Assistant Coach Danny Daly says that if the Lions could go back in time, defence would have been a bigger focus for them in the Pre-Season.
Speaking honestly in the final Vero Coaches Wrap for the year when wrapping up Season 2016, Daly showed three crucial statistics:
- The Lions averaged 130 points against per game (AFL18).
- The opposition scored 100+ points against us 18 times.
- The Lions had 2872 points scored against (AFL18). Nearest club was Essendon who had 2356 points scored against.
The Lions had an incredibly young and inexperienced defence in 2016, one full of talent, and on the way up, but Daly admitted they probably could have done more to support them.
“I think we’d all agree… and we’ve spoken about this, but we’d probably have more of an emphasis on our defensive training over pre-season,” Daly said.
“We had an emphasis on kicking 100 points this year, which we were able to do on I think six occasions.”
Offensively the Lions showed plenty of promise. In 2016 they were ranked AFL2 for scoring when going inside 50, sitting only behind Adelaide. The Lions scored from inside 50 entries 49.1% of the time, compared to Adelaide’s 52.8% of the time.
The Lions were also ranked 9th in the AFL for scores from stoppages, but on the flip side, they were scored against too easily from stoppages - showing a need for better defensive pressure.
A balance surely needs to be found between offence and defence.
“What we probably didn’t do as well is defend as well as we should have,” Daly said.
“If we had our time again, we’d probably do more defensive work and more decision making drills with our players.”
Some of our young defenders gather. (Photo: AFL Media)
Daly was asked if there was any common themes spoken about in player exit interviews.
“One thing we spoke to every player about is the ability to buy into defence,” said Daly.
“Unfortunately football is a game about kicking goals… the hardest thing to buy into is defence.
“A stat which we use quite a bit, is that each player has the ball in their hands for basically two minutes of the game.
“So if a game goes for 100 minutes, one player’s only got the ball in their hand for two minutes. So what are they doing for the other 98 minutes of the game?
“One of the things they need to be concentrating on is their defensive aspect of it.
“That was the biggest message we gave to every single player when they left this year.
“When they come back, this is going to be the big focus for us… and they need to buy into it.
“They need to own it, as coaches we need to drive it.”
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