“We are in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time…
You find out that life is just a game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small.
I mean one half step too late or too early you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don’t quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second.
On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our finger nails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that’s going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing. Between living and dying.
I’ll tell you this – in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore, it is because I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch, because that is what living is. The six inches in front of your face.”
C’mon Ewen, roll out this speech pre-game on Saturday night.
Because, like Al Pacino’s Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday, it’s where the Wallabies are right now. They’re in the game, but they can’t get across the line. They’re just holding on doing the basics, when they need to be able to go up a gear in the big moments.
It’s experience in the Test match crucible that cost the Wallabies in the first two games of the Rugby Championship.
Can the coaching staff do anything to speed up this process, and get them performing to their ability in the big moments?
Or do we need to wait until they all have 50 Tests under their belt to get some wins?
The Waratahs in 2012, who were largely also the Wallabies, concluded in their season review that they were just not fit enough and did not work hard enough when they didn’t have the ball.
They were being destroyed, inch by inch.
For the 2013 season, new coach Michael Cheika took a hard line to stop the rot. More specifically, he put a big focus on fitness and efforts off the ball, as the building blocks to playing an effective “ball in hand” game.
The coaching staff had to find a way of defining and measuring that most nebulous of concepts – effort. After much thought, they came up with three keys indicators of “effort”:
1. BIG (Back In Game)
2. LOG (Lying On Ground)
3. FOT (Finish On Top)
“Back In Game” measured the percentage of time that a player got himself off the ground and was immediately involved in the next phase of play as a decoy, support player, passer, clean out, or ball carrier.
They set a benchmark of 80% as being acceptable. On 2012 games, only six starters achieved the pass mark in retrospect. In 2013, apparently, all but Cliff Palu, Dave Dennis, and one other forward were below 80%.
When you start measuring something, players respond.
With “Lying On Ground”, if a Waratah got off the ground quicker than the opponent who came down with him, this was recorded as +1, and if he was beaten off the ground it was -1.
Obviously the aim is to finish as far as possible in positive territory. A pretty simple measure of desire and additional effort, vis-a-vis your opponent.
“Finishing On Top” was about being efficient in cleanouts, so that they could commit less numbers to the tackle area, particularly in attack, while achieving quick, clean ball.
Quite simply, it measured the percentage of cleanouts where the player finished on top of the guy he cleaned out, rather than rolling them over and ending up underneath them.
They actually measured both “finishing on top” and “finishing on bottom” in ruck contests. Finishing on top not only allows clean ball for the halfback, it also allows you to get “BIG” faster, and improves your “LOG” score.
These additional efforts all add up over the course of 80 minutes.
What does this mean for the Wallabies?
This weekend, when you are watching the game against the Springboks and wondering if we are “up” for the game, keep an eye on who is doing the extra work off the ball. Who gets up quickest and works hard to reset in attack and defence?
Who hits a ruck with violence and precision and finishes on top of a Springbok with his forearm across the throat? It has little to do with skill, but it will tell you all you need to know about plain “want”.
I didn’t do any stats on it, but I have no doubt that the All Blacks would have finished all over their Wallaby counterparts on these measures in the first two games. And, in game two, it was the absolute difference.
Lets hope the Wallabies find the inches they need this Saturday night.
Jacob
Guest
I remember his guy hopper from last year, he is the real deal. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rjsYc4tn-y8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DrjsYc4tn-y8
Jock
Guest
Shouldnt playing for their country be enough? Obviously not for Israel anyway
mania
Guest
chan any stock compared to mccaw will look poor. the entire aus forward pack compared to mccaw was under performing. its not hoopers sole role to counter mccaw, its the whole teams responsibility. better to compare hoopers stock with the rest of the aus forward pack. in that hooper was way ahead. the up side of hooper is he does his thing regardless of whether his teams winning or not. awesome team player that just gets his head down and works hard
Sydney Kiwi
Guest
Get each player to choose a charity close to their heart. If they win x amount goes to their charity of choice. So if they fail they feel they have let people they care about down develops the selfless mentality which I feel is at the center of what it is to be passionate.
Chan Wee
Guest
errr " Mr Allen’s article was debunked." when , where ,by whom ??? "measuring number of involvements without measuring the value/impact of those involvements is equal to saying XYZ is a good stock to buy because it sells 1bn units, without accounting for the profit margin, which could be negative." too true ma8 , if we asign a value to the involvements, it will show stock MCCAW has an 80% more value than stock "Hooper". Hooper is a good flanker , no arguement but he is not in the same class as Pocock, Smith ad certainly not king Ritchie :)
Chan Wee
Guest
too true i also wondered why liverpool went to australia , of all places in the world. yes temp in european summer is 30 C if u go to asia it is 40 c and if u go to middle east it is 50 C the point is allmost all teams undergo some king of extreame training - like the welsh who like their cold room therapy. i heard a story about a welsh player who was not completely dry in a certain part of the body and suffered frostbite :)
CHT
Guest
Mr Allen's article was debunked. Further, measuring number of involvements without measuring the value/impact of those involvements is equal to saying XYZ is a good stock to buy because it sells 1bn units, without accounting for the profit margin, which could be negative. Hooper is a standout flanker and he's only getting better.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Chan, the main reason european football teams go to Asia (mostly) in thei pre season tours these days it's because the markets & money are there, not because of the temperature! Why would they come to play in Melbourne and Sydney in the middle of winter went its 10-15 deg!? Many football teams actually train in altitude in the Alpine region before the start of the season. (and as you know summer in the NH is in June-july-August so no need to travel far to get hot temperatures, all south Europe is 30deg or above.
Chan Wee
Guest
all modern sports teams and players are hell-bent on fitness. for example the Welsh are known for their cold room experiments. most of european footy teams have pre season tours to the most hot places like asia and africa (and australia ). the sri lankan cricket team go thru special forces fitness course (one week) once a year. there is an article on HOOPER by Mr Allen on ROAR. he says hoopers involvement in the 2 tests was low compared to Mccaw (80% less). now is this because of fitness or another factor?
DB
Guest
As a coach in Brisbane, I ask my players for one thing during the season - that they be the best (ie. better than their opponents) at the things that require no talent - running to reset the defence, getting off the ground faster than the opponent, continual effective communication etc. Turns out you can win a premiership with this sought of work ethic!! I think that the Tahs will not be far away from one either!!
Liam Ovenden
Roar Pro
Yep I was having a chuckle when writing how FOT helps you get BIG and LOG!
Dsat24
Guest
yes sure acronyms make the world a less complicated place but always seem a bit retrospective for mine, and any palooka can look smart in hindsight. Gus Gould for example. Good piece though Liam, the inches are also known as doing the small things well and this is something a person like Conrad Smith and of course McCaw are well ahead of the rest on.
atlas
Guest
a third one ABP - Ambling Back to Position, this could also include 'lazy forward in backline' who tries to look useful but gets in the way
stainlesssteve
Guest
yeah i reckon that's dead right....they should try harder. And get BIG and on TOP. Can't lose, then. Unless the All Blacks do it better. Umm....
mace22
Guest
If they do all this Where are they going to get all their lazy runners, and floppers. This wil mean a total change in their game plan. Wink wink ( don't know how to do smiley face ) nod nod.
Liam Ovenden
Guest
-- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Liam Ovenden
Guest
In boxing they say fatigue makes coward's of men. I think this is a little of what we have been seeing with the Wallabies. I noticed that Jake White set about getting the brumbies fit as soon as he got there. Cheika did the same with the Waratah's. Deans clearly had a unfit trips to work with. How do they rectify this situation at Wallaby level? -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Hoy
Roar Guru
Fitness. When you are fitter, you go do more things, better. True in club rugby, surely true higher up. I would say fitness and precision. Our skills in support and contact leave a bit to be desired. At times in close space when there is a chance if players use quick GOOD hands, the ball can get to space, but our players are choosing not to take those chances. Maybe right now, we don't have the ability to take those chances, but we badly need to take all the chances there are, and convert them to points. Short three on twos, etc. The All Blacks converted them out wide. We didn't even bother to pass it.
richard
Guest
That won't work.All you will do is drive more players offshore.
patonga
Guest
Simple solution do not get paid unless you win... I am sure they would be hungry to win,,