The ruckman should win the hit out in the backline. This is because the opposition ruckman usually has formed a wall with the centreman and an on-baller a kick behind the play.

The ruckman would be contesting the hit out against a CHF, FF or FP. This frees up their respective opponents and makes them a viable option to direct the tap to, protect the receiver or provide an outlet for the receiver.

The hit out directed into this area gives the receiver a number of options. For starters, the receiver is facing the direction that he is going so he will not have to do a U-turn to dispose of the ball. The receiver, if he is well protected and has space, may play on and switch the play to the opposite back pocket and the team would run the ball out of the backline and therefore bypass the wall set up by the opposition players. He may use the spare backman to give a quick handball or short kick to.

He may just move the ball along the boundary with a grubber kick and force another boundary throw in. If the opposition sharks the hit out then it is a difficult position for them to kick a goal from. It is always advisable to have someone at the back of the contest to make sure that the opposition do not get an uncontested kick in the scoring corridor. This person could be the spare backman.

Design a game drill for your players, teaching them the ingredients of this situation.

Every training drill, no matter how basic, has a number of benefits for your players. As coaches we are always encouraging the basic football skills of kicking, handball and marking etc.

An interesting exercise that I have found to be very handy, is to write our drill down on paper, then note as many points as you think each drill has that will benefit the development of your players. I will list a few of these components to assist you in this area. See how many apply to the drills you are currently using

ACCURACY - Teaching players to control the possession of the ball by passing accurately to team mates both hand and foot. As players develop, they must be challenged to complete this task under pressure, so you will need to allow this modification to your drills.

AWARENESS – Players often struggle in this important area, and so it is vital that you incorporate drills that will help develop this skill. Players with good awareness, very rarely get caught holding the ball and have an understanding of what is going on around them.

PROTECTION FOR THE BALL CARRIER – This can be incorporated into every drill and players must make it a habit after giving the ball off to a running teammate. Coaches must continually reinforce to their players the importance of this skill.

POSITIONING - The best position to be in to gain possession in the air or on the ground is, – in front. Teaching contesting players to work front position in a marking contest is vital. The smaller players must also be taught to position themselves front and centre of a marking contest. This will give them the best chance of gaining possession when the ball comes forward. These players must be prepared to tread water and hold position, as they often arrive too early and as a result, go to one side of the contest and limit their opportunities.

READING THE PLAY – An area where many players struggle. We do not provide enough drills to assist our players to develop in this area. If you were to run a drill as simple as circle work and observed your players, you would discover that number of them rarely gain possession because of poor positioning and not being able to read the play. Drills to teach players to judge distances and even encouraging them to run with players at training who can read the play will assist with their development.

VISION – Players need to be aware of what is around them and when the opportunity arises, look to select the best option rather than just the first one that presents. Incorporate decision making in your drills and encourage players not to hesitate. The biggest area we as coaches can improve, is to teach our players to make the right decision when the pressure is placed on them in a game. The old saying of the first option is always the best option is certainly true, however, too many players have tunnel vision and give off more in panic after gaining possession

PRESSURE – Manning up or using your opponent, as your starting point will assist with developing disciplined players. There are many different drills that will teach the players the importance of applying pressure by presence when your team is not in possession of the ball. Training drills do not have to be competitive to include this component.

UNREWARDED RUNNING – Most footballers do no like running unless they know there is a chance to receive the ball. Our game today demands that players are prepared to run to create space for their team mates, by offering a dummy lead when the ball comes into the forward line. The full back will also look for players to lead hard into space to open up an area for a designated receiver at kick-outs.

DECISION MAKING – Players need to be taught to make decisions through the drills we provide. I touched on this in No. 6, Vision. Start your drills so that players are required to work in traffic (confined areas) and get the receiving players to run from different positions at the same time to force the player with the ball to react. Encourage players to make decisions (even if they are not correct) as it is a much better alternative to hesitation.

LEADERSHIP – There is a saying that, “no player is born a natural leader, but they can all be taught”. Leaders need to be encouraged at training, as it will help lift the standards and make your job as a coach easier. Encourage communication in every drill and be positive in your demands. Players will gain confidence through positive coaching and as a result will be more caring and enthusiastic. Players must understand the importance of using the voice and giving instruction.

TIMING OF MOVEMENT – The importance of this cannot be under estimated. Players who leave too early for the ball will either end up in a poor position to receive, or will take the opponent up the ground, and then be pressured when the ball comes into the area. Drills need to highlight the importance of timing and positioning. Coaches should discourage players to handball to teammates who are not in a correct position to receive. Players should look to work from behind the ball until they are about to take possession.

CONCENTRATION – All players no matter what the level will suffer from lapses in concentration from time to time. Coaches need to work hard and vary drills, so players remain challenged and concentrate for longer periods. Drills that require players to think will assist them to concentrate harder. If players drop away in this area, bring them in to refocus and challenge them to pick up the level of the drill.

ONE GRAB PLAYERS – Too many times we coaches look at training players with drills that look good and run at three quarter pace. To develop players to handle a game like situation, a part of every training session should include having the football put at ground level to improve skills below the knees. Players who fumble at ground level will always struggle to dispose of the ball correctly.

RUCKWORK – As the tactical side of the game continues to grow, it is important to give as many players as possible the opportunity to do ruckwork at training. We coaches must include ruckwork in our planned training sessions. At some stages in a game it may be necessary to use the nearest tallest player in the contest, because of injury. The more practice they have in this scenario, the better they will handle it.

DISCIPLINE – This is an important ingredient for players to have at every training session and for every drill. I spoke earlier about the need for team rules and how important for coaches and players to follow them at training so that they become second nature in a game situation. Attending training on time, correct positioning, accepting the umpires decision, dress codes, team rules and attitudes all result from being disciplined.

CONFIDENCE – “Believe to Achieve”, is a saying that is worth remembering. Young players need to be taught the importance of using the voice confidently, through drills at training. We generally find that the more skilful and better decision making players are all good talkers, so the move we develop them, the more confidence and voice they will have.

Team Plan

As coaches, we have all been guilty at some time of not being organised because we have not planned well. The old saying of a ‘poor plan is better than no plan’ might be true, but it is certainly not correct or acceptable. Planning is the most important component to successful coaching and we are obligated to put the time and effort into getting it right for the sake of our players and their future. Gone are the days, when a coach can just turn up to training and let the session unfold.

We have all been in the situation where our best made plans have had to be changed because of poor attendance, weather conditions, and unavailability of the oval, lack of equipment or player injuries. As mentioned in other sections of the book, coaching is finding solutions to problems and the person who is organised, will adapt better because he has planned for setbacks in advance.
Let’s go through a normal week and the best way or organising a training program. Remember that circumstances are going to be different for every coach.

Weekly Plan

All coaches need to remember the importance of analysing the last game, win lose or draw. The reason for this is it will give you a good gauge of the type of training drills and fitness work required for the up coming weeks. Given that most games are played on a Saturday, it is not too difficult to organise the week early, then make minor adjustments on the actual training nights.
A number of issues need to be remembered when planning. Things like, how hard was the last game? What teams are you playing in the coming weeks? Are finals getting closer and do you need to lift the fitness component of training, as a result? Are the players due for a light night or week following some hard sessions? Is the oval in poor condition? Or is the weather going to restrict the full use of the oval? (Cricket pitches being covered or roped off etc.) These are just some of the problems you may need to be aware of when planning the week ahead.
Monday night – After playing on the Saturday, this night is normally a good night to have a brief meeting to discuss the positive and negatives from the weekend’s game. It is always important to analyse the game closely with your players and make sure that you always finish off the meeting with positives, so that your players attack the week on the training track with the best attitude. This meeting is also a good time to give a rough outline of what you have planned for the weeks training. I would always look to utilise the Monday with a stretching session that could be done indoors if needed, a light ball session on the oval or a swim at the pool. The total time for this night should only be approximately 1 hour and the aim should be to keep it a low level of intensity and incorporate a component of fun where possible. If your players enjoy these sessions and leave training with positive attitudes, then it will assist you in gaining success at your club. Always finish off this light session with a warm down stretch, as the next training session they have will be the longest and hardest for the week.
WE MUST ALWAYS BE LOOKING AHEAD AND PLANNING FOR NOT ONLY THE NEXT GAME, BUT ALSO FOR THE NEXT MONTH.
Tuesday night - The main training night where you as coach can set high volume-high intensity or low volume-high intensity sessions depending on what stage of the months planning you are up to. Too many coaches think that training sessions are of better value in terms of productivity because of the length of time that players are on the oval. The reality is you can achieve just as much, if not more by shortening the length of training and increasing the intensity of your drills. A typical session should include:
Warm-Up – (Stretching and flexibility exercises) it should take a good 15 – 20 minutes to warm the players up and complete stretching. This will vary from team to team and players individually. Try to use this time to also include short handballing exercises and towards the end short kicks.
Skills section – (Revision and introduction) once the players are warmed up and stretched, expand the drills so that the players are running longer and delivering the ball further to team-mates. Players should start off with a couple of drills that they do well, so that you create a positive environment. This is also the section where you will incorporate any new drills, but remember to keep them relevant to the style of game and within the structure of the team rules that they play in. Take into account some of the issues that were raised earlier in this section and monitor each drill so that it can achieve your expectations and the players benefit as a result. With each drill running for approximately 8-10 minutes and a couple of minutes to talk with your players between each one, this section should run between 50-60 minutes. In this time you will have completed 4 or 5 drills to add to the 2-3 short hands drills during the warm-up period. Towards the end of the skills section, bring the players back in closer and shorten their workspace. Opening up all the drills though tends to take away the atmosphere that you build in the early parts of training with players hitting the ball hard and using the voice strongly. So bringing the players back in closer towards the end finishes the harder parts of the session in a positive way. Remember that the most important night of training is this night in terms of fitness building and skill development, but the last night is of equal importance as it is vital that the players are positive in preparation for the game on the weekend.
Warm-down - After a training session, it is important for all players to stretch down, more in readiness for the next session or game. This time should not be cut short and can be completed indoors, if the weather is poor. At the completion of warm down, the coach has the time to talk to a few players individually, or address the group feedback on the completed session. Do not talk too much at the end of training, as the players do not need to stand around in the cold night air for long periods.
Training evaluation – A coach and his match committee should always spend 3-4 minutes evaluating a training session to make sure that it achieved objectives in terms of skill or fitness. The total session including warm-up and warm-down should have taken no longer than 100 minutes. Leave the tactics or team play training to the last night as it is closer to the game and it will be easier for the players to understand and remember.
Wednesday night - Normally would be a night where players may come to the club for treatment or to participate in a weights program, should you have one. Generally it is considered as a free night and players would not be expected to train. Over the years, I have utilised this night for non-compulsory training, where players could come to the club and receive individual coaching on skill development. It is important that you make it optional, so those players who come down want to be there to learn. In the remedial skill teaching section of this book, you find some very handy training drills designed for these types of sessions. They are suitable for a coach who is working with only 2 or 3 players at a time.
Thursday night – The night that sets up your preparation for the upcoming game. Everything must be planned well and organised early so that it can be a total quality session. This is the training night that you must monitor your players and look after their legs, so that they remain fresh and alert on the weekend. Although a hard blow-out of short legwork drills with high intensity on the last training night, will do them no harm as they have approximately 36 hours to recover and then play the game.
Warm-Up – Very similar to the warm-up of Tuesday and should include handball and short kick drills when the warm-up is almost complete. Make sure that the players are positive and ready to go by giving them encouragement during the warm up. This is a good time to gauge your players attitude and concentration. I have often found that players who are not switched on by the time the warm up starts are the players who do not train well in preparation for the game. The warm up should run for approximately 15-18 minutes.
Skills section - Again start off with drills that they do well and keep the players in close early to create the right environment. Remember that the drills should be over a shorter distance and relevant to the way you want the team to play and within the structure of the team rules. I would keep this section on drills down to approximately 45 minutes. I would be very reluctant to incorporate new drills on the last night of training before a game because it is dangerous to upset their preparation with a drill that they might struggle with and as a result lose concentration or confidence. At the completion of this section, I would have a couple of short handball drills that are high intensity and in-close. They would be standard drills that the players do well and I would finish off training with these drills on the last night before a game, every week. The main variation to Tuesday’s training is shorter distances on each drill and the length of time that they run. The important point of the last training night of the week is to run through a few of your set plays like kick-outs and ruck-contests at centre bounces or boundary throw-ins and zones for kick-ins etc. The advantages of this are so that players can save their legs and walk through the set plays and it should still be fresh in their minds by game time. Allow 15-20 minutes to run through this routine which will give you a total of approximately one-hour in the skill section of training.
Warm-down - Players need to stretch and warm down in preparation for the game on the weekend. Should you wish to conduct a brief team meeting, allow the players to complete the stretching correctly and even have a shower and change.

Introducing the impact player.

• With the game changing regularly and with four on the interchange bench, players must be prepared for many moves and changes. Players must sprint off.

• Similar to other sports, players must now accept the fact that the bench is now used to rotate players in an effort to keep fresh legs on the ground for four quarters. Players must sprint off.

• It is not always correct to assume you are coming off due to a mistake or poor form.

• However the time has now arrived where players will be disciplined for many reasons, giving away 50m, lack of discipline, not manning up etc etc.

• Control your anger when benched.

• Loss of focus not only affects the player benched but all other bench players.

• During the season we will structure out team so that we have a strike force coming off the bench in an attempt to influence the flow of the game.

• Decisions in this area will be made at the selection table, which will always be in the best interest of the side. It will be up to these strike players to make their presence felt immediately.

These are Ideas only for Team play and Tactics to help
formulate a game plan.
team-play-and-tactics-ideas.pps

The task of team selection each week is always going to be challenging for the coaching staff as they discuss players and strategies for upcoming games. Always attend these meetings prepared, having thought long and . hard how your team is currently playing and of the areas that you need to strengthen to improve performances.
There are so many issues to take into account when selecting your team each week. They include the performance of your team from the last game, the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition you are about to play, playing conditions and the individual situations of player fitness, injuries and form.
Every senior coach will have a match committee that meet after each game (briefly), then during training early in the week. Use this time to discuss a number of these above issues with your committee members and then encourage them to attend the selection meeting with a view to having positive input on how the team will line up for the next game.
Remember that a senior coach must listen and be open minded to suggestions from his match committee members. They need to have the opportunity of presenting their ideas an~ provide the reasons as to why individual players should be either included or removed from the team. Encourage healthy discussion, if you as the senior coach do not agree with the ideas put forward, say so and be prepared to support it with solid reasoning. Discuss every player and the position that they currently play. Take into account the strengths and weaknesses of the team you are about to play, have reasons as to why you would like to continue with a player who is out of form or coming back from injury .Discuss players in form in the reserves and weigh up the benefits of playing them at the higher level. Allow members of your match committee to challenge you on your ideas and be prepared to listen. The good coach who plans well will have the necessary answers before the questions are even asked.
Encourage all match committee members to attend selection meetings with the team they would select already written down. Give them the opportunity to place their team on the whiteboard so that it can be viewed for open discussion. You generally find that most teams will be similar and discussion will be on the last few positions or changes, that need to be made as a result of poor form, injuries or players becoming available after injuries.
Include your head trainer in these discussions, as it is important to get his/her views on players that are returning from injury or are attempting to play while carrying injuries. Always leave the final decision of player . availability to the head trainer.
When the team has finally been selected, remember that it is very important to speak individually to every player who has been omitted before the team is announced. The player deserves to hear the reasons why he has been omitted directly from the coach. He must be challenged to work on aspects of his game that with assist him to be reinstated. Players are normally disappointed and it is important to follow up and reiterate your views prior to them playing on the weekend. Be positive, reassure them that they are still in your plans, be honest and accurate in areas that you need them to improve. If they need to attack the ball harder, tell them. If they need to be more accountable, tell them. Always finish off these chats in a positive manner. Challenge the player to prove the match committee decision to be wrong, support him and make sure that a member of the match committee observes his game the following week.
This is one of the many difficult areas of coaching and how you handle these situations will go a long way to how your players will view you as a person/coach.
Selection is going to be a challenge every week. Whether you are winning or losing, take the time to consider all possibilities. Be strong in your views, but always remember that it is the senior coach who carries the responsibility and always has the final say. Like all good coaches do, plan well for training and match days, but do not under estimate the need to plan for your team selection nights.
Enjoy the challenges, I guarantee that there will be plenty of them each week.

Most junior teams will train once / twice a week and it is important that coaches look to make this time as productive as possible. You must always plan your training sessions in advance and even have a plan B should the unexpected happen, like poor attendance or weather conditions, which may force you to change your programming.
A part of being organised as a coach is to utilise every moment of your time to benefit your players. Look to set up your training session early and make sure you use markers to assist the players as to where they run from and go to during a drill. We will always color code each drill by using different colored markers at each of the stations, as this will not only assist the players, but also the coaching staff during the explanation.

Having set up your drills and making sure that the footballs and equipment are ready to go, look to spend time with any players who have arrived early and provide them with individual coaching on their weaknesses. It may be as simple as rolling the football towards a player running at you to help develop his/her ground skills.
Another important tool to remember to use when trying to maximise time is a whistle. Both at school, and during a game, a whistle controls time, and it is an accepted form of gaining the attention of your players.

We operate on a rule with young players that when the whistle blows once, stop look and listen, but should it blow twice, then you are to stop what you are doing, hold your ball still and run into the coach for further instructions. Also when the coach is talking, all players must stand in front of the coach and hold the footballs still.
If your players cannot hold them still, then have all the balls placed in an area where they won’t create a distraction. Remember that a lot of time is wasted by having to repeat instructions to players because someone is creating a distraction.

The players are going to be confronted with rules throughout their playing careers and the sooner they learn to follow them the better they will progress and the more productive the time for all your players.

Variations
Interestingly each team that reaches finals will arrive there a different way. You may have a dominant team in the competition that wins enough early games to ensure that it will participate. This coach can afford to relax players, then work them harder in the weeks leading up to the finals (even be prepared to drop a game because of the harder training) to ensure that they are fit enough to handle the rigours of finals football. The contrast of this is the club that struggles to win early games through poor form or injuries and has to play each of the last few weeks as though it is a final, just to win enough games to reach the business end of the year. This team will be match hardened but may not have been able to rest players to freshen them up and may have even had to risk further injury to key players, because they needed them in the team to win the required amount of games.

History
History has shown that a lot of teams that do well early develop lazy habits and do just enough to win each week. Sides that have to fight hard to win a spot in the finals are normally very focussed and committed to each other as they have had to work so hard against the odds without a guarantee of getting the opportunity of playing in the finals. How would you handle each of these scenarios if you were coaching either of these teams? The other interesting observation I have noted is just how many teams that have dominated the home and away season, then gone on to win the second semi final, only to play poorly in the most important game of the year. Is it bad luck? Poor preparation? Is it lack of matches? Complacency? Panic? Or through sheer opposition pressure a change of the game plan? There are many situations when I have been a coach in these scenarios where I have had to ask myself these very questions. The easy answer, which in most situations is wrong, is to say, “I would not have changed anything. Our preparation was very good”. It may have been good, but it can always be better.
Planning
Be prepared to plan ahead on the possibility that your team is good enough to play finals football. You plan for it preseason before a game is played and it is important to continue planning for it during the season while it is mathematically possible. Keep thinking ahead to the coming weeks. Watch your players closely at training. Are they training well? Is there genuine enthusiasm amongst the group? Do they look like they are ready to play finals football if it presented itself tomorrow? Keep asking yourself these questions and making sure that the answer is yes. If it is not, you may need to pick up the signs early and restructure training and support your players (freshen them up) as they may have doubts about their ability or be feeling the pressure of expectation. A good coach can solve these problems if he is prepared to be supportive and flexible. Remember that all coaches live and die by the performances of each player. Be prepared to talk to your players to ensure that those players who are feeling the pressure can be reassured and kept in a positive frame of mind. For the players in the successful team, having to wait so long for the opportunity of participating in the finals, knowing weeks ago that you were going to be there can also add pressure as well as frustration. Again a coach must keep working with his players to ensure that anxiety does not build. The other issue is bad habits that can creep into the team game and go unnoticed because you are winning games of football. The key to all good coaching is the ability of a coach to know his players well enough and watch for the signs. Having identified some of these issues it is also the coach’s responsibility to find the necessary solutions to problems that may occur. Do not take anything for granted when coaching sport. The moment you start to believe everything is going well is the very moment that you lose focus on what you are employed to do. The only time to start patting yourself on the back is after you and the team have won the most important game of the year. Until then you are just like every other coach in the competition and that is a person who has a dream. Don’t let it become a nightmare because you dropped away at the most important time of the season. Plan for every scenario and then have a plan B ready just in case.

Swoopercoach wishes you every success!