On this page
On this page
The short answer
Clip five things from a game of footy: stoppages (centre bounces, ball-ups and throw-ins), contested ball and pressure, inside-50 entries, defensive structure behind the ball, and rebound and kick-ins. Eight to twelve clips a game is plenty.
The hard part is the camera. An oval is much bigger than a soccer pitch or a rugby field, so no single shot holds the whole ground. Film from as high as you can get on the wing at the centre line, follow the ball, and keep the next contest and the structure behind it in frame.
Why footy needs film more than most sports
Ovals run anywhere from about 135 to 185 metres between the goals, with up to thirty-six players spread across them. From the boundary or the coaches’ box you can follow the ball and the two or three players around it. You cannot also watch the forward line setting up at the far end, the half-back who has drifted off their opponent, or the wingman jogging back while the ball is being won in the middle.
That is a problem, because so much of footy is decided away from the ball. A goal from a turnover usually starts with a defensive structure that was a player short forty seconds earlier. An inside 50 that comes straight back out usually started with two forwards leading into the same space. Neither shows up in a stat sheet, and both are obvious on a wide shot played back at half speed.
The good news is that footy repeats. A centre bounce or ball-up starts every quarter and follows every goal, there are dozens of stoppages around the ground, and each team goes inside 50 dozens of times. Like rugby, that gives you a real sample from a single game, so a pattern is a pattern rather than one bad kick.
The five things worth clipping
1. Stoppages
The most structured part of footy, and the easiest to set up and review. Clip every centre bounce, then a handful of ball-ups and boundary throw-ins from around the ground.
Watch the setup before the ball goes up, not just the hit-out. Where are your mids standing, and where is the opposition’s spare? Is the tap going to advantage or straight to their midfielder? Then follow the clearance: who got hands on it first, and did the first disposal find a teammate or just get rid of it? A rushed kick out of a stoppage to nobody is the most common way to win the clearance and lose the ball.
2. Contested ball and pressure
Clip the ground balls, the tackles and the tackles that didn’t stick. The coaching point is usually the third player: who arrived at the contest to receive the handball, and who ran past it.
Pressure is where film earns its keep with players. “We need more pressure” is a shout. A clip of the opposition ball carrier with time and space to look up, kick and hit a target, with three of your players jogging, is the same point made in a way nobody can argue with. Count the spoils, smothers and second efforts too. The one-percenters are easy to miss live and easy to praise from film.
3. Inside-50 entries
Clip every entry, and start the clip before the kick. The quality of an entry is decided by what the forwards did in the three seconds before the ball left the boot.
Leading is a timing problem, much like a drive in netball: a lead that goes too early takes the defender with it into the space, and two forwards leading at the same time kill the space for both. On film, check whether the kicker lowered their eyes and hit a lead or bombed it long to a one-on-one, and whether the forwards held the space at the top of the square for the long ball. The result to count is simple: did the entry end in a mark, a contest, or an intercept?
4. Defensive structure behind the ball
Underrated because nothing is happening. Pause when the opposition wins the ball in the middle of the ground and count your players behind it. Is there a spare in defence? Is the zone set, or are your half-backs still manned up on forwards who have pushed up to the wing?
Then watch the kick come in. Intercept marks come from defenders who read the ball early and get front position, and film shows who is reading the play and who is watching their opponent. A freeze frame with the zone drawn and the open space shaded makes the conversation quick.
5. Rebound and kick-ins
Every behind gives you a kick-in, which is a set play you can plan and count. Clip every one, and every time the ball leaves your defensive 50.
The question is not how far it went, but whether you kept it. A kick-in that goes long down the line to a contest is a coin toss; one that finds a lead, then a switch or a run through the corridor, is a scoring chance. Count how many rebounds you retained to the next disposal, and the problem usually shows up within a quarter.
Clip the chain, not the goal
Goals are the end of a chain. The cause is usually a turnover or a stoppage three or four disposals earlier, and a clip that starts at the shot on goal shows the least useful ten seconds of it.
Start every clip at the turnover or the stoppage that began the chain, even when that is half a ground away from the goal. It is also how you learn where your scores really come from, which is the most useful single thing a footy coach can know.
ClipItCoach has an AFL sport with its own starter tags, which are handy for finding moments. Add a handful for what you actually coach, like a stoppage, an entry, a kick-in or a turnover, and set them to start a few seconds before you press the key. Every clip then already includes the build-up you are going to talk about. Our guide to clipping a game with tags shows how.
What to count across a season
You do not need a stats provider. A notepad, the vision and a few counts will tell you most of what you need.
| Count | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Score source, for and against | Whether scores come from stoppages, turnovers or kick-ins, and so where to spend training time |
| Scores per inside 50 | Whether the problem is the number of entries or what happens to them |
| Marks inside 50 | The quality of the kicking and the leading, in one number |
| Clearances, centre and around the ground | Whether your stoppage setup works |
| Kick-in retention | Whether your set play gets the ball out cleanly |
| Scores conceded by quarter | Late fades and the wind, which usually point to rotations or game plan rather than effort |
Score source is the one to start with. Once every scoring chain is clipped from its start, it takes minutes to count, and it settles arguments about whether Tuesday should be about the stoppage setup or the defensive structure.
The quarter count is worth a second look too. With rolling interchange, a drop in pressure in the last five minutes of a quarter is often about who had been on the ground too long, not about who stopped trying. Check the rotations before you blame the effort.
Filming an oval
Footy is the hardest of the common team sports to film well, for one reason: the size of the ground. A camera at fence height on the boundary sees the near wing and very little behind it.
- Position: on the wing, level with the centre square, as high as you can get. A clubroom balcony or the top of the grandstand works; many clubs put up a scaffold tower for the season. Height is what turns a pack of players into a readable structure.
- Frame: follow the ball, but wider than instinct says. Keep the next contest and the players behind the ball in shot. When the ball goes inside 50, widen to hold the forward line before the kick, because the leads are the point.
- A second camera: if you have one, put it high behind the goals. Teams change ends at every break, so one goal-end camera sees your forward line in two quarters and your defence in the other two, and both are useful.
- Wind: ovals are open and towers move. Weigh the tripod down and keep the camera low on the platform. A shaking picture is useless at half speed, which is exactly when you need it.
- Keep it running: record through the quarter breaks rather than stopping and starting, so the whole game is one video to upload and clip. A game with breaks runs well over two hours, so bring a power bank for a phone.
Our guide to filming your own games covers tripods, phones and settings.
On tracking and drawing in footy: ClipItCoach’s AI player tracking covers football (soccer), basketball and rugby. On a ground this size, drawing on a freeze frame is the dependable tool for footy anyway: an arrow for the lead that should have gone, the zone outlined, the spare ringed. It works on any footage. See what telestration is for more on drawing tools.
A week of footy vision
Most community clubs train two nights a week and play on the weekend, so the review has to fit around a job and training.
| When | What | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Game day | Start the upload from the clubrooms before you leave | 5 minutes |
| Sunday | Watch a quarter at a time at speed and note the moments worth revisiting | 45 minutes |
| Monday | Clip eight to twelve of them, one sentence on each, and send them out | 30 minutes |
| First training night | Fifteen minutes of vision on one theme before the session | 15 minutes |
Send clips to the line they are about. Groups for your backs, mids, forwards and rucks mean the forwards get the leading clips and the backs get the intercepts, instead of everybody sitting through everything. Players watch on their phones and reply in the comments, which is often where you find out what they were thinking. See the twenty-minute film session for how to run the session itself.
Common questions
What should an AFL coach clip from a game?
Stoppages, contested ball and pressure, inside-50 entries, defensive structure behind the ball, and rebound and kick-ins. Eight to twelve clips a game on one or two themes works better than a long reel. Start each clip at the turnover or stoppage that began the chain, not at the shot on goal.
Where should you film a footy game from?
On the wing, level with the centre square, as high as you can get, such as a clubroom balcony, a grandstand or a scaffold tower. An oval is too big to hold in one static shot, so follow the ball while keeping the next contest and the players behind the ball in frame. A second camera high behind the goals is the best addition for forward entries.
How do you analyse inside-50 entries on video?
Clip every entry and start a few seconds before the kick, because the quality of an entry is decided by what the forwards did before the ball left the boot. Check whether the leads were timed and spaced, whether the kicker hit a lead or kicked long to a contest, and count whether each entry ended in a mark, a contest or an intercept.
How often should a footy team watch vision?
After every game, briefly. Fifteen minutes of vision on one theme before the first training session of the week is enough for most community teams. Sending each line its own clips to watch on their phones keeps the team session short.
Does AI player tracking work for Australian rules football?
ClipItCoach’s AI tracking covers football (soccer), basketball and rugby. For Australian rules, drawing on a freeze frame does the job: an arrow for a lead, the defensive zone outlined, or the spare player ringed. Drawing works on any footage.