Richmond, Melbourne Expose Fatal Flaw in Bombers' Plan | Thebigtip

After a tough start to the season, the Bombers finally had some easy games on the horizon. West Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne and Richmond sounded like four games they should win easily. Unfortunately, everything came crashing down against Richmond and didn't improve following the bye.

The reason is quite simple - the Bombers didn't learn from the mistakes of the Richmond match. If they don't, every team will play them the same way and Bomber fans may be in for another long season.

So just what did Richmond and Melbourne do to beat the Bombers? Well, they analysed the Bombers' very simple game plan:
- Win hard contested ball out of the middle.
- Kick the ball long to contests
- Take strong contested marks, get the ball out of bounds or get some running players to pick up the ball as it spills to the ground

And came up with the following solution:
- Flood- put extra men back on the tall forwards of the Bombers
- Spoil effectively- made a lot easier when you have extra men at the contest
- Pick up the ball and run, run, run off half back
- Pump the ball into your open forward line as the Bombers try and scramble back

You would have thought the Bombers might change their game plan to suit the circumstances. However, the Bombers kept kicking the ball long to contests with one Essendon man and two or three opposition players. The ball is spoiled, picked up by the opposition running players and taken through the middle of the ground. As the Bombers try and get men back to defend, the ball is kicked straight over their heads to a surprisingly open forward line.

Where were the extra men back to stop the one-on-one contests when the ball came into the Bombers' defensive 50? Where was the smart thinking, chipping the ball around to loose men instead of kicking it long time after time? Why do the Bombers forwards look like they've forgotten how to take a contested mark?

Long story short, if the Bombers can't adapt their game plan when necessary, it will be another season of disappointment for Bomber fans like me.