Not techie enough to link it but this quote is taken from an article by Phil Gould. It's talking about the Bulldogs but a lot of what he says resonates
I feel as though the Bulldogs lack of points has led to a real lack of confidence in their attacking ability. As a result, they are now confusing "controlling the ball", with "holding onto the ball". They appear more focussed on completion rates, than actually using the ball to test or tire their opponents.
This is what happens to a lot of teams when they are struggling for wins or struggling just to score points. The coach tries to solve the problem for his players by making things more simple for them. He tries to take the uncertainty and stress out of the game for them. As a result, the play can then become a bit stodgy, conservative, or even negative.
The coach starts to over-coach, and the players start to under-play.
Players hide in the system. As long as I'm doing what the coach says, I'm doing my job and can't be criticised. The players start to focus on completing tasks, rather than competing and scheming against their opponents.
The coach tries to help his players by taking on all responsibility for trying to create points. This might work for a while, but it will eventually bog down as players become more robotic in their execution.
To me, most of the Bulldogs' attacking sets of six have too many "dead plays". I feel like they spend too many plays just setting up for the next big play.
The biggest thing I find about their attack is that they are only attacking one gap in the defensive line. They are only really attacking the gap outside the opposition wingers. Every attacking sequence looks as though they are trying to score in the corner. (This might also be a factor in why their goal kicking record is so poor. They are always kicking conversions from the sidelines).
The ball is constantly moving laterally. The man with the ball is always keen to dump the problem onto a team mate outside him. Here, I've done my job, I've given it to you.
Even when the forwards run the ball, they are predominantly running on an outside angle.
The Bulldogs rarely threaten around the play-the-ball area. They rarely play back on the inside looking to beat tired forwards with a pass or a step. They rarely attempt short passes to dig into the line to put players through gaps. Most of their attacking passes are wide or deep behind decoy runners. Their halves have developed the habit of facing and moving sideways.
Read more at
wwos.nine.com.au/2017/06/30/11/0 ... GHqVueb.99