Australian Football: Steps to Success - Andrew McLeod & Trevor Jaques

Australian Football: Steps to Success

by Andrew McLeod and Trevor Jaques

NEW, 192 pages

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About Australian Football - Steps to Success

Australian Football: Steps to Success provides the essential skills players and coaches need to master the game and build successful teams. This book contains comprehensive instruction on the techniques and tactics that have helped top player Andrew McLeod become a two-time Norm Smith medallist and three-time All Australian. McLeod and football coach and teacher Trevor Jaques draw on years of experience to help you prepare for and play the game.

From basic ball handling to more challenging ruckwork, Australian Football: Steps to Success provides full technical guidance. Carefully selected drills speed the learning process and help monitor progress. You then apply those skills on the field with the tactical approaches essential to commanding every facet of the game. The final training guidelines ensure that practice sessions are varied, efficient, and fun while physically preparing players to execute the skills and withstand the rigors of one of the most challenging team sports.

See all of the titles in the Steps to Success Series.
About the Author
Andrew McLeod has played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for a decade and is one of the most popular and talented players in the game. A life member of the Adelaide Football Club, McLeod has exceptional skills and blinding speed that have made him a fan favourite to legions of Crows supporters as well as opposition players and football followers.

McLeod has received numerous accolades, awards, and medals. He is a five-time All Australian as well as a dual winner of the Norm Smith medal, which is awarded to the AFL Grand Final’s most outstanding player. In 2007, he became the captain of the All-American team for the first time. In 2004, at the age of 28, McLeod reached another significant milestone when he played his 200th senior game. McLeod has been named club champion twice, runner-up three times, and third once. He has regularly placed as a top-10 contender for the AFL’s Brownlow Medal, including a second and third placing. McLeod also won the Michael Tuck Medal for the most outstanding player in the preseason championship game in 2003.

Trevor Jaques has gone from representing South Australia as a schoolboy and amateur footballer to serving as fitness coach for the SA team, which won the 1988 and 1993 Australian championships. He has played, taught, and coached at many levels and served as an elite-level fitness coach for more than 25 years. With this extensive background, he has at various times held positions as fitness director, runner, and team selector for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League since the team’s inception in 1991. For the past 12 years he has served as the league’s training services manager, the position he currently holds.

Jaques received his bachelor’s degree and physical education qualifications from Adelaide University and his master’s degree from Michigan State University. Formerly a senior lecturer in sport sciences at the University of South Australia, Jaques taught sport and skill analysis, sport injuries, sports conditioning, and football.

Reviews of this books

"Australian Football: Steps to Success covers all of the essential skills and provides drills, guidelines, and information on team play."

Wayne Jackson
Former AFL Commissioner and CEO

"Jaques and McLeod make a formidable team. They have produced the ultimate Australian football guide for every player and coach."

Wayne Carey
Former champion AFL player

"This book includes key learning points for each skill and important elements of team play along with effective and stimulating practice activities to make planning easy."

Lawrie Woodman
National Coaching Development manager, AFL

"With the powerhouse team of Jaques and McLeod and their thorough and systematic approach to skill acquisition, anyone can learn to be a successful Australian football player."

Lleyton Hewitt
Tennis World #2, avid football fan, and would-be Australian Football League player.

About Australian Rules Football

Structure and competitions

South Fremantle Football Club celebrate with "The Flag" and "The Cup" after winning the 2005 WAFL Premiership. Clubs, premierships and Grand Finals have been central to both the structure and culture of the sport since the earliest days.

The football season, proper, is from March to August (early autumn to late winter in Australia) with finals being held in September. In the tropics, the game is sometimes played in the wet season (October to March). Pre-season competitions in southern Australia usually begin in late February.

The AFL is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian rules football. There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, most of which are now either owned by or affiliated to the AFL.

Most of these hold annual semi-professional club competitions while the others oversee more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur organisations and competitions are often affiliated to their state organisations.

The AFL is also the de facto world governing body for Australian rules football. There are also a number of affiliated organisations governing amateur clubs and competitions around the world.

For almost all Australian rules club competitions the aim is to win the Premiership. The premiership is always decided by a finals series. The teams that occupy the highest positions on the ladder play off in a "semi-knockout" finals series. From the 1930s the finals series was usually contested by the top 4 teams (3rd versus 4th (First semifinal); 1st versus 2nd (Second semifinal); winner of First versus loser of Second (Preliminary final); the winner of Second versus winner of Preliminary playing in the Grand Final for the premiership). Many leagues have adopted a final series involving 5, 6 or 8 teams with a variety of methods used to determine the winner. The AFL finals system is contested by the top 8 teams.

Unlike most soccer competitions there are usually no separate "league" and "cup" trophies. The team finishing first on the ladder is often referred to as a 'minor premier', although this bears little or no significance. In the AFL, this is the McClelland Trophy and is considered a consolation prize. The team which finishes at the bottom of the ladder at the end of the season is said to receive 'the wooden spoon' It is also rare for promotion and relegation to occur in Australian rules football competitions.

Rules of the Game:
Both the ball and the field of play are oval in shape. No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time.

Up to four interchange (reserve) players may be swapped for those on the field at any time during the game. In Australian rules terminology, these players wait for substitution "on the bench" - an area with a row of seats on the sideline. In Round 8, 2008 a new rule was introduced for the remainder of the season. The AFL club has to lodge a piece of paper with an attendant AFL official detailing the player to come off the ground and his replacement.

There is no offside rule nor are there set positions in the rules; unlike many other forms of football, players from both teams disperse across the whole field before the start of play. However, only four players from each team are allowed within the 50 m centre square before every centre bounce, which occurs at the commencement of each quarter, and to restart the game after a goal is scored. There are also other rules pertaining to allowed player positions during set plays (i.e., after a mark or free kick) and during kick-ins following the scoring of a behind.

A game consists of four quarters and a timekeeper officiates their duration. In professional Australian Football, quarters are 20 minutes plus time on. Time on refers to clock being stopped when the ball is out of play, meaning that an average quarter could last for 27 to 31 minutes. At the end of each quarter, teams change their scoring end.

Games are officiated by umpires. Australian football begins after the first siren, the umpire bounces the ball on the ground (or throws it into the air if the condition of the ground is poor), and the two ruckmen (typically the tallest players from each team), battle for the ball in the air on its way back down.

The ball can be propelled in any direction by way of a foot, clenched fist (called a handball or handpass) or open-hand tap but it cannot be thrown under any circumstances. Throwing is defined in the rules quite broadly but is essentially any open hand disposal that causes the ball to move upward in the air.

A player may run with the ball but it must be bounced or touched on the ground at least once every 15 metres. Opposition players may bump or tackle the player to obtain the ball and, when tackled, the player must dispose of the ball cleanly or risk being penalised for holding the ball. The ball carrier may only be tackled between the shoulders and knees. If the opposition player forcefully contacts a player in the back whilst performing a tackle, the opposition player will be penalised for a push in the back. If the opposition tackles the player with possession below the knees, it is ruled as a low tackle or a trip, and the team with possession of the football gets a free kick.

If a player takes possession of the ball that has travelled more than 15 metres from another player's kick, by way of a catch, it is claimed as a mark and that player may then have a free kick (meaning that the game stops while he prepares to kick from the point at which he marked). Alternatively, he may choose to "play on:" forfeiting the set shot in the hope of pressing an advantage for his team (rather than allowing the opposition to reposition while he prepares for the free kick). Once a player has chosen to play on, normal play resumes and the player who took the mark is again able to be tackled.

There are different styles of kicking depending on how the ball is held in the hand. The most common style of kicking seen in today's game, principally because of its superior accuracy, is the drop punt (the ball is dropped from the hands down, almost to the ground, to be kicked so that the ball rotates in a reverse end over end motion as it travels through the air). Other commonly used kicks are the torpedo punt (also known as the spiral or screw punt; the ball is held at an angle and kicked, which makes the ball spiral in the air, resulting in extra distance) and the checkside punt or "snap", used to curve the ball towards targets that are on an angle.

Apart from free kicks or when the ball is in the possession of an umpire for a ball up or throw in, the ball is always in dispute and any player from either side can take possession of the ball.
The two tall central posts are the goal posts, and the two shorter outer posts are the behind posts.

A goal is scored when the football is propelled through the goal posts at any height (including above the height of the posts) by way of a kick from the attacking team. It may fly through on the full or bounce through, but must not have been touched, on the way, by any player from either team. A goal cannot be scored from the foot of an opposition (defending) player.

A behind is scored when the ball passes between a goal post and a behind post at any height, or if the ball hits a goal post, or if an attacking player sends the ball between the goal posts by touching it with any part of the body other than a foot. A behind is also awarded to the attacking team if the ball touches any part of an opposition player, including his foot, before passing between the goal posts. When an opposition player deliberately scores a behind for the attacking team (generally as a last resort, because of the risk of their scoring a goal) this is termed a rushed behind.

If the ball hits one of the behind posts, the ball is considered out of bounds and no score is awarded.

A goal is worth 6 points whereas a behind is worth 1 point. The goal umpire signals a goal with two hands raised at elbow height, a behind with one hand, and then confirms the signal with the other goal umpire by waving flags above his head.

The team that has scored the most points at the end of play wins the game. If the scores are level on points at the end of play, then the game is a draw; extra time applies only during finals matches in some competitions.

Australian Football: Steps to Success