PRESSURE PACT
tackles in the first eight games of the year, and have laid 552 between rounds nine and 15, meaning their average tackle count has ballooned from 63.6 to 92.
But it is wrong to suggest that tackling alone is what has caused Geelong’s turnaround.
It is simply part of a broader attitudinal shift to become the toughest team possible to play — and subsequently score — against.
In the first eight rounds Geelong was ranked 17th in the competition for average pressure acts applied during a game.
In the past seven games it is ranked number one.
Pressure acts include physical acts, closing pressure applied on the ball carrier, corralling pressure and chasing pressure.
Put simply, it is no longer accepted that Geelong players can watch an opponent stream out of their defensive-50 unopposed.
The change has seen the Cats more than halve the number of points per game that their opponents have managed to score from defensive-50, and significantly reduced the number of scores conceded from defensive chains off half back.
This doesn’t happen without a united approach — forwards, midfielders and defenders all working together as one — to a team first defence.
Scott should be applauded for bucking the early season trends that looked certain to wreak havoc with his team’s premiership plans, and provided the adapted methodology of the coaches is consistently implemented by an equally disciplined group of players, Geelong’s season will again go deep into September. EMG: TV RADIO IN OUT NEW MILESTONE