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The Huddle

Sockeye 1 — Johnny Bravo 0

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The Huddle: Bravo looks to be flood the break side to give their cutters plenty of space to operate on the open side. In this circumstance how much do you look to poach off? Is this a good strategy?

Andrew Fleming: On this point, the Sockeye defenders on the flood side stay close to home rather than poaching. The defenders isolated in the lane eventually surrender the first upfield throw; however, by playing honest, the stack defenders are well positioned to deny the continuation cut, leading to a turnover on the dump. Poaching off the flood side can be effective, especially in giving deep help, but it places a bigger bet on stopping the first throw. If it gets out, the next will be harder to contain. As a defense, it may be good to give both options a try early in the game.

Mike Whitaker: With cutters flooding the break side, poaching off in the lane can be effective, especially in a cross wind situation such as this game where the disc is unlikely to move quickly to the upwind sideline. The danger with this strategy is that poachers can often be caught flat footed as the cutters move off the breakside at full speed, making it difficult to re-engage effectively as a one-on-one defender.