Adelaide Crows must not be swept away by Brisbane Lions flood, says coach Bec Goddard
ADELAIDE coach Bec Goddard has identified Brisbane’s great flood as the greatest hurdle the Crows face on Saturday in the inaugural AFLW grand final on the Gold Coast.
ADELAIDE coach Bec Goddard has identified Brisbane’s great flood as the greatest hurdle the Crows face on Saturday in the inaugural AFLW grand final on the Gold Coast.
It has nothing to do with the weather and the forecast of a possible shower and everything to do with how the Lions crowd their defensive half.
Brisbane, which is unbeaten this season — the Lions have recorded six wins and a draw — makes it a nightmare to find space to work for opposition forwards if the players have time to flood back.
From there, the Lions are also set up perfectly for their slingshot attack, in which they often use weight of numbers to drive the ball forward with several switches.
Goddard and her players have a clear idea of what Brisbane wants to do, and how it can be beaten.
The key is to get the ball into attack quickly; every wasted moment will allow more Brisbane players to flood back.
Goddard’s memory of the three-point loss to Brisbane at Norwood Oval in Round 5 is as clear as the TV vision, which has been revisited.
“That was a really great contest,” Goddard recalled. “Brisbane slowed us down significantly with what we wanted to do.
“It was a very good review the week after about the areas we felt we could improve on.
“We get to fix up the things we didn’t do quite so well ... getting the ball movement as quick as we can.
“I think we all saw in the Collingwood game, in the last quarter, our ball movement was really fast.
“It may not have looked the prettiest but it was very fast and as a consequence we gave our forwards the most opportunity to kick goals.
“Brisbane like to roll back into our attacking half and drop all of their numbers back there as quickly as possible and they’re very good at it; they’re very well drilled at it.
“And then their counter-attack, to zigzag down the field, is pretty good too.”
A key to the game will be the magnet moving, an area in which Adelaide’s coaching panel has prided itself on getting it right.
The Lions will spend much time on restricting Sarah Perkins — most likely by dropping a player in front of her to take away her obvious lead-up space — but that should free up somebody else as Perkins adjusts her game.
“It’s probably been one of our strengths this year,” Goddard said.
“We look at one-on-ones and we want the girls to beat their opponent one-on-one so we’ve got to make sure the match-ups, one-on-one, are correct.
“Did we have the match-up right against Brisbane the first time? Probably not.
“So we want to go with the fastest team possible that’s available to play.”