“A tough old game, where we scrape a rare win, but certainly we were out played and out coached.

First, thank you Edwin for not timing out. You put forth many puzzles which I could not solve, and a took too long with my turns. You are, as always, a gentleman to play alongside.

Learnings:

1. MENTALITY

After a plummeting decline in my performance over the past 70-80 games, I have unfortunately adopted a pessimistic attitude. This does not serve my teams well, and detracts from enjoyment of game for both myself and opposition. I must improve this area first and foremost.

2. CONTACT

Some small things- not freeing up players in contact by using blitz, or not dodging away (to avoid a MB hit).

T5 of my offensive drive was 'go time' as I was being shut down my the Dwarf defence. So... we engage. This was a good time to lean in to what we are uncomfortable with. We paid more attention to where S4 and Guard were placed. It backfired, but good practice.

I need to experiment more with how to engage my S4 and G players better. Pushing up the middle is perhaps a better strategy, rather than being shut down into the sidelines.

3. PROTECTION

In the end, we did not protect the ball well, and are easily sacked without much protest. I could have positioned better to make it harder, but I failed to see the threat once again. Those Bulls can really move.

So... WHAT DID WE DO WELL??

1. CHAIN PUSH

We made a nice chain push to free up the triple based ball carrier. It was slow process, me trying to figure out how to make it work. It did not work in the end as we were sacked, but, saved us failing a 1/9 dodge.

2. BALL AND CHAIN

We made a -2db, with block, on ball and chain player. Double Skulls, so player went down, and died. The strategy is sound, and we were lucky to get the right dice, and a nice badge for our meagre efforts.

”