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I had the great pleasure of coaching Brad Fittler for the majority of his playing career. Brad was a footballer of many talents. Our aim with our structure was to get Brad with the ball in his hands in the right way, at the right time, in the right place, as often as possible. It was my job to coach those around him to get into good position, deliver him the ball, and be able to react to whatever it was Brad might do at the time. Never once did I try to instruct Brad what he should do when he got the ball. He might run, dummy, step, stand in the tackle and offload, pass inside, pass outside, pass short, passed long, chip kick, centre kick, or just try to power over his opponent. We had to be ready for all of it. But we left it to Brad's instincts to react the way he saw fit. Fittler was also a player that thrived on structure. Through structure he was able to position other players and bring their talents to the game.
One of my all-time favourite players was Andrew Walker. Andrew was a tremendously talented individual who could do almost anything on a football field; except stick to a structure. You could never include Andrew in a set move, or a set sequence. For a start he would never remember it. He would never turn up for the play. He just couldn't function that way.
But if you said to Andrew "follow Brad Fittler, follow Adrian Lam, follow Tony Iro" he would instinctively tap into their talents and complement their movements.
We did have one play for Andrew Walker. We never told him what it was or when we were going to use it. We called it X-Files. We figured the name suited Andrew's personality. It was a very simple play. We got Andrew to stand very wide on the open side of the field and we would get Brad Fittler to throw him a long spiral pass. That was it. I would say to Brad, "Throw the ball way out in front of him and way past him. Don't worry, he'll catch it. I just want him to chase it and run onto it so he's moving quick when he gets it". I'd then say to the players around Andrew, "Don't call for the ball, don't crowd him, don't rush him, just let him do his thing. Andrew won't know what he is going to do until he gets it. You lot just need to react and back him up".
I can't tell you how many line-breaks and tries we created off the back of Andrew's instincts.
One of my all-time favourite players was Andrew Walker. Andrew was a tremendously talented individual who could do almost anything on a football field; except stick to a structure. You could never include Andrew in a set move, or a set sequence. For a start he would never remember it. He would never turn up for the play. He just couldn't function that way.
But if you said to Andrew "follow Brad Fittler, follow Adrian Lam, follow Tony Iro" he would instinctively tap into their talents and complement their movements.
We did have one play for Andrew Walker. We never told him what it was or when we were going to use it. We called it X-Files. We figured the name suited Andrew's personality. It was a very simple play. We got Andrew to stand very wide on the open side of the field and we would get Brad Fittler to throw him a long spiral pass. That was it. I would say to Brad, "Throw the ball way out in front of him and way past him. Don't worry, he'll catch it. I just want him to chase it and run onto it so he's moving quick when he gets it". I'd then say to the players around Andrew, "Don't call for the ball, don't crowd him, don't rush him, just let him do his thing. Andrew won't know what he is going to do until he gets it. You lot just need to react and back him up".
I can't tell you how many line-breaks and tries we created off the back of Andrew's instincts.
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