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Hi everybody, I’m Noah Brinkworth, Felix and I looked at the EUCF mixed final from 2019 between Grut and Salaspils last week, for full analysis check out those livestreams in the description below. In this video I’m gonna look at how Salaspils uses team defence to force Grut to work the disc down the sideline.

Point 2

Grut open up their offense with a split stack, the disc is passed to Lola Dam, who passes to Minard who gets the disc on the sideline and sends it deep to Walt Jansen, but as Didris Malderes has baited the deep shot he manages to get the D. Although this cut looks open, the throw is challenging as the wind is pushing the disc out of the pitch. Grut use this flick deep shot many times unsuccessfully throughout the game with 7 flick deep shots to this corner being taken and only 3 successfully completed.

Point 4

After causing a turnover Grut pick up the disc on the far sideline. It’s clear that the Grut offense is looking to hit Dam down the line or deep from this position, Lasma Kublicka covers the deep throw and as Dam turns to cut under Reinis Otisens has poached the lane. This leads to a desperation throw to Dam and Kublicka gets the D.
Lets also take a look at the handler defence here, the strategy used primarily from Salaspils is for the mark to take away the aro. unds and for the dump defenders to take away the upline cut. When Maartje Keulen catches the disc 3 GRUT players are behind her. Early in the stall both Tom Blasman and Mark Ploeg clear up the line. Blasmans cut stops the flow as Martins Gusars doesn’t see the yard losing reset as a credible threat allowing him to position firmly in the up the line space. I’d like to either see Blasman cut hard up the line and clear deep or cut up the line initially then fake and cut back for the around swing. Once both Grut players are up line Joris Steneker takes up the dump position and also chooses not to cut back for the around swing.
Alternatively, playing with a hex shape, both Blasman and Ploeg could stay back and this would leave more space for the poached player Steenhuisen to cut for the disc from the hat position.

Point 12

There’s a similar situation later in the first half where Dam gets the disc on the sideline. One Grut handler cuts up the line once again, unable to get free whilst the other clears to the stack. Although Anne Minard gets free under here the throw is disincentivised as Malderis is close enough to threaten the poach D as he tracks his mark up the line. Eventually Grut’s Jansen gets free but this cut could be stifled if Minnard’s mark Poduma chooses to poach the under space similar to how Otisens does previously.
One way to conceptualize disc movement in hex is as the hex shape rolling up the sideline. If you think about the Gruts offense in the same way you can notice how the flow runs into each other which causes some cuts to invalidate each other like Jansen’s and Minaard’s here or for an aware defender like Otisens in the previous point to poach in the most threatening space. Instead I’d suggest that the wider handlers reposition into the stack keeping clear of any space around the disc, whilst Jansen repositions in the dump space, this leaves more space for under cuts down the line.
Two throws later Maartje Keulen, sends a flick into the far corner and Janis Bernans gets the D.

Point 16

After half time Grut find themselves back near the far sideline but now shooting the other way. Keulen picks up the disc and initially looks downfield then faces inwards towards the space. This engages Tjeerd Ates as the dump, he makes a cut up the line and does well to turn the hips of the Salaspils defender but ultimately decides to cut back for the swing. This movement is more effective as there is no cut from the stack into this space to invalidate a successful up line cut and Ates’ decision to take what the defense is giving him and cut but for the swing allows flow to continue. Salaspils have a similar force stopping the around and Keulen manages to break the mark with ease. After a pick call Ates makes an almost identical cut gets the disc and quickly swings the disc to Basten De Jongh who sends it deep.

Point 17

On this point there is excellent team defence and heads up play from Salaspils to stop the score. As Janna Jansen grabs the disc the first Salaspils switch has already occurred, Malinokovskis and Malderis switching as one player clears to the stack and the other cuts breakside. This however does leave Malderis slightly out of position, but when his new mark Blasman cuts under to take advantage of this Gusars steps into the lane and neutralises the cut, as Malderis picks up Gusars’ mark. Malderis is then beat deep by Niels Boom but Gusars gets across for an excellent heads up poach D

I think Grut look at their best when they are willing to play around the backfield and are more willing to swing the disc from side to side. Salaspils’ defensive pressure often forces them into smaller and smaller spaces which Salaspils are able to exploit with a smart poach or by baiting the deep throw. I think that Reinis Otisens on Salaspils does a great job during this match working the disc around the backfield and across the pitch to maintain flow and open up scoring opportunities.

At 10-6 down machine field the pull and run a vertical stack. Yiding Hou recognises that Nathan Kwon is poaching, so threatens to go deep. Kwon gesticulates to his teammates for cover, and Janus breaks the force around to Evangelides. Notice how Kwon’s defensive positioning is dictated by the position of his teammates. He orbits sharply around Hou as his teammate passes quickly on the far side. This is because the open spaces are changing as the players on the field move. He effectively forces Hou to move towards his teammate, which deflects his cut and he ends in no-man’s-land for a couple of seconds. Kwon uses this time to clog the throwing lane again, and then closes Hou down very quickly as he starts to become a throwing option again. Hou reacts aggressively by threatening up line, but Kwon stays balanced and isn’t faked out either way. All this has forced a stall 8 or 9 situation. Machine continue to struggle to get flow, before Joe White turfs a backhand.

Hou sets off deep and isn’t really picked up by Machine’s deepest defenders, one of whom comes under and the other sticks with White. Rankin winds up for the throw but Katz is clogging the throwing lane, leaving Janus as an open pass backwards and towards the sideline. Rankin then hard-pivots in the opposite direction to threaten the backhand, but Julian Hausman on force is able to pressure the release point, with enough time between hard-pivots to regain his balance. Foster also does well to react dynamically to the situation and make the thrower’s job harder.
Joe White gets the disc under and goes to execute his classic throw’n’go move, but unfortunately it’s a turn-n-go. First take notice of Kwon’s aggressive repositioning on the far side of the field – positioning himself towards the space White is looking at, and never lingering in space already occupied by a teammate.
In the semi final White was able to get these throw’n’go backhands off uncontested on multiple occasions, but it looks like the combination of hand and foot from Carnegie on the mark was enough to force the error this time, shuffling his feet to cover ground.

Sockeye turn over on their second pass with a pass to Kwon – William Katz puts too much zip on it. Keep your eye on Katz because the next time he touches the disc will also be a turn over. The Machine O line set up a horizontal stack and Christian Foster cleans up after Katz’s exceptional point block, again we see shuffling on the mark but note how every step is synchronised between Foster and Evangelides, and the awesome athleticism of Foster to instantly take the quickest interception route to the new path of the disc.

Sockeye dump and swing as Evangelides and White bracket the downfield stack for Machine. A zig-zag cut from Foster occupies both bracketing defenders, and the downfield Machine defenders don’t reposition to cover the big break space.

Foster pivots wide for an around break backhand to Carnegie for the last point to be scored by Sockeye before a 5 point run from Machine.