In Sunday's game against St Kilda, North Melbourne showed great strength in adapting to the opposition's game plan.
In Sunday's game against St Kilda, North Melbourne showed great strength in adapting to the opposition's game plan. Frequently the Saints attempted to squeeze North Melbourne into a constricted area, only for the Kangaroos to use their run to break the game open.
When the Saints then tried to counter by splitting the game open through the middle of the ground, the Kangaroos switched the style of ball use and hurt their opposition on the outer flanks.
All three plays in this edition of NMFC Playbook occurred in the final quarter.
Firstly, we look at the lead-up to a Ryan Bastinac behind.
As Sam Gibson gains possession on the half-back line, we can see the amount of space left in the centre square.
Gibson handballs to a running Sam Wright and St Kilda's plan becomes apparent. It is attempting to force a North turnover with pressure and by adding sheer numbers around the contest, it has a chance to force an error.
But North refuses to concede a turn over and its adeptness with the quick handball is put on display. Despite being under extreme pressure, Wright dishes a pass to Liam Anthony and the ball ends up going backwards and into Shaun Atley's hands on the defensive 50.
While on the TV broadcast Atley's kick seemed rushed, from the behind-the-goals we see what is actually ahead of him. With two free North players in the centre square, Atley cleverly kicks across his body and with some luck, gets the ball into their area. North is now off to the races.
Hard running from a multitude of midfielders continues the play and as Bastinac shapes to receive the ball, it's evident just how much the quick ball movement has strained the St Kilda defence.
Although Bastinac just misses the goal, the pattern has been set.
From the Saints’ ensuing kickout, North regains possession just on the attacking side of the wing. Again, the ball is moved inboard and St Kilda is caught behind on the spread.
This time Jamie Macmillan makes no mistake and North stretches its lead to 18-points at a crucial stage in the final term.
As the quarter wore on, the Saints tried to adapt. Instead of constricting North into a tight space, it covered the centre of the ground. This meant the wider North moved the ball, the more space it would find.
This is exactly what happened in the lead-up to Lindsay Thomas' long-range goal.
As is shown here, the middle is now covered by St Kilda defenders.
With one Gibson handball and one Daniel Wells kick, Jack Ziebell finds himself in plenty of space. He receives, passes the ball to Thomas who takes care of the rest.
kangaroos.com.au is willing to give you the rare chance to have your thoughts and knowledge published online by becoming the author of our weekly ‘Definitive Pr
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
