After two rounds of football of season 2009, the one obvious thing is that every club is now using the ‘rolling zone’ or ‘Hawthorns cluster’. As pointed out by AflFootyBlog in a recent post were only eight of the NAB teams in round 2 managed to kick over nine goals in a game. This caused me to ask “How do you beat this rolling zone?”
Click to view how the Hawthorns Rolling Zone/ Cluster works & come up with your own ideas on how to defeat it
Suggestions on How to Beat the Rolling Zone
Personally I do not think every club implementing the zone in their game plan is the answer, it makes the game ugly. I also do not like the AFL introducing new rules (zones, 9 point goals, limited number of interchanges etc) to try and limit the zone. I think it must be up to the coaches to create a game plan to break this zone.
Some ideas are:
- The old VFA style of dispensing with the wingman, reducing the number of players per team (on the field) to 16. Less congestion presumably would follow.
- A limit on the number of successive handballs in defence might weed out the criss-crossing, back and forth brand of play (idea by Gerald Healy).
I asked this on twitter and we got varied different responses from AFL fans:
- danielando Simple – Learn how to hit targets and not turn the ball over.
- tigerinatube The Torp.
- packers4 exactly! Hit targets. Plenty of poor field kicking in AFL teams even with all the increased training.
- packers4 think basketball to beat the zone….after all NBL teams go into a man on man when the zone is not working!!
- uncyherb With the biff! Smack the living crap out of the blokes in the back row of the cluster with a knee to the head in marking contests.
Kick2Kick’s suggestion on how to defeat the Rolling Zone
Last year the best team to go about in defeating Hawthorns rolling Zone was the Kangaroos. I remember watching the games and the way they did it should be watched and implemented instead of just copying the Hawks.
What to do to defeat the zone:
- Run & Carry: Most zones are 50m in depth and you can run 15m without bouncing which makes the zone run away from you and displaces them.
- Long kicks: If you can kick the ball 50m+ it allows you to break the zone.
- Hit Targets: It is even better if you can kick the ball 50m+ and hit targets.
- No short kicks: Short kicks just makes the zone even more effective as more players get in the 50m area.
- One on One: You have to man up, you cannot let a player fill in that gap and be unaccountable.
On Friday night in Alice Springs, the Eagles constantly had to plot a path through waves of Crows players, with a heavy percentage of possessions from both sides coming between the respective 50m zones.
When West Coast took the game on by running hard and linking up with handball, as opposed to trying to find teammates with short passes, they provided their forwards with something of a rarity in the modern game — a one-on-one tussle.
I use this quote as an example what taking on the zone can mean and that Hansen & Lynch (much maligned forwards) can kick 6 between them and the Eagles look like they can actually win a game.
Ideas to defeat the Rolling Zone from other Sports
One of the twitter responses (Packers4) mention using some of the basketball ideas.
Your Views, Comments & Suggestions to Defeat the Zone
What are some suggestions, ideas and input you the AFL fan can think of to help remove this hoorible rolling zone that means goals are a premium and we watch boring Sydney like games of possesions between the two 50m arcs?
Do you think we must introduce rules or would you just rather the coaches come up with new ideas?
Loading ...
