What's old is new again
IF YOU'RE giddy from trying to keep up with footy tactics in recent years, you're not alone. It's difficult for anyone to keep tabs on tactics that change on an annual basis.  We've gone from flooding to kamikaze attack to rolling zones to forward presses.

And now we're not even given a season to adjust to the new ways. In the past fortnight, Geelong has had the temerity to introduce a new tactic. Just as well it looks suspiciously like an old tactic.

Working on the theory that Hawthorn's backline was looking thin, Geelong pumped the ball long and high during their qualifying final at the MCG last Friday night. It's a tactic that worked for more than a century before chip-kicking possession football came in about a decade ago.

The results were stark. Geelong had only 299 disposals. To put that in context, the Cats had a record 510 disposals in round 19 against Melbourne just six weeks earlier.

After the Melbourne match, the Cats continued to share the ball around until suddenly they made a change in the Collingwood game in round 24. Their disposals tally dropped to 386 as the Cats tried to exploit the undermanned Collingwood defence by bombing long.

The tactic was taken to new heights (or lengths) against Hawthorn, with great success. Geelong took 25 marks inside 50 compared to Hawthorn's 11. Geelong's breakdown included James Podsiadly (four), Tom Hawkins (three), Brad Ottens (three) and Trent West (three). All those players kicked goals.

When it came to getting the ball, Geelong showed that it is arguably the toughest team in the AFL. The Cats had 162 contested possessions, which, according to the statistics page on afl.com.au, compares favourably with their season average of 150.

Hawthorn had 132 contested possessions. The strong bodies and willingness of the Cats were too much for the Hawks around the ball.

Hawthorn's outside game was confirmed in uncontested possessions. The Hawks had 209 uncontested possessions compared to 132. Only 132? The Cats' season average for uncontested possessions is 237. My, how things have changed in a matter of weeks.

Champion Data says long kicks are kicks of more than 40 metres that go to a teammate or go to a contest that gives the kicking team a reasonable change of winning the ball.

Geelong had 69 long kicks against Collingwood and 76 against Hawthorn.

The question now is whether these figures indicate a trend. Have the Cats changed tack, or have they tailored their tactics of the past fortnight to expose weakened backlines?

Time will tell.

Eagles belted in close
While many have praised West Coast for its manful performance against Collingwood in their qualifying final at the MCG on Saturday, the statistics suggest that the Eagles got a flogging.

The Eagles won the hit-outs 50 to 29, but Collingwood won the clearances 53 to 31. A differential of 22 is significant. Magpie midfielders had a fine time in sharking West Coast tap-outs at stoppages.

Collingwood had 436 disposals compared to 323. Dane Swan had 41 disposals and Scott Pendlebury had 38.

The experienced Magpie midfielders gave their youthful opponents a lesson.

Blues make Bombers pay
The significant statistic to emerge from the Carlton versus Essendon elimination final at the MCG on Sunday was that Carlton scored from 71 per cent of its inside-50 entries; it was the highest such figure of the season, and confirmed reports that the Essendon defence was dire.

Carlton's dominance is illustrated by the fact that it had three kick-outs in the second quarter and on each occasion the ball was taken from coast to coast for a goal.

The Blues kicked 6.7 in the second quarter to the Bombers' 1.3.

Inside out
THE Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans clash at the MCG on Friday will be a study in contrasts: the best outside team versus the best inside team.

Hawthorn's average of 250 uncontested possessions a game is the highest. Sydney's average of 176 uncontested possessions a game is appreciably the lowest; the next lowest is Port Adelaide, with 197.

The Swans share, with Collingwood, the highest average figure for the number of contested possessions, with 156. Hawthorn's 143 is about mid-table.

Out of interest, Carlton and West Coast have the same average of contested possessions a game, with 150. Carlton has a higher average of uncontested possessions (226-204).

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