bornadog
04-06-2016, 11:54 PM
Link (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-2016-flexibility-helps-western-bulldogs-stay-in-finals-hunt-20160603-gpaons.html)
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/r/s/h/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gpaons.png/1465028920585.jpg
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has made flexibility a byword for his team, and it's never come in handier than this season.
In his first year at the helm last year, Beveridge made an art form of rotating players through his best 22, keeping everyone on their toes.
The Bulldogs used 40 players for the season, the equal third most of any club, and far from a sign of injuries and inconsistency it became a measure of strength, the Dogs the only finalist among the eight AFL clubs who used the most.
This year, however, it's been more about injuries than form, with a procession of casualties – defenders Bob Murphy, Jason Johannisen, Matt Suckling and Marcus Adams, forwards Tory Dickson and Tom Boyd, and midfielder Koby Stevens – leaving a series of holes in the line-up.
The response has been interesting. The Bulldogs have used 32 players so far, actually one fewer than to the same stage last season. But it's again flexibility, not so much of personnel, but this time of position, that is still helping keep the Dogs afloat in the top eight.
While Beveridge has had to slot a series of different players through the defence to fill the gaps, there's just as much, if not more position-swapping going on in the midfield and up forward.
The Bulldogs have had more than a dozen players rotate through the midfield thus far this season. Only three – Mitch Wallis, Lachie Hunter and Bailey Williams, who has played just two games – have been used exclusively as midfielders.
Another dozen – including Marcus Bontompelli, Tom Liberatore, Luke Dahlhaus, Jack Macrae, Stevens, Liam Picken, Caleb Daniel, Lin Jong and Josh Dunkley – have all spent enough time forward of centre to be classified as midfielder/forwards.
Beveridge began the trend last year. But injuries coupled with the reduction of the interchange rotation limit from 120 to 90 per game has taken the flexibility to another level again this season.
"We all know in big games things happen, and if someone's not having a great day or a certain part of the ground isn't performing, we've got the flexibility to be able to swing people around in different spots," says Bulldogs midfield coach Steven King.
"It's definitely a focus, and this year, the way the game's going with limited rotations, we think it's a really healthy thing to have a lot of players be able to play dual positions."
Certainly, the Bulldogs have more midfielders creeping forward than most, if not all their rivals.
That's reflected in the numbers. While the forward set-up hasn't been as prolific as the coaching staff would have liked so far, the Bulldogs ranked just 10th for scoring before this round, their goalkicking spread is still impressive, the Dogs averaging 8.8 individual goalkickers per game, ranking behind only Geelong, Melbourne and GWS.
The Bulldogs have eight players averaging at least one goal per game, equal most of any team. GWS, Melbourne and Geelong, three other sides with that many, ranked second, third and fourth for scoring.
That versatility has enabled them to continue cobbling together enough of a score to win more often than not, even without the likes of regular goalkickers like Boyd and Dickson, whose absences at various stages have allowed opponents to focus much of their defensive efforts on Jake Stringer.
The change between how the Bulldogs structure before and since the arrival of Beveridge as coach has been massive, and perhaps no player has felt the difference as starkly as Liberatore, who was reigning best and fairest winner when Beveridge arrived at the end of 2014, but has only played under him this year after seriously injuring his knee and missing all of last season.
The accompanying heat maps offer a good idea of how dramatically Liberatore's role has changed, in 2014, the red areas from half-back to the wing. This season, the red is inside the forward 50.
Liberatore is attending half as many centre bounces, averaging more than double the amount of goals, and while a superb clearance winner, the Dogs aren't depending nearly so heavily upon him to win them.
"We know 'Libba's' inside game is elite," says King, "but we wanted to encourage him, especially coming off his knee, to be able to have that flexibility to play wing, half-forward, half-back if he has to.
"It's lessened his load inside, but it's adding things to his game, which will help grow others as well. It's kept him fresh and energised and taken the heat off a little bit, giving him different opportunities to stay in games."
Liberatore, nonetheless, is still a very handy resource in the thick of a tight, contested game. "He's had a couple of real combative, inside games, like against Melbourne when he was up against Jack Viney. It was fantastic to watch the two of them tackling and just hunting the footy. But he's just a smart, instinctive footballer, and those smarts have held him in good stead wherever he plays."
The spike in numbers of "anywhere men", or as they used to be known, utilities, has certainly made life more complicated for the line coaches, midfield man King, his close cohort and stoppage coach Joel Corey, defence coach Rohan Smith and forwards coach Daniel Giansiracusa.
Their groups of charges used to be a lot more clearly defined than they are now.
"Week to week we mix up our reviews and line meetings, so you've got all those numbers going through there now," says King. "You've just got to get your message across to the whole group, which is a healthy thing for anyone's footy IQ.
"You don't want to be seen as a one-line player, so we encourage all our players to get around and I think it's just a matter of balancing that time. They might do one week with me, the next week go to 'Gia', then spend time with Joel with all our stoppage stuff and structures. But we have a consistency of message to ensure they're confident wherever they go on the ground and that they've got a fair idea what their roles and expectations are."
The casualty list for the Bulldogs is starting to shrink again as the injured begin to filter back, Suckling and Adams returning last week, Tom Boyd and Stevens perhaps next week, Johannisen three to four weeks off a comeback. And the Dogs have held the fort in the meantime pretty well.
"With injuries and the rotations limit, that flexibility is really important I think," says King. "You want to be able to keep your good players out there for as long as you can, having as many as fit and fresh as possible at the right time of the year."
And in a premiership race as open as we've seen for a couple of decades, it's evenness of talent across the list and adaptability on the ground that perhaps still might prove the Western Bulldogs' most valuable weapon.
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/r/s/h/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gpaons.png/1465028920585.jpg
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has made flexibility a byword for his team, and it's never come in handier than this season.
In his first year at the helm last year, Beveridge made an art form of rotating players through his best 22, keeping everyone on their toes.
The Bulldogs used 40 players for the season, the equal third most of any club, and far from a sign of injuries and inconsistency it became a measure of strength, the Dogs the only finalist among the eight AFL clubs who used the most.
This year, however, it's been more about injuries than form, with a procession of casualties – defenders Bob Murphy, Jason Johannisen, Matt Suckling and Marcus Adams, forwards Tory Dickson and Tom Boyd, and midfielder Koby Stevens – leaving a series of holes in the line-up.
The response has been interesting. The Bulldogs have used 32 players so far, actually one fewer than to the same stage last season. But it's again flexibility, not so much of personnel, but this time of position, that is still helping keep the Dogs afloat in the top eight.
While Beveridge has had to slot a series of different players through the defence to fill the gaps, there's just as much, if not more position-swapping going on in the midfield and up forward.
The Bulldogs have had more than a dozen players rotate through the midfield thus far this season. Only three – Mitch Wallis, Lachie Hunter and Bailey Williams, who has played just two games – have been used exclusively as midfielders.
Another dozen – including Marcus Bontompelli, Tom Liberatore, Luke Dahlhaus, Jack Macrae, Stevens, Liam Picken, Caleb Daniel, Lin Jong and Josh Dunkley – have all spent enough time forward of centre to be classified as midfielder/forwards.
Beveridge began the trend last year. But injuries coupled with the reduction of the interchange rotation limit from 120 to 90 per game has taken the flexibility to another level again this season.
"We all know in big games things happen, and if someone's not having a great day or a certain part of the ground isn't performing, we've got the flexibility to be able to swing people around in different spots," says Bulldogs midfield coach Steven King.
"It's definitely a focus, and this year, the way the game's going with limited rotations, we think it's a really healthy thing to have a lot of players be able to play dual positions."
Certainly, the Bulldogs have more midfielders creeping forward than most, if not all their rivals.
That's reflected in the numbers. While the forward set-up hasn't been as prolific as the coaching staff would have liked so far, the Bulldogs ranked just 10th for scoring before this round, their goalkicking spread is still impressive, the Dogs averaging 8.8 individual goalkickers per game, ranking behind only Geelong, Melbourne and GWS.
The Bulldogs have eight players averaging at least one goal per game, equal most of any team. GWS, Melbourne and Geelong, three other sides with that many, ranked second, third and fourth for scoring.
That versatility has enabled them to continue cobbling together enough of a score to win more often than not, even without the likes of regular goalkickers like Boyd and Dickson, whose absences at various stages have allowed opponents to focus much of their defensive efforts on Jake Stringer.
The change between how the Bulldogs structure before and since the arrival of Beveridge as coach has been massive, and perhaps no player has felt the difference as starkly as Liberatore, who was reigning best and fairest winner when Beveridge arrived at the end of 2014, but has only played under him this year after seriously injuring his knee and missing all of last season.
The accompanying heat maps offer a good idea of how dramatically Liberatore's role has changed, in 2014, the red areas from half-back to the wing. This season, the red is inside the forward 50.
Liberatore is attending half as many centre bounces, averaging more than double the amount of goals, and while a superb clearance winner, the Dogs aren't depending nearly so heavily upon him to win them.
"We know 'Libba's' inside game is elite," says King, "but we wanted to encourage him, especially coming off his knee, to be able to have that flexibility to play wing, half-forward, half-back if he has to.
"It's lessened his load inside, but it's adding things to his game, which will help grow others as well. It's kept him fresh and energised and taken the heat off a little bit, giving him different opportunities to stay in games."
Liberatore, nonetheless, is still a very handy resource in the thick of a tight, contested game. "He's had a couple of real combative, inside games, like against Melbourne when he was up against Jack Viney. It was fantastic to watch the two of them tackling and just hunting the footy. But he's just a smart, instinctive footballer, and those smarts have held him in good stead wherever he plays."
The spike in numbers of "anywhere men", or as they used to be known, utilities, has certainly made life more complicated for the line coaches, midfield man King, his close cohort and stoppage coach Joel Corey, defence coach Rohan Smith and forwards coach Daniel Giansiracusa.
Their groups of charges used to be a lot more clearly defined than they are now.
"Week to week we mix up our reviews and line meetings, so you've got all those numbers going through there now," says King. "You've just got to get your message across to the whole group, which is a healthy thing for anyone's footy IQ.
"You don't want to be seen as a one-line player, so we encourage all our players to get around and I think it's just a matter of balancing that time. They might do one week with me, the next week go to 'Gia', then spend time with Joel with all our stoppage stuff and structures. But we have a consistency of message to ensure they're confident wherever they go on the ground and that they've got a fair idea what their roles and expectations are."
The casualty list for the Bulldogs is starting to shrink again as the injured begin to filter back, Suckling and Adams returning last week, Tom Boyd and Stevens perhaps next week, Johannisen three to four weeks off a comeback. And the Dogs have held the fort in the meantime pretty well.
"With injuries and the rotations limit, that flexibility is really important I think," says King. "You want to be able to keep your good players out there for as long as you can, having as many as fit and fresh as possible at the right time of the year."
And in a premiership race as open as we've seen for a couple of decades, it's evenness of talent across the list and adaptability on the ground that perhaps still might prove the Western Bulldogs' most valuable weapon.