Poaching defence in ultimate frisbee

Poaching in Ultimate means that a team is typically playing 1 on 1 person defence, and a defender moves away from their check to clog the lanes or defend another player cutting in. Often times it doesn't actually result in an interception but it causes the offence to lose flow as there's a player sitting right in the lane.

How poach defence works in ultimate

Not every offensive player is a threat at the same moment. In a vertical stack, the cutter at the front is about to go and the players further back are waiting their turn. The defender on one of those waiting players can give them a few yards, because their player would need time to get open. That defender uses the time to help in the lane where the next cut will be caught, which is usually the open side space in front of the stack when your team is forcing forehand.

The poacher does not have to block the throw outright. Standing in the lane is enough to make most throwers look somewhere else, and a throw that does go through has to go around or over a second defender, which makes it easier to get a hand on.

The cost is that the poacher's own player is open for a moment. So the poacher picks the right player to leave, keeps them in sight the whole time, and goes back as soon as the thrower changes or their player starts to move. A poacher who watches only the disc gets beaten by a simple cut from the player they left. The defenders nearby should know it is happening, so a short call when you leave and when you go back helps.

Some players should not be left. If your player is the next cutter, your opponents' best thrower, or simply faster than you, stay with them. Leaving a player who is about to cut deep is the quickest way to give up a goal, because nobody behind you is covering the space.

Step by step

The offence is in a vertical stack with O1 holding the disc and O2 behind as the dump. The defence is forcing forehand, so the open side is down the picture, and the stack defenders stand a half step downfield on that side, as in how to guard a cutter.

O4 is second in the stack and not cutting yet, so D4 leaves O4 and steps into the open side lane, between the disc and the space in front of the stack.

O3 cuts under to the open side and D3 follows a step behind. With D4 standing in the lane, the throw to O3 would have to go past a second defender, so O1 holds the disc.

O1 resets to O2, the dump, and D2 takes the mark. As soon as the disc moves, D4 runs back to O4, who is now the next cutter, and O3 keeps running out of the lane.

O4 cuts under toward the new thrower. D4 got back before the cut started, so they can stay on O4's shoulder.

Both cuts were covered and O2 still has the disc, with a new stall count running. From here D4 looks for the next lane to help in.

To practise it at walking pace, set up a thrower, a dump and a short stack of three or four cutters, each with a defender. Pick one defender to poach and have the cutters run their usual under cuts. The poacher calls when they leave and when they go back, and the thrower looks for the poacher's player whenever they are left open too long. Once the timing is right, speed it up and let the poacher choose who to leave. The same idea works against a horizontal stack, where a defender can help in the space the cutters are trying to use; horizontal stack cutting shows where those cuts go.

The full play

You can take this playbook into your own account and change it for your team, for example to poach from a different spot in the stack.

If you captain a rec team, game day on Playspedia helps you set lines and keep playing time fair. Set up your team here.