. Along with the fact that in today’s football, a lot of attack comes from defence.
In marking contests, defenders need to punch & the ability for a forward to take a pack mark is a great skill
3 Defensive Skills
These skills are purely defensive skills.
Punching the Ball in Marking Contests
To be able to defend you need to be able to punch/ spoil a mark from your opponent. When a forward takes a big pack mark and kicks a goal, it can be moral sapping for the opposition but a big punch from a contest can be just as moral sapping for them.
Past Brisbane defenders in Justin Leppitsch and Mal Michael were famous for their big 20m odd spoils which also gets the ball out of the immediate area.
One Percenters
We at Kick2Kick have written two articles highlighting several one percenters already. We would recommend reading them (article one & article two).
St Kilda is one team this year that has one percenters built into their game plan and it brings pressure to their opposition and even when no St Kilda player is around, it brings persevered pressure.
Stand Goal Side of your Opponent
Great tip for any defender especially when guarding someone who is dangerous and or leads from the goal square/ inside 50m.
This means that if they want to lead into the corridor (straight in front of goals) they have to pass you which gives you 2-3 steps to catch up to their lead. Most forwards will end up leading towards the boundary line. This means that if they mark the ball, they have an angle to kick against and the chances of them missing the goal increases.
3 Attacking Skills
In today’s football most coaches put their most damaging players in the back line like Gilbee (Bulldogs), Goddard/ Gilbert/ Gram (St Kilda), Hurn (West Coast), Scarlett (Geelong), Broughton (Fremantle) etc. This enables the attack and run to start down back.
However in just focusing on skills and not positions, lets focus on the handball, kicking efficiency & the ability to take a contested mark.
Simon Black is a great modern day example of someone who uses the handball as an attacking weapon/ skill
The Handball
5-10 years ago, the disposal rate of a handball to kicks was 1 handball to 2 or 3 kicks. 20+ years ago, you only used a handball if you could not kick the ball.
However several clubs (West Coast, Adelaide & Geelong) started to use the handball as an attacking weapon rather than a pure defensive option. So much so that now the handball to kick ratio is 1-1 and sometimes some teams even handball more than kick.
When used right it can free up a player and is one way of breaking the various zones teams play.
The handball can also be used to great effect in a pack situation where the player grabs the ball and fires out a quick handball to a free player. Black from Brisbane and past players in Scott West (Bulldogs) & Greg Williams (Sydney, Geelong & Carlton) are great examples.
Kicking Efficiency
The number one skill is and will always be the kick and the ability to kick it efficiently to a team mate. An efficient kick has the ability to open up a game just as much as a forward who can kick straight at goals.
Ability to take a Contested Mark
In tight pressure packed games the ability for a player to take a contested mark down back or up forward can never be under estimated. It gives your team mates the confidence that they can just kick the ball long to a contest and the chances of a mark is high.
This is beneficial when the pressure is great on the ball carrier and he cannot pin point a pass. Wayne Carey (North & Adelaide) was one of the best ever and in today’s game Jonathon Brown (Brisbane) is the best.
I hope Vikki, this helps answer your question about 3 defensive and 3 attacking skills that can be used in todays AFL from under 10s to the elite AFL competition.
If you have any other attacking or defensive skills/ questions or comments, please include them along with any comments in the comment section below.
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August 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
thank you for all the help
August 20th, 2009 at 8:42 am
No problems Vikki, if you have any other questions please ask!