Jason Beck

2096110
AFL SKILLS LESSON PLAN
LESSON 4
YEARS 8/9

AIM:
To learn the skill of a mark, handball and kick sequence.
In previous weeks students have learnt the fundamental skills of marking, handballing
and kicking. It is now time to further develop these skills by combining all three skills
in a fundamental sequence of play.
Upon completion of this lesson students will have completed aspects standard 4.1
Able to modify skills to improve performance.
SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
Appropriate footwear
Shoe laces tied up
Everyone must pay attention at all ties to avoid being struck by a stray ball
When not participating in a drill, balls must be down by feet
EQUIPMENT:
Cones
Footballs
Bibs/sashes
Whistle
LESSON STRUCTURE:
Introduction:
You are now familiar with the basic skills of marking, kicking and handballing, it is
now time to develop these skills further. Today you will be learning an extremely
important tactical facet of Australian Football, that being marking the ball and
immediately having someone running pass to receive a handball who will then run
with and kick the ball. This is used to move the ball quickly and gain greater distance.
It is typically used to move to ball out of the defensive end. Today we will start off
with a quick game that will allow you to familiarise yourself with the skills
individually. We will then engage in some practice drills which will hopefully develop
this sequence of play. Upon completion of the drills you will then have a chance to
put these skills into practice in a game like situation. Most importantly though, lets
just remember its all about having fun, do not get frustrated if you cannot quite
complete the sequence with your first go, with time it will all come together.

Jason Beck

2096110

Game Sense game- Keeping off: (approx 5 minutes)

Start off with a quick game of Keeping off. This will allow students to familiarise
themselves with basic football skills (Kicking, handballing and marking).
Keeping off rules:
The initial game will be played in its simplest form
Two teams of even numbers
The team that starts with the ball will attempt to get five uninterrupted
passes
The ball touching the ground or being intercepted will result in a
turnover
If a team is able to achieve five passes it is considered a goal and the
other team the has a turn
There is no contact or running with the ball
For this game players can move anywhere (there are no boundaries)
Guiding Questions: What can a player without the ball do to assist their team? Is it
better for a defending player to defend the person with the ball, without the ball or
simply defend space?
Progression/Practice- Sequence Drill: (approx 5 minutes. Ensure each student has had
a turn at each cone)
Now that players are familiar with the skills involved, it is time to practice putting the
skills into a sequence.
The drill will be performed as shown in figure 1.
At least two students will need to be positioned at each cone at any one time.
Drill description:
X will start with the ball
X will kick the ball to Triangle who will be moving forward
anticipating the pass and then mark the ball
Triangle will handpass the ball to Square who will be running
alongside Triangle
Square will then run with the ball and kick the ball to Circle
Circle will mark the ball and kick the ball back to X thus completing
one rotation

Students rotate positions and will each have a turn on each position.
Players move to the cone they passed the ball to eg, X moves to
Triangle, Triangle moves to Square, Square moves to Circle and Circle
moves to X

Guiding questions: If the kick is not making the distance what can a player do to
improve that? How should you align your hands to anticipate the mark? Where should
the person receiving the ball from a hand pass position themselves to receive the ball
at optimum speed?

Jason Beck

2096110

Progression/Practice- Three man weave: (approx 3 minutes)

Students will form three lines with the teacher (or a volunteer student depending on
numbers) positioned roughly 20 metres in front of the middle line.
Three man weave description: (also refer to figure 2 for a better understanding)
Teacher kicks the ball to the middle cone
Middle cone marks the ball and handpasses the ball to the person
running across from the left cone
That person will immediately handpass the ball to the person running
from the right cone
The final person will then run a few steps to steady themselves and
then kick the ball back to the teacher thus completing one rotation
Repeat for the next group of three
Students are encouraged to change starting cones to experience each
skill set
Guiding Questions: Is it better to hand ball to the player or to the space they are
running into? How should you align your hands to anticipate the mark?
Game Sense game- Keeping off session Two: (approx 8-10 minutes)
The game will be played with the same rules as the initial game, however, players are
now able to move with the ball providing they do so legally. Eg, bouncing or touching
the ball to the ground (this is the only time the ball is legally allowed to touch the
ground). HOWEVER, a player that marks the ball is not allowed to kick or run with
the ball (they must only handpass).
This will encourage what has been learned in the drills, a player marking the ball and
having someone running past to receive a handpass.
Guiding Questions: How can you ensue a player will always have someone to
handpass the ball to? Is it better for a defending player to defend the person with the
ball, without the ball or simply defend space? What can a player without the ball do to
assist their team?
Conclusion:
Coming into this session you were able to perform basic football skills of kicking,
marking and handballing but had not yet placed each aspect together to form a
sequence of play. Now that we are at the end of the session I am pleased to say I could
tell you all understand the relevance of quickly moving the ball forward and are now
able to perform the skill set to a game like standard. In my opinion you can now
recognise the appropriate times in which this skill can be performed and the benefits
in doing so. In future sessions this sequence of play can be transferred to a switch of
play which is another extremely important tactic of the game.
To finish with I would like to ask you one last question, when would it not be
appropriate to perform this skill set and why?

Jason Beck

2096110