Here we are after six rounds and the AFL at large is in an exciting place at the moment. The meta is speed on the ball and lightning-quick transition. If you are Justin Longmuir and you love traditional notions of ball security, you are nowhere. You adapt to the new paradigm or you die.
I just wanted to touch on something that has become increasingly apparent in 2023 - tactics of mistake, and what it actually means for us beyond the obvious, tangible outcomes.
In our glorious recent reign, Richmond Football Club gave birth to the concept of imperfect football. That is, nail the defensive aspects of the game, hammer defensive setups again and again on the track until they are concrete, but approach the offensive side of the game with a clean slate. Propel the forward using whatever skillset you have been blessed with, whether that be a knock-on, an incisive hand pass, a 45m dart. Whatever it takes to gain territory and put pressure on the opposition defensive shape. Maximize player strengths, give them license to pull whatever trigger they feel is necessary.
Normally, and traditionally, this would be suicide. People underestimate the breathtaking tactical acumen required to pull this off in its infancy. We all know on these boards that we weren't the most skillful team, despite the premium talents of Martin, Cotchin and Riewoldt. We surged and hacked the ball forward at all costs, forward handpasses through the oppo sweeper before anyone else was doing it.
Chaos footy. Shouldn't have worked, Chris Scott was certainly scratching his head. But it did because over the top of the tactically brilliant concept of risk-free football we had Dimma pulling his troops together and generating serious, serious commitment.
The critical mental driver that allowed our terrorizing chaos flower to bloom was the fact that mistakes were not only tolerated, but welcome. As long as you were having a genuine crack, mistakes were accepted as inevitable collateral to a supremely unpredictable offensive style. Cough up the pill? Didn't matter, we would swarm the contest and mop it up again. And again. Each player knew there was backup, which gave him even more confidence to execute with maximum lethality.
A perfect storm of positive feedback. Tactics of (safe) risk. We eliminated the danger of turnover. Pure, rolled gold and teams had no answer as we netted four years of dominance.
Roll through to 2023. 666 and stand are entrenched in the sense that teams have had three seasons to deep think and adjust accordingly. As I said, the meta is transition in its purest form. Speed, precision, skill. The most intricate stoppage systems and analysis we have ever seen. Speed and precision is very, very difficult to achieve. You need the right personnel for a start. This has changed the meta at the draft table.
What do these tides of change mean for us? Firstly, we have needed to adjust. Damien Hardwick is no mug and certainly isn't Justin Longmuir. We have recruited for speed, mobility, precision. Time will tell whether we nailed the class of 2021, but our approach lies in stark contrast to the skillsets we recruited previously.
Already in 2023 we can see an ambitious game plan evolving. The midfield has been stiffened because we no longer set up exclusively from half back or on turnover. We are trying to execute fast breaks from stoppage and switch on transition almost religiously.
In 2023, we play an aggressive brand of football that pays off like the lottery and can also make us look sloppy and unaccountable.
Because in 2023, tactics of mistake is the game we all play. Mistakes are punished like they never have been before. There's no point engineering a constant +1 down back like we did 2017-2021 because teams are too quick and incisive now to fall for that trick. They just go around the likes of Vlastuin, no problem.
So we tell the players to execute clean possession chains into F50. Gone are the swarms, the surges, the knock-ons, the brazen forays. We must execute or we will concede scores.
So that's the pure tactical side. My interest in this is what it does for us mentally. Tactics of mistake has the potential to mess with our minds the most, as we are the ones who rode tactics of (safe) risk into premiership glory.
We still carry several players who are imprecise but rugged and irrepressible. What is their place in 2023? How do they adjust to a dangerous game of Russian roulette? Of all teams, ours is the least likely to embrace tactics of mistake because the players were told for years they didn't matter!
The wheel of macro tactics turns slowly. Year upon year of persistent drilling and careful refinement. We are a work in progress. Personnel-wise. Tactics-wise. There are many faults with this current team, but when it comes to tactics I can see what we are trying to do.
Like it or not, Collingwood is the benchmark. Thus far in 2023 they have achieved what no one else can - speed, precision and the breathtakingly audacious concept of -1 behind the ball.
THAT is as brilliant as our own risk-free football of 2017. And a story for another day.
I just wanted to touch on something that has become increasingly apparent in 2023 - tactics of mistake, and what it actually means for us beyond the obvious, tangible outcomes.
In our glorious recent reign, Richmond Football Club gave birth to the concept of imperfect football. That is, nail the defensive aspects of the game, hammer defensive setups again and again on the track until they are concrete, but approach the offensive side of the game with a clean slate. Propel the forward using whatever skillset you have been blessed with, whether that be a knock-on, an incisive hand pass, a 45m dart. Whatever it takes to gain territory and put pressure on the opposition defensive shape. Maximize player strengths, give them license to pull whatever trigger they feel is necessary.
Normally, and traditionally, this would be suicide. People underestimate the breathtaking tactical acumen required to pull this off in its infancy. We all know on these boards that we weren't the most skillful team, despite the premium talents of Martin, Cotchin and Riewoldt. We surged and hacked the ball forward at all costs, forward handpasses through the oppo sweeper before anyone else was doing it.
Chaos footy. Shouldn't have worked, Chris Scott was certainly scratching his head. But it did because over the top of the tactically brilliant concept of risk-free football we had Dimma pulling his troops together and generating serious, serious commitment.
The critical mental driver that allowed our terrorizing chaos flower to bloom was the fact that mistakes were not only tolerated, but welcome. As long as you were having a genuine crack, mistakes were accepted as inevitable collateral to a supremely unpredictable offensive style. Cough up the pill? Didn't matter, we would swarm the contest and mop it up again. And again. Each player knew there was backup, which gave him even more confidence to execute with maximum lethality.
A perfect storm of positive feedback. Tactics of (safe) risk. We eliminated the danger of turnover. Pure, rolled gold and teams had no answer as we netted four years of dominance.
Roll through to 2023. 666 and stand are entrenched in the sense that teams have had three seasons to deep think and adjust accordingly. As I said, the meta is transition in its purest form. Speed, precision, skill. The most intricate stoppage systems and analysis we have ever seen. Speed and precision is very, very difficult to achieve. You need the right personnel for a start. This has changed the meta at the draft table.
What do these tides of change mean for us? Firstly, we have needed to adjust. Damien Hardwick is no mug and certainly isn't Justin Longmuir. We have recruited for speed, mobility, precision. Time will tell whether we nailed the class of 2021, but our approach lies in stark contrast to the skillsets we recruited previously.
Already in 2023 we can see an ambitious game plan evolving. The midfield has been stiffened because we no longer set up exclusively from half back or on turnover. We are trying to execute fast breaks from stoppage and switch on transition almost religiously.
In 2023, we play an aggressive brand of football that pays off like the lottery and can also make us look sloppy and unaccountable.
Because in 2023, tactics of mistake is the game we all play. Mistakes are punished like they never have been before. There's no point engineering a constant +1 down back like we did 2017-2021 because teams are too quick and incisive now to fall for that trick. They just go around the likes of Vlastuin, no problem.
So we tell the players to execute clean possession chains into F50. Gone are the swarms, the surges, the knock-ons, the brazen forays. We must execute or we will concede scores.
So that's the pure tactical side. My interest in this is what it does for us mentally. Tactics of mistake has the potential to mess with our minds the most, as we are the ones who rode tactics of (safe) risk into premiership glory.
We still carry several players who are imprecise but rugged and irrepressible. What is their place in 2023? How do they adjust to a dangerous game of Russian roulette? Of all teams, ours is the least likely to embrace tactics of mistake because the players were told for years they didn't matter!
The wheel of macro tactics turns slowly. Year upon year of persistent drilling and careful refinement. We are a work in progress. Personnel-wise. Tactics-wise. There are many faults with this current team, but when it comes to tactics I can see what we are trying to do.
Like it or not, Collingwood is the benchmark. Thus far in 2023 they have achieved what no one else can - speed, precision and the breathtakingly audacious concept of -1 behind the ball.
THAT is as brilliant as our own risk-free football of 2017. And a story for another day.
