Tough Love

A new experience for me lately has been captaining the league’s extras team. It’s been a pleasant experience which has been made so largely due to the other experienced players on the team, as well as all the relatively new players giving such a great effort (it’s always nice to be asked to practice!).

This week, our team was playing one which had plenty of subs (maybe two full lines) whereas we are all doubling frequently. As second half came around we were not as fresh as the other team, and the question arose:
“Should we just stay behind the person we’re marking to keep them from going long?”

This is not a new question. I’ve asked it myself. While some may disagree, my answer is:
“No. Play harder.”

Am I a big meanie? Maybe. Unrealistic? Perhaps. I see the pro-surrender-the-short-cut argument; “hopefully they’ll drop it”, “it’s better then them scoring on a single throw”, “the cutter is a better player than me”. Here’s the big meanie in me: all those are excuses. Granted, sometimes the cutter really is a lot better, but I’d much rather hear from my teammates: “put me on that person again, I’m going to beat them this time”, or “how can I cover them better so they don’t get away from me as easily”. The big argument I have against surrendering the short pass especially holds true for new players: it’s not teaching them properly.

Time to head to the gym. I’d better keep up with whoever I’m marking after going on like that.