Talking Footy

Yes I was fortunate enough to watch the game on TV yesterday and I was in celebration mode before half time!

It seems the Swans have been worked out by their respective opponents - simply kick more than 11 goals and you'll beat 'em! Their negative style of play earned them an unexpected premiership last year (with the lowest ever winning score in a non weather-affected GF!) but they will not win lotto again.

They can no longer sneak under the radar and teams are now prepared for their questionable defeatist strategies. It was hilarious watching the third term yesterday and despite being down by over 40 points they were still flooding in defence and didn't have any attacking player in their forward 50!!! Funny stuff. At one stage Michael O'loughlin was tempted to run inside 50 but must have remembered Roos' instructions and just stood there dumbfounded!!

Good to see their form line as well - they got beaten by Essendon last week who were beaten by the Lions (who were flogged by the Cats!) and Port got flogged last week by North Melbourne who subsequently got flogged by the cats! Wait till the Swans take on some quality opposition!!

11 Goals per games aint gonna win too many games let alone premierships Beaussie!!!!!!

And you think Port weren't flooding as well? Not that it really matters now.

crocodileman wrote:

11 Goals per games aint gonna win too many games let alone premierships Beaussie!!!!!!

GRAND FINAL

Saturday 24 September

Sydney 8.10 (58)
def
West Coast 7.12 (54)

Can someone explain to me what "flooding" is in AFL ??

Flooding is the tactic of placing most of your team back inside the defensive 50 metre arc every time the opposition has possession. This ensures that the team attacking has no real and effective chance to kick to an unmarked man or even a 50-50 contest as the backline is "flooded" with players.

The attacking team usually tries to bomb long from outside 50 metres which is a low percentage play and it effectively shuts a team down from scoring many goals - making for an "ugly" game where open footy is not played.

Although it seems fool proof there is a down side to the tactic - if the team employing the flood gets possession they are in no position to attack or score either. Because their players (even forwards) are defending - they have more than 100 metres to run back to be in scoring positions when they get the ball and they effectively cannot score many goals either.

Also, highly skilled attacking teams can move the ball around and "pinpoint" passes to good matchups (i.e. talls -v- shorts) as St Kilda did to the Swans in Round 8 last year!!

The swans have one of the best backlines in the AFL croc. They are also arguably the best team in the AFL at attacking out of the backline. Flooding can suit their fast paced style. They also won many games last season without using the flooding and many games where they didnt need to score more than eleven goals because of superb defence. As a superb defensive player myself I can understand and appreciate what it takes to shut down teams .

Now lets talk about this lovely attacking footy you talk about. Take for example your scraggly old lions and Jonothan Brown. Jonothan Brown a man who kicked 8 goals last season in one game and did jack diddly squat for the rest of the season apart from chowing down greasy kebabs and fried chicken. And your scraggly old lions a team who some fools might say have some of the best attacking footy players on the planet managed a hard fought loss [19.10 (124) 6.4 (40)] against the classy swans on sunday 14th august last year.

You see attacking footy stems from a good backline and midfield dear croc, and, as you did last year, you will lose many more of your hard earned until you realise this point.

Ok.. so they are playing within the rules then..

Mightn't make the most attractive spectacle, but winners are grinners I suspect...

Reminds me of Canterbury's umbrella defense on the mid 80's... Negative play but they won a couple of premierships with it...It actually led to the 10 metre rule and the game becoming more opened up, and a better spectacle in the long run...

Willis 21 wrote:

Ok.. so they are playing within the rules then..

Of course, like many other teams in the AFL.

Willis 21 wrote:

Mightn't make the most attractive spectacle, but winners are grinners I suspect...

Exactly, well last season at least.

Willis 21 wrote:

Reminds me of Canterbury's umbrella defense on the mid 80's... Negative play but they won a couple of premierships with it...It actually led to the 10 metre rule and the game becoming more opened up, and a better spectacle in the long run...

Yep and the AFL has introduced new rules this season that the Swans seem to be struggling with.