Collingwood doesn’t have the talent to execute its game plan, writes Jonathan Brown

GAME plans go out the window when your team doesn’t have the cattle, and I’m not sure Collingwood has got enough talent, writes Jonathan Brown.

AFL Rd 3 - St Kilda v Collingwood

AN army of exasperated Collingwood and Richmond fans are asking themselves the same question — what’s our bloody game plan?

Truth is most game plans in the AFL are very similar: win the ball at the centre bounce or stoppages, hit targets, move it fast and try to score.

If you haven’t got the pill: pressure, work hard and create turnovers.

Positioning, using space, denying space and set roles for all 22 selected players are intricacies added in.

The problem for struggling clubs is executing — consistently — under pressure.

Talent just can’t be underestimated — it’s the most important part of a game plan by a country mile.

I’ve always seen Nathan Buckley’s sides as bringing good effort, offensively and defensively, and we haven’t seen it over the past two weeks. That’s what worries me.

The Pies aren’t defending well as a unit. They’re not blocking space, covering for each other or intercept marking. And when they do have the ball they don’t kick it well.

Frankly, I’m not sure they’ve got the talent. Dane Swan is a massive loss and Travis Cloke is horribly out of form. Only Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom are in the elite bracket.

The dominant game style this year is attack over defence, and Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs are cashing in.

Scott Pendlebury is an elite player but the Pies have very few of them. Picture: Michael Klein

That’s why the loss of Bob Murphy and Jason Johannisen deeply wounds the Dogs.

Their kicking is elite but it’s their ability to break lines with their leg speed that makes them irreplaceable.

Whether it’s by design — because it seemed to work for the Tigers last year when they smashed Fremantle in Perth — Richmond is rolling out a more conservative approach.

It’s crept into its game to the point where it has slowed it down too much. Bachar Houli is carrying a giant load at half back, but if they can get Brett Deledio and Chris Yarran back (and Ivan Maric) the Tiges can still salvage their game plan and their season.

The dominant game style this year is attack over defence, and Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs are cashing in.

As usual, Hawthorn has the ultimate game plan template, one that stands up in the heat of September.

It’s a perfect balance between defence and attack and something that has been rehearsed, rehearsed and tinkered with since the day Alastair Clarkson walked in the door.

Kicking is king at Hawthorn. They’ve got highly-talented players with elite skills who can execute all the way down the field.

They want to move the ball out of defence and keep it away from pressure and opposition numbers.

They don’t take a lot of contested marks in the forward line, they get it to the free man through precise foot skills and sharp hands in and around the stoppages.

Jason Johannisen’s long-term injury will hurt the Dogs. Picture: AAP

Most crucial of all, they invented and perfected the press defence, which every team has since copied.

Clarko has evolved his game plan ever so slightly over the years but to think he completely overhauls it or changes each year is a furphy.

These days the Hawks are so well drilled they can play periods of games at different speeds and tempos, like gears on a sports car.

The way they work together, moving around the ground en masse remains the same.

Clarko is big on game scenarios, they practise them over and over again.

Legendary New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick does it too. His main form of training is practising critical match situations.

It’s no coincidence Hawthorn continually wins close games. It attacks to defend and defends to attack.

Every club is still looking at Clarkson and his family tree of players and coaching assistants and trying to employ them. They want access to his intellectual property.

Fremantle is trying to change its game plan, so Ross Lyon went shopping for retired Hawks Brent Guerra and David Hale.

Hawthorn defenders James Frawley and Josh Gibson work together to spoil Jack Darling. Picture: Getty Images

Geelong was a bit different when it enjoyed success. The Cats threw it around by hand, were a high possession team and were prepared to take you on through sheer brilliance.

West Coast, coached by another Clarkson disciple in Adam Simpson, has its own unique spin off and developed the Weagles Web almost by accident last year after losing key defenders to injury.

North Melbourne has great chemistry and its forwards especially are executing Brad Scott’s plan to perfection.

When the ball is coming in from half back they come together at a meeting point inside 50m. It makes it easier to lay blocks and lead.

They cluster in there and put a guy into space who is easy to hit up. And it helps to have the silk of Daniel Wells back in the team (there’s that word talent again).

On the flip side, Carlton is at game plan ground zero.

For Brendon Bolton (another Clarkson man) it’s all about education. It’s not overly detailed yet but the rules for his players are simple and rigid. Maybe one day he’ll have the same six-speed game plan Clarko has.