The
Magpies and Cats become more defensive
Collingwood will make the
finals again this season, and Geelong will almost certainly make it in what has
been its best AFLW season to date. A notable point with both teams this season
is how few points they have allowed.
Collingwood has allowed only
132 points at 16.5 points per game, and Geelong has had 165 points scored
against them at 20.6 points per game (see table below). Both teams have
averaged around six scoring shots against per game. Collingwood has had more
than 21 points scored against them only once this season. (Alas for Fremantle,
they were the prime example of both teams’ stinginess, scoring only one point
against Geelong and three points against Collingwood.)
To some extent this low scoring has come from these teams’ abilities to limit inside 50 entries, with Collingwood ranking second and Geelong close to third on inside 50 entries against. However, of more note has been their ability to limit scoring once the ball is in the opposition 50, with Collingwood allowing only 0.71 points per inside 50 against and Geelong 0.83 points (see table above), compared with the league average of 1.11 points per inside 50.
Geelong was actually relatively stingy last season as well, at least for a ‘bottom half’ club. They averaged about 31 points against, which was over a goal less than any other team that lost more games than they won. This season however they have got even better at limiting points per opposition inside 50 – and of course they are scoring more themselves.
Can the ‘great walls’ of Collingwood and Geelong hold up once they face the best sides in the finals? Geelong conceded 28 points to North Melbourne, while Collingwood conceded only 21 points – though eleven scoring shots – to the Adelaide Crows earlier this season. Noting the small amount of evidence from this, it suggests they may be able to restrict the top sides to a fair extent – although they in turn will probably find their scoring more restricted.
No comments:
Post a Comment