Defensive fundamentals – how much time do you spend teaching them?
Leigh Brown – Gippsland Power FC Head Coach
Leigh Clarke – Oakleigh Chargers Assistant Coach
As we sit back on the couch or high in the stands of our favourite football venues, we marvel at the run and the
offensive abilities of our favourite players.
We watch Bob Murphy run through the corridor at Etihad Stadium and set up another forward thrust for the
Western Bulldogs, Harry Taylor win a one on one contest and win the ball back for his team, Josh Gibson receive a
switch kick in space and the list goes on.
These actions are all set up by the players first and foremost defending and then the offence we see is the cream on
the top.
As the level of football we play increases so do the demands from the coaches and the leaders of the team. Instead
of just chasing the footy around and collecting disposals at will and doing as we please, the emphasis on knowing
where your opponent is and not only defending him but beating him increases.
This begs the question do we spend enough time teaching our players the defensive fundamentals?
Spoiling is a skill that doesn’t sound exciting to practice but it will save multiple goals each week. Is the ruckman
getting on the goal line to spoil the ball across the line? Are we teaching our players to spoil just with their fists and
arms or are we teaching them to use the body as well?
What we want to avoid when spoiling is leaving the ball in an advantaged position for our opposition, which would
usually be a drop of ball contest with runners towards goal. Teaching players the timing of a spoil, the force required
to avoid the ‘soft drops’ to drop of ball forwards and the recovery once the contest is neutralized. Often a good spoil
can be followed up with a chain possession and a positive rebound into your own forward half – the key is teaching
timing, composure and transition.
Spoiling (from behind)
When spoiling from behind timing is key, keen eye on the ball and ensure
maximum lift from your jump and extension of the arm allows for a “long”
body and more effective range to spoil. Use of ‘body’ to provide attended
pressure on the marking player is also a skill, remember in the last few strides
the forward will be settling to mark while defender can continue to accelerate
and make ground.
Spoiling (from side)
Spoiling from the side is primarily focused on using the boundary as a defensive tool to
reset with the use of the midfielders at stoppages. Being able to spoil, and have the ball
go to advantage is key. As shown in image the player is spoiling with his right hand while
using his left side to make contact with the player. This allows for greatest ‘reach’ and a
more direct uninterrupted pathway to the ball for the spoil.
Spoiling (from front)
Probably the hardest to teach as this will be reliant on the players’ ability to master
dangerous situations and potential heavy contact. When spoiling from the front there
are two early choices to make:
1. Are you positioning to spoil the ball (and mark)
2. Are you positioning to retard the leading forwards approach to the ball.
As shown in the photo the player is using his left side for protection to allow his right
arm to spoil. Timing is crucial to not give away a free kick and good strong posture
should be taught to allow for protection of yourself, and to distract the leading
forward.
Once the ball is spoiled we are left with the following situations in play - did you intend to spoil and kill the ball
(boundary line or through goals) or did you intend to spoil to drop of ball team mates or follow up your own work on
the rebound?
Are we losing one of our best friends on the football field because we don’t involve it enough - the boundary line?
We spend a lot of time training and talking about structures especially stoppage structures but when we have an
opportunity to take the ball over the boundary line and create another stop play we don’t, we try and take on the
opposition and put ourselves under more pressure than we need to. We can rush the ball over the goal line to create
a point and a kick in opportunity but we don’t and then we are under extreme pressure in the most dangerous area
of the ground. I can still remember my first coach saying “the boundary line is your best friend, get the ball over the
line”.
Positioning is important all over the ground but its super important when we
trying to defend. Do we have an ‘arm across’ our opponent or ‘touch’ so we
know where they are? Putting yourself in a position to force your opponent
away from the corridor and wide is important. Not allowing him to run around
us and get in behind us, running towards goal is important. If we defend and
position ourselves in a place where we make our opponent move somewhere
where he doesn’t want to then we have had a little win defensively.
We always hear the words ‘keep your feet’ but the meaning takes on greater significance when we defend. If you
fall over you are out of the contest and then your opposition out number you. It’s hard enough to defend when its
18 v 18 let alone falling over and making it 17 v 18 in the oppositions favour.
Then there are two things that we can really control when we are
defending.
Firstly is our voice or communication. Being loud and helping direct
team mates will automatically help the individual and team defend.
Simple direction talk when running in to defend or corral might be
the difference of us helping a team mate make a tackle or slow a
play down.
Secondly is the want to defend. To be a very good defender there
has to be a real competitive streak inside. The want to tackle, chase,
block, be vocal, beat your man, position yourself to stop your opponent and the want to play for the team and do
the fundamentals when playing the defensive phase of the game is super crucial.
Get the players into, as many contests as you can, repetition and good
feedback will allow them to learn through practice, not lecture.
Examples are simple ‘keepings off” games where the defenders can be
outnumbered or a 1 on 1 battle for the ball with the coach feeding in
balls as desired. Players will need to win contests, or find ways to
minimize opposition ball movement (halve contest or corral).
Some of the basic defensive fundamentals we all need to keep learning
about and teaching are positioning, using the boundary line,
communication, body work, spoiling, keeping feet, beating your
opponent and being a competitor.
More often than not if we are doing the defensive things well we are in
a position not only to compete but to be ahead on the scoreboard at the end of the game. So next time you are
planning training just stop and think if there is a balance of offence and defence in the session because we can’t ask
the player to do something on game day that they haven’t done before at training.