AUB1 tend to play a 6 person vertical stack with one handler (usually Anthony or Ryan depending whose on the field). They have a number of strong fast cutters and a couple of good handlers who can huck deep (Anthony/Ramzi) or have good break throws (Ryan). The defensive set-up described below hopes to disrupt this standard AUB offense by taking away deep options and forcing them to distribute the disc to their weaker throwers close to the sidelines.
POINT 1: No-Huck/Straight up mark. AUB have a preference to huck deep but aside from Ryan they lack dangerous break throws. When Marking the primary handler, the defender (RED1) should mark straight up with a few additional steps away from the handler to make the huck more difficult and to force the disc further to the side line
POINT 2: Deep Poach: Likely to be Ryan J, will be responsible for covering the deep space (like in zone Defence), at the start they will cover a specifically identified player (i.e. Patrick) but will 'poach' deep i.e. as shown in the diagram they will be far deeper than their offensive player so as to ensure that they are covered deep
POINT 3: Lane poaches. In addition to the deep poach we will also poach into the two cutting lanes. Our female players will fulfill these roles one covering the open side space and the other covering the break side space (similar to wings in Zone Defence)
ALL OTHER PLAYERS PLAY PERSON-TO-PERSON DEFENCE - however if their offensive player is picked-up/covered by one of the poach defenders (RED 4,5 or 7) then they should move to cover a free player in the stack
SCENARIO 1: Back of stack deep and under to open side: The back of the stack (BLUE 7) cuts deep - covered by our deep poach (RED 7)
BLUE 7 (having been covered deep) now cuts under. The Deep poach (RED 7) should follow them in until a point where they can switch with another poach defender
The Deep Poach (RED7) then switches with the open lane poach (RED 5) who takes over covering the cutter (BLUE 5). The Deep Poach returns to their initial position covering the deep space at the back of the stack. As the Deep poach is now effectively covering BLUE 6, the defender RED 6 should pick up the free cutter (in this case BLUE 5)
Unable to get open the cutter will be forced back into the stack, RED 6 should cover whoever is considered the biggest offensive threat between their current mark and the returning cutter
SCENARIO 2: Break and Deep from front of stack: A cutter close to the front of the stack (likely covered person-to-person by a defender) makes a cut to the break side. Initially their defender (in this case RED3) should follow them in until a point where the break lane poach is in a position to cover them
The Break Lane poach positions themselves to take away the break-side cut. The original defender (RED3) switches to cover a free player in the stack
Having successfully covered the break-side cut, the break lane poach (RED4) should follow the cutter deep until a point where they can handover to the deep poach (RED 7)
Once the cutter has been handed over to the Deep Poach (RED7), the break-lane poach (RED4) should move back into position in the break-side lane. The stack defenders should readjust to cover the most prominent threats - in this case because the back of the stack is no longer covered by the deep poach a stack defender must pick them up person-to-person to ensure that they are still covered.
SCENARIO 3: Poached players cut: In the current situation BLUE 4 & 5 are both "poached' i.e. they are not being tightly marked person-to-person by a defender. These players will be the weaker throwers on the AUB line and we are looking to force the AUB handlers to throw to these players in difficult areas of the field i.e. the sideline - as such it is not as important to make sure that cuts from these players are covered completely but defenders should force these players as far to the sideline as possible.
SCENARIO 3A: Downfield cut by poached player (in this case Blue 5 to open side). It is difficult to set up a commitment cut from the middle of the stack without creating a pick so these players are already disadvantaged. The open-lane poach should cover the initial deep cut from the middle of the stack without losing committing so much as to lose their position should another more threatening player decide to make a cut to the open side.
Again on the under cut, the open-lane poach defender (RED 5) should follow BLUE 5 under but not commit to the extent that they lose positioning. They should prioritize forcing the cutter to the side-line (so positioning between the player and the disc on the players right shoulder).
Once the disc is thrown to the poached players the break-lane poach can move into to cover the other free player more person-to-person (as the break-side is less of a threat)
NO DUMP MARK: The focus now is to force the person with the disc into a difficult throw forwards (i.e. preventing easy dump resets). As such RED 5 should position themselves to take away the around backhand and anything behind but be less concerned with allowing an I/O forehand break throw. The mark on the dump (RED 1) should try to prevent any upline cuts from the handler (as this is an open throw) but remain tight so as to make a dump throw behind more difficult. All other players including the deep poach should cover under throws forcing a deep shot
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SCENARIO 3B: Poach player becomes dump: In the current situation one of the most appropriate things for the offence to do would be to have a poached player come back to handle (taking out the poach) - AUB might do this if Hoda is on the field. The principle is the same as above in terms of defending the initial cut but different in terms of subsequent marking. In this case BLUE 4 cuts to become the handler - as before RED 4 should not over commit so as to lose position if another offensive player cuts to the break side but try to force BLUE 4 as far to the side-line as possible. RED 4 SHOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOW BLUE 4 ALL THE WAY TO THE HANDLER POSITION
At this point RED 4 should stop following BLUE 4 under allowing them to get the reset close to horizontal from where the disc is anyway. Initially RED 4 should position themselves up field occupying the space directly in front of the thrower to block anythrows forward. The Dump defender (RED 1) should use their body to force the handler forward and into the space occupied by RED 4.
Once the initial quick reset is dealt with EVERYONE TRANSITIONS TO HARD PERSON-TO-PERSON DEFENCE. RED 4 puts on a NO-DUMP MARK FORCING THE SIDELINE.
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