Justin Leppitsch has contrasted his top three contenders for the premiership, with just a month of the home-and-away season left to be played.
The Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Melbourne are all safely ensconced in the top four going into Round 20, six points clear of fifth-placed Brisbane.
“The Dogs and their midfield depth, their handball possession style, their run-and-gun, get the ball out… I think it’s probably the most potent of the three game styles,” Leppitsch asserted on SEN's Whateley.
“If you have a bad day defensively or if you’re off, that style is going to literally tear you apart.
The former Lions coach and Richmond assistant says the blueprint for beating the Bulldogs is out there, though.
On Saturday evening, Bulldog ball-magnets Marcus Bontempelli and Jack Macrae were able to overwhelm the Demons.
In their earlier meeting however, Simon Goodwin sent James Harmes to tag extractor Tom Liberatore, limiting him to 16 disposals and slowing the Dogs’ supply line.
“We’ve proven against the Doggies though that if you really hit the contest and defend really well in that inner five metre ring, they can’t get it out,” Leppitsch explained.
“They can’t run and gun, because they don’t have the best bookends.
“(Key forward Aaron) Naughton aside, I wouldn’t say you’ve got too many future All-Australians at both ends of that field.”
In contrast with the Dogs’ adventurous approach, the Demons are resolute behind the ball.
“They’re complete defensive integrity,” Leppitsch marvelled.
“They pretty much mirror Richmond in their defensive set-up, but the difference is they aren’t as potent as Richmond from the ping, from the turnover.”
“I don’t think they’ve got the Bachar Houli to give the ball, I don’t think they’ve got the Jayden Short to give the ball, that gets 30 possessions a game, that challenges you, that breaks a line.
“They don’t have the offensive potency yet, and I don’t think their forwards are quite good enough to make it up with slow, methodical ball movement.”
Leppitsch went on to say Melbourne’s good fortune with fitness could leave them vulnerable when the finals blowtorch is applied to their tactics, not having been forced to experiment.
“You don’t have many variations, (and) you often become a bit of a sitting duck, which I think Richmond was a little bit in 2018,” he recalled.
“There’s a little bit of that feel to Melbourne… they might have to do one or two things a little bit differently.”
The Dogs and Dees have been pencilled in at the top of the card for most of the season.
However, Leppitsch believes Geelong could be the best-prepared for September, for the very same reason he has reservations around Melbourne.
“They’re the staple. They’re like the bread, it’s always in your house. They’re always in finals, they’re always around,” he laughed.
“One thing they do better than anyone is they’ve got high variation.
“What they do with the ball they’ve changed a lot, what they do with their personnel they’ve changed a lot.”
“In any scenario for Geelong, they’ll be comfortable, on any given day.”
While coach Chris Scott has tinkered with the direction and pace of their ball movement, and the composition of the team, he has offered his defenders a degree of strategic consistency.
Drumming in the same defensive message season after season has made the Cats tough to stretch.
“They’ve got the most underrated defence in all of this, because they’ve been using the same system for about eight years now,” Leppitsch
“It’s always been pretty good but it’s just gone to an elite level. Their ability to slide behind the ball and create numbers…
“They’ve always been a maintain back six team. You don’t see half-backs going across the middle part of the ground. Almost all six of their backs stay behind the centre of the ground.”