The 'Four Fs' behind dominant ball carrying

There are three main favourable outcomes from a dominant ball carry - an offload post-contact to continue play, a pop off the ground to a support player or a good place-and-quick-ruck ball.

A dominant ball carry is a step-by-step process. If any aren’t executed properly, the options to keep the ball available post-contact decrease significantly.

While fighting forward and then place techniques are trained with high repetition, these are last options which become available to a dominant ball carrier.

We need to concentrate first on the offload, then the pop and, finally, placement. That is why the four Fs - Feet, Fend, Fight, Finish - are so important.

Feet

A ball carrier should focus on changing direction to create space between themselves and a defender. They should go directly at a defender to entice them to square up and stop moving their feet.

If the carrier does this effectively, it is hard for a defender to regain their speed and close the space once they have changed direction, giving the ball carrier more space.

Fend

After creating space with the footwork, the key focus is to have the inside leg down as the ball carrier passes the defender.

This is designed to only offer ’hard parts’ - knee, hip, back and shoulder - for a defender to make contact with. Whereas, if the outside foot were up when passing the defender, the ball carrier would be offering up legs and stomach (see illustration in this activity).

The player should transfer the ball away from the oncoming defender and use their free arm to fend and keep the space that the feet created with a strong aggressive fend. 

The two keys to a successful fend are:

• An accurate target zone: chest or shoulder for an upright defender and shoulder or head for a defender who has already dipped for contact. 
• A fast, punch-like action with your fending arm. Holding a fend out for too long allows a defender to use it as a lever to grab. A fend should be retracted as fast as it was thrown.

FENDING: The importance of having your inside leg down as you pass the defender

WRONG TECHNIQUE - OUTSIDE LEG DOWN

The defender is hitting ‘soft spots’ like the stomach, diminishing the likelihood of the ball carrier fighting through that tackle.

CORRECT TECHNIQUE - INSIDE LEG DOWN

The defender is hitting ‘hard parts’ like the knee and hip, so the chances of the ball carrier fighting through the contact are much greater. Ideally, the defender doesn’t impact at all because they have been beaten by the feet and the fend. But in the event the carrier does get tackled, it is imperative the inside leg is down if they want to have the best chance of breaking the tackle.