Bash and Cats beat the ‘Malthouse Press’

 

Roar Rookie

By J-Cow, 5 Oct 2011 J-Cow is a Roar Rookie

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 AFL, AFL grand final, Collingwood, Malcolm Blight

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Throughout the entire year, the experts talked about nothing but the strategic innovation of the ‘Malthouse Press’, its ability to strangle the opposition, and the implication that the best press would emerge victorious.

Enter the finals, and the Geelong Football Club reigned supreme over the press, with an obvious throwback to traditional football.

The Cats started kicking longer, hand-balling less and focused on the one percenters. It was hard to deny the similarities to the style of football once played by the great Brisbane Lions between 2001 and 2004 (interesting, given the current Geelong coach).

Bash the football forward, crash the opposition and win the important contests. The goals will be a result of all the hard work.

Malcolm Blight has been banging on about the simplicity of footy in his running commentary on Channel 10 and one cannot help but agree with the majority of his comments.

It seems that football clubs and the footy community has become blind-sided by the progression of sports science and thus lost sight of the fundamentals of the game that inspired us in the first place; one-on-one football, where the best player and best team wins a game stemming from team-work and a willingness for the contest.

The small, hard players win the footy, feed the runners, who in turn, kick it to the big strong talls that kick the goals.

It doesn’t always work and is easier said than done, but it is hard to overlook what Geelong did on the weekend.

Football continues to move forward, coaches will continue to develop new tactics and strategies to achieve the ultimate success.

However, the foundations of tough, hard and unwavering desire for the football will always underpin the success of any team.