Re: NAB Challenge - Carlton v Hawthorn @ Aurora Stadium
Reply #283 –
Biggest positive for me was a trait of the better teams that has been missing from the Blues for many years - namely, creating fierce pressure by aggressively closing on the player who is about to receive the ball instead of waiting until he gets it and then simply trying to corral him.
The players were excellent in this regard until they started to run out of legs and the difference from previous years was stark.
The fact that we no longer had soft-cocks Menzel and Yarran probably helped - they were two who rarely tried to close down an opponent until he had already gained possession and then they used to have a think about it before doing anything.
Despite some negative comments about Gibbs, I though he also showed willingness to improve in this area.
That was a very noticeable change RR. To me it was a switch from passive to active defence. It was probably also a factor in the free kick disparity - that and some inexplicable decisions. I imagine we won't infringe as often when active defence is second nature.