Tackling in the AFLW has hit an all-time high this season after growing steadily over the past four seasons.
It is the perfect storm of established sides utilising pressure to find success and newly-added teams basing their brand around tackling.
Six rounds in to season seven, 72.2 per cent of sides are averaging 60 or more tackles per game, the highest in competition history and a significant shift from the 42.9 per cent of teams in season six earlier this year. Due to this, average tackle and tackle-inside-50 counts across the board have increased to all-time highs this season.
Split into two camps, some high-pressure sides like Brisbane have set the bar for the competition and challenge deep into finals, while others, such as expansion teams Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, use pressure to narrow the margin between themselves and those who are more established.
The leaders of the pack
Currently sitting on top of the ladder, Brisbane is setting a new standard for pressure this season, particularly in the forward half. The Lions average 71.7 tackles per game, equal-second in competition history, with 19.2 of those laid inside 50.
Because of this elite pressure game, the Lions are conceding an average of just 20.2 inside 50s, the lowest in competition history and, in turn, only 19.8 points against each game.
Given the way ladder percentage works, conceding fewer points can do more to increase a team’s percentage than its own score does, and Brisbane’s 288.2 per cent is crucial in keeping them in contention for the top four come season’s end.
The Lions are also conceding the second fewest disposals of any side this season, allowing their opponents just 189.5 touches per game.
But Brisbane this season is not the first side to use pressure as a key tactic for success. Last season they averaged the ninth most tackles in competition history and have simply doubled down on that this time around.
In addition, Fremantle’s preliminary final team of last season and its undefeated 2020 side averaged the fifth and sixth most tackles in AFLW history respectively.
High pressure and tackling is not the only way for elite teams to achieve success, but it is something teams can build an identity on.
Narrowing the gap
The other key type of team that focuses heavily on tackling is one that is still in the process of finding its feet and wanting to stay in touch with its more experienced opponents.
When speaking to the media during the week, West Coast captain Emma Swanson indicated as such, saying matching Richmond’s talented midfield group “will come off the back of pressure”.
This season the most apparent examples of this style of play are Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, who are averaging more than 70 tackles per game.
Typically losing the disposal count, developing teams like Hawthorn and Port Adelaide’s first port of call to win possession back is to harass the ball carrier, applying pressure and laying tackles. But to do this effectively, the whole team must buy in and implement that pressure game across the length of the field.
Each of these emerging sides boast players in the top 10 for tackles this season. Port Adelaide duo Jacqui Yorston (54) and Maria Moloney (44), and Hawks captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd (52) lead their respective teams.
In addition, 100 per cent of players from each side who have played at least one game this season have laid at least one tackle, indicating the team-wide buy in.
If done well, as both the Hawks and Power have at times this season, an air of unpredictability is added to the game, which can reduce the efficiency and system of more experienced opponents and open the door for a less established side to generate some of its own control.
With the addition of four expansion teams to the competition this season, rebuilding existing teams like West Coast and St Kilda and a dominant Brisbane at its peak, tackling is at an all-time high, but in order to execute different strategies.
For the established sides, that tackling pressure is about generating scoreboard dominance. Meanwhile, for emerging teams, it is all about limiting the efficiency of stronger opponents.
Source: AFL NEWS ABC
