These notes come from a piece posted over at Inner Drive, a student learning research-based company from the UK, explaining the ins and outs of cognitive load theory. At its core, CTL emphasises the fact that our working memory has a very small capacity so if new information isn't transferred to long term memory (which has infinite space), then it will usually be forgotten and what you see, or what you think you're seeing at training, is not transferred to games where it actually counts.  The rate of transfer can also be decreased if there is to much information being presented a ..read more

  This study came out a couple of weeks ago and is a must-read for today's coaches, most of who has come through the coaching ranks with a direct instruction-based approach that doesn't assist players in the chaos of a game on its own. Instead it suggests how to also incorporate ecological dynamics approach for the best of both worlds and goes close to ensuring all players can receive the coaching they need at the level of development that they are at. The task for coaches is not deciding what approach (direct instruction v a constraints-led approach) is better and only coach that 1 way ..read more

  I was appointed to coach an under 18 team for 2024 but we couldn't quite get the numbers early enough (it's a junior club only, no seniors at all) so I'll be assisting the under 16's as well as helping other coaches at the club for training and potentially games as well. We had a practice game 2 Sunday's ago but with school holidays we were missing about 8 players but had round 1 with a full list this past Sunday. Our under 16's won the Grand Final in their division last season so there's some very handy top-age players from 2023, and some very good bottom age players who came up from ..read more

This is a quick clip looking at Brisbane defending a Melbourne slow play off an intercept mark and how 1 Brisbane player defends 2 Melbourne players, and the most dangerous space, all at the same time while making the least damaging kick for the ball carrier undeniable which all enables to help Brisbane keep their defensive shape in front of the ball. A great clip to show your players as it doesn't rely on any great skill or ability. For full access to this game clip then register for a level 1 membership from https://aussierulestraining.com/membership-account/membership-levels/.  ..read more

I'm club coaching this year with another coach for an under 16's team as my appointed under 18 team didn't have the numbers to get through the season so we called that last week. We've been training as a combined group anyway since we started in Jan so everything I taught the 18's has been taught to the 16's so it's a smooth transition from a coaching and teaching point of view. One of the earliest tactics I introduced was front press defense which I first noticed by used by Sydney back in 2021, Collingwood and Geelong AFLW in 2022 and now a few more teams in both AFL/W are using it.  T ..read more

The first 4 parts of this series has covered youth development, learning, coaching and club culture with Game Day being the focus today which is a mix of mostly game day tactics used by teams/coaches picked up from social media, footy analysis shows and footy commentary but also some idea's from coaches from other sports that still fits the AFL model. Holding Teams Back – tardiness, selfishness, complaining, not finishing, blaming others, making excuses, energy vampires, lackluster effort, no team cohesion, poor team leadership Defensive Line – the position of the ball determines where the ..read more

  We're just days away from, or already have completed, round 1 for 2024 and everyone is obviously pretty pumped about it. The success of your games comes of the back of your ability to teach your players, and thus your players ability to learn - as a direct by-product from what and how you teach. Players can't execute skills they don't have or have ever tried, not can they play to tactics that they have never been taught. The ability for your players to transfer what you do at training to actual games will pretty much determine your win-loss record going forward unless your cash-splashi ..read more

  As always remember that these training activities simply have a brief description and that's it - no images, diagrams and pictures to accompany them. Let's get to activities 71 - 90. #71 - NAVIGATOR #72 - 6v3 #73 - OLYMPICS #75 - HAT SCORING #76 - MURDERBALL #77 - CHANGING GOALS #78 - START MARKERS #79 - 5v5v5+1 #80 - 2 GOAL STOPPAGE #81 - CAT AND MOUSE #82 - HAT DEFENDERS  #83 - CONTINUOUS 4 x 5v5  #84 - 3 GOALS PER END  #85 - 2 GOAL 3v3  #86 - RUCK FOLLOW UP  #87 - PRESS v POSSESSION  #88 - 4v6+2  #89 - CONTINUOUS ATTACKING RACE  #90 - DEVELO ..read more

The Sydney Swans are back in a big way so far with our ball use culminating in a ridiculous amount of goals from the defensive half which puts us in fast play and thus is very hard to defend when the ball is moving around so quick and so accurately.  Essendon still struggle mightily with defending transition and although their clearance game was elite, especially in the 1st half (+12). once we were able to even that up i the 2nd half (+1) they were on toast. This video takes a look at 1 single transition offense fast play that ended in a full ground transition and goal that specifically ..read more

  Remember, these are training activities that I just have a short description of with no videos, images or diagrams but you'll still be able to follow them so lets get to activities 51 - 70. #51 - GO SHORT INSIDE FORWARD 50 #52 - BEST SHOT ON GOAL #53 - KICKING TO SPACE #54 - STEPS GAME #55 - RUNNING AND LOOKING #56 - CIRCLE SNAPS #57 - MASS PRESSURE #58 - SNAP RACE #59 - DEFENSIVE STOPPAGE GAME #60- DOUBLE DEFENSE #61 - BARCELONA GAME #62 - 2 BALL KICK/HANDBALL #63 - 5v3 to 7v7  #64 - STREET SMALL SIDED GAMES #65 - 2 TEAMS 4 COLORS #66 - FULL GROUND LOOP #67 - CORRIDOR TRANSITION ..read more