The good and bad of team defence: From The Notebook, Round 19 2024

This week’s Notebook theme is all about team defence.

Team defence is what separates bad teams from good, good teams from great, great teams from premiership contenders.

It’s a video-heavy piece this week, with examples coming from Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Essendon, and Gold Coast.

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Hawthorn (very good)

Even allowing for Collingwood’s diminished powers of late, stopping them in transition is still easier said than done. Once they get running at a retreating defence it’s normally a high quality inside 50 entry at the very least.

This passage from Hawthorn stopped it dead, forming a wall to firstly stop the run and carry, and then force a rushed kick forward where Blake Hardwick intercepted.

Snapping into the defensive structure as quickly as this is a key reason for their rise.

Gold Coast (very bad)

Although Gold Coast did a lot right on Saturday, arguably the clear better team in general play before shooting themselves in the foot with goal kicking, this was an example of how not to defend against the Giants’ run and carry.

In the Hawthorn example above it’s all about stopping the ball carrier and potential passing lanes and ideally forcing a rushed disposal instead.

Here there is none of that as Giants are allowed to cruise through the middle even after a fumble.

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Essendon (the good and bad)

At the start of Round 19, three things were true when it came to Essendon:

– Only three sides had conceded more scoring shots from within 15 metres
– Only three sides had forced more forward half turnovers
– Only four sides had allowed a higher percentage of defensive 50 to inside 50 transitions

Combine it all and it means a team that defends high up the field; often successfully but can give up dangerous field position quickly if the defence isn’t on point.

And over the last few weeks, as the defence around the ball has slowly dropped off, opponents have found more joy.

If the first layer of defence around the ball is high and aggressive, it allows the opposition access to dangerous areas much quicker if they manage to break through.

We see an example happening here. Once Adelaide get possession from the stoppage they’re off to the races, helped by the aggressive positioning of Nik Cox on the wing, in front of the line of the ball; not overly common from wingers in that area.

It means a deep inside 50 entry, with only some excellent scrambling from Jayden Laverde preventing a Darcy Fogarty mark.

But then if the pressure is better around that first high layer, it can force unwanted turnovers.

On Friday night, Adelaide, conscious of that threat, were looking to play as quickly as possible from their back half through aggressive kicking to stop Essendon from getting set.

In the third quarter, they couldn’t do that and were forced into rushed kicking and turnovers in places they didn’t want to be. After the Crows managed 25 and 20 marks in each of the first two quarters, it dropped to 11 in the third.

And because of that aggressive positioning in Essendon’s defence, it meant once they forced a turnover they were in a great spot to snap into offensive mode.

Essendon kicked 5.1 from turnovers in the third quarter and only conceded 0.2 from their own mistakes; a direct result of their system working well where it hadn’t before. Even once Adelaide got it back they were pinned in positions hard to impact from.

The question is how much faith the Bombers have in their system holding up for longer, given the season’s trend has been going the opposite.

Even so, the steps forward this year shouldn’t be forgotten. The overall process is undoubtedly better than 2023.

As long as we don’t get all … resultist about it. (Sorry)

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For those who have missed previous Notebook entries, here are links to the last five editions:

Future forecasting: FTN, R18
Playing ‘too safe’: FTN, R16
Carlton’s next step, Port’s system faults: FTN, R15
Brisbane’s movement shift, Bulldogs midfield rotations: FTN, R14
A mid-season stocktake of win predictions: FTN, R11

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Port Adelaide (same same)

The Round 15 Notebook had a section on Port Adelaide’s defensive issues, with part of it dedicated to individual mistakes breaking a setup.

It creates a domino effect tough to reverse, especially when the opposition has possession in a dangerous area.

Although Richmond faded away in the last quarter, six of their 11 goals to three quarter time originated in the defensive half as they took advantage of Power mistakes.

This was one of them from Miles Bergman. Coming up to be the second player around Dion Prestia allowed Kamdyn McIntosh enough room to get inside 50 and mark; Bergman’s choice breaking Port’s defence.