MARK Riley coached Melbourne following the departure of Neale Daniher during the 2007 season. A former Claremont player, he was that club’s assistant coach in its 1993 premiership win and was senior coach when Claremont reached the 1994 WAFL grand final. Riley was Fremantle’s development coach from 1995-97 and assistant coach from 1998-2000. He is now an assistant coach with Carlton.

A few of my young midfielders have received some big knocks in the last few weeks. Are there drills to improve players' vision and awareness around the ball?
- Dom, U14A Gisborne Rookies coach
It’s sort of a turning technique. You’ve probably got to work with block bags and teach players how to use their hips and shoulders to protect the head and ball. I’m assuming head high contact occurs when the head is over the ball and the player is down low.

You can try to protect the head by correct positioning of the shoulders, hips and bottom. To practise that skill at training the coach would roll a ball to a player, who would run out and get some attention from a third party player holding a padded block bag.

When the player attacks the ball, he needs to turn his body in the direction of the pad or oncoming force, so the defensive player makes contact with his shoulder or hip.

What is zoning and what are its benefits?
- Wendy, Queensland
Zoning is where the defensive team or the team without the football occupy positions rather than players. It’s done to gain a numerical advantage in your defensive aspect. For example, you might send 18 men up into an area where the opposition only have 15 men and therefore it makes it harder for the offensive team to penetrate.

Successful teams play their own brand and their own style, so just because Hawthorn won a premiership by playing a zone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way to go for all teams. Especially at a junior level, coaches should forget zones and teach the fundamentals of man-on-man football. That’s my philosophy on coaching juniors and I’ve coached at all levels. It’s best to leave that sort of sexy stuff for the big boys.

As a coach, how do you improve your skills and knowledge?
A couple of weeks ago when Carlton travelled to the Gold Coast I attended a coaching seminar on Mother’s Day. There were about 10 coaches there, that’s something I do regularly.

I’m very much an open book, I’m like a sponge. In this industry you get to work with different people all the time, so I soak up the information that they bring to the table whether it’s their own ideas or ideas from other coaches.

I’m also very interested in cross-pollinating with other sports. I have a history of friendships with other sportsmen like Richard Charlesworth from hockey and the Neesham family from water polo so I certainly look at that to improve my knowledge.

At the start of this year we had a meeting with the South Dragons' coach Brian Goorjian for a basketball perspective. I just do little things like go and watch my kids play sport. My daughter plays basketball and netball, and they have some wonderful drills for sports confined to a small area.

I attend a fair few AFL courses but I also present at them as well. I’m a great believer in giving back to the sport because coaching provides us with a pretty good lifestyle.

EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS
Do you have something you’ve always wanted to ask a coach? Drop the coaches an email at coachsbox@afl.com.au. Each week, one assistant coach from an AFL club will dip into the mailbag and answer a handful of the best questions.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.