Queensland has always been regarded by the South Australian states as a “developing” state in terms of Australian rules football. The impression one gets from southerners is that the Queenslanders who play our national game are ‘newbies’ when it comes to training. A book was written about the most successful coaches in the Australian Football League competition. As I read about the tactics they used, I kept saying to myself, I use that or have seen it used in Queensland. Our players may still be developing, but our experienced coaches are up there with the best. Our dilemma is that we are in a coach development role first and foremost and tactical development also has a bigger development role than is the case in the southern states where they grow up immersed in Australian rules football.
Below are some ideas that I offer to young coaches who have worked for me for many years.
In a high school final after halftime, I used a “dummy” center forward, encouraging him to move away from our two talented forward midfielders to give them room to lead. It worked well, giving the forward midfielders more chances, but the “fictional” forward midfielder got the better of him. He was so excited about the opportunity to play as a midfielder that his confidence grew and he played above his usual level. The grand final, near half time, turned into an easy win at the end.
Your complete striker is usually a high marking player. This means that he had a good jump. So often in the last five minutes of a quarter he would make it a ruck. Because he didn’t have to run as much as normal rucks, his energy was such that he could get past the opposing player and give us the first use of the ball.
Good players often want to play their favorite position. On school and youth teams, this is usually not the best position for the team. It is important to place your best players where the ball is likely to be most of the time. This means that the team will get more of the ball and the rest of the team will have more chances to get the ball. In 1968, on my Queensland State Schoolboys team, we had the best full-back in the Australian National Schoolboys Championship. But, when the ball came to him, the rival had scored. Knowledgeable Victorian coaches told me after only two games that he was wasted at fullback. He wasn’t having a big influence on the game. So I moved it to center back with immediate positive impact. He remained there for the rest of the carnival. (This player went on to play many senior games for Queensland.)
Another similar situation occurred in my school’s grade A team. Here was a player who throughout his youth career had won many awards. His understanding of the game was excellent. So much so that he tried to lure other nearby players into the game by handing them the ball. They were not up to par. So I told this player to move the ball with long kicks to the man in the best position to score. This helped the team, not only with a win, but it showed the players how to use the ball better. This player went on to play VFL/AFL with two clubs.
In 1967, when I was 24 years old, I was appointed coach of the Queensland Schools team to play in the Australian National Championships in Hobart. In 1966 Victoria beat Queensland by twenty goals. He knew he had to do something to at least make us competitive. So I think having only one ruckman in the center bounces with two rovers. The second rover’s job was to travel to his ruckman. As a result, we were able to win most of the central rebounds.
To make things more confusing for the Victorian coaching panel, I had as many as five players changing on and off the ball as rovers, as well as four changing as ruckmen. Traditionally, your two rovers rested in the front pocket, while your tap ruck man rested in the other front pocket and the second ruckman or ruck-rover on the center rebound rested in the back pocket that marked the opposing tap ruckman. I traded all these players at many different positions.
We lost the match as expected, but only by ten goals. The tactic was something of a victory for me, as the Victorian coach, a man in his fifties, told me later that he and his coaching staff couldn’t understand what he was doing. At this point, it is important to mention that the exchange rule did not exist.
