Tight, Flat, Wide Game Management

The 9, 10, & 12 are the Drivers of our attack.

The 9 controls the “Tight” game.

The 10 controls the “Flat” game.

The 12 controls the “Wide” game.

We play a series of options off the 9 at ruck time with the objective being to suck in the defense and prepare the way for either a Flat strike or a Wide strike.

The 9 plays his options “Tight” around the fringes of the ruck, until the 10 or 12 see something and call for the ball. His options are either to pass straight from the base of the ruck, or to pick the ball up and scoot sideways across the first 2 defenders: 2 Forwards coming in for a punch outside the 3rd defender, 1 forward or wing coming from blind for an inside ball, or an out-the-back pass behind the punch forwards to his 10 sliding out.

The 10’s objective is to attack “Flat” on the gainline with a series of options to choose from: 2 forwards coming in for a punch outside the 6th defender, 1 forward or wing coming from blind for an inside ball, a show & go, or an out-the-back pass behind the punch forwards to his 12 sliding out.

He has to play as flat to the defense as his fear and skill let him, in order to sit the defense and stop them from sliding onto his other options.
A 10 that passes too early/deep just shovels the defense on to the next guy.

The 12’s objective is to strike the space out “Wide” by using the 10’s Flat game as a decoy and attacking the edge, or gap, in the defense with a series of options to choose from: 13 coming in for a punch at the edge, the blindside wing coming for an inside ball, a show & go into the gap, an out-the-back pass behind the 13 punch to the 15 sliding out, or a grubber through for the openside wing if the opposition wing has come up into the defensive line. We do not recommend a skip pass to the wing because this shape is a huge temptation for the defensive winger to shoot up looking to intercept this obvious pass, so putting the grubber in behind him leaves him stuck.