Congestion in Australian Rules football has been a hot topic for a number of years.
Defence has become an even bigger part of a coach’s repertoire, with techniques borrowed from other sports being adopted and zoning or “rolling up” terms now common in community footy as well as the elite level. The impact of this and whether it’s a passing trend or more likely to continue is something as administrators of the game we need to consider. And on most EFL grounds that are much smaller than grounds at AFL and VFL level, the results of this are often accentuated.
The recent Junior Metro Championships has given us the opportunity to see firsthand the rules being used to try and combat this in competitions where player development is a key focus.
The rules are known as High Density Rules, and are used in the TAC Cup Competition, the under 18 National Championships, and all elite development pathway competitions such as under 16 representative programs, Youth Girls, V-Line Cup (country) and as previously mentioned, Junior Metro Champs. The rule is as follows:
When the ball enters an opposition’s forward half coaches are required to ensure that a least five (5) players remain inside the opposite half of the ground delineated by an “imaginary” line across the centre of the ground. Furthermore, two (2) of those five players must be inside the fifty (50) metre arc. This will be an expectation on all kick outs as well.
The philosophy behind the rules is:
· Create a love for the game and have players playing/participating in it for as long as they can, in the face of other competition from sports and leisure pastimes. The game at this age must be enjoyable to play and factor in some personal mastery and value to your team for each individual.
· Help players develop self-esteem from the things they do well and show these attributes in a game, not be smothered by excessive numbers around the ball which doesn’t allow them to work in space both in offence and defence, especially the small bodied underdeveloped types.
· Allow midfielders to demonstrate their capacity to work both ways, when congestion and fast break football only encourages them to sit behind the ball accumulating fruitless disposals.
· Existing congestion around the ball allows players to problem solve under constraints of time and pressure without making it over-congested, which only serves to stagnate the game.
· The game should be player focussed not coach focussed.
The rules aren’t officiated on by umpires, more “rules of thumb” that coaches must abide by or risk sanctions from the controlling body.
Game styles have clearly changed. Whereas once it may have been one loose player behind the ball when kicking against the wind or if in a bit of trouble, now it’s a rolling zone covering less than one half of the ground. Talking to an under 17 coach recently, he said he coaches his players on rolling up, to reduce the oppositions ability to work the ball out of their backline, with his full back positioning to be in the centre circle. We aren’t blaming the coaches here. They are just playing to the rules and modern tactics. But is this what we want the game to be? 36 players in less than one half of the ground. On small grounds, a quick kick out of congestion to more congestion and another stoppage? The same coach teaching his under 17s to ‘roll up’ thought the high density rules had merit.
In our under age competitions where player development is a strong focus, are these rules, or something similar, what we should be considering to ensure our players are developing in the best possible environment and enjoy playing the game?
As an industry, we are generally reluctant to change. But if it’s good enough and proven effective for young players at the elite development level, why wouldn’t we want our young stars of tomorrow developing in a similar environment.
While acknowledging the significant challenges of implementing such rules, having observed it over the past few weeks at junior interleague and having seen some TAC Cup footage, there is no doubt it helps achieve many of the points raised above and makes for a much better game to watch and, from what it looks like, to play.
So as you watch the footy this weekend, particularly juniors, have a look at where the players are positioned and the impact its having on the game. It’s a discussion worth having.
Good luck to all teams on the weekend.