Adjustments: Strategy, Structure & Personnel
When you decide to change something, what kind of change is it? The three-tier model elite coaches use to pick the right adjustment, every time.
When the game tells you something needs to change, the next question is the one that separates good coaches from great ones: what kind of change?
At elite level, every in-game adjustment generally falls into one of three categories: strategy, structure, or personnel. Knowing which one you're reaching for stops you applying the wrong fix to the right problem.
1. Strategy — how we play
Strategy adjustments change the team's playing approach without moving anyone or swapping anyone. The same eighteen players keep their roles, but the way they execute shifts.
Examples of strategic shifts you might call from the box:
- Slow it down: Take the chip-mark, let the team reset. Useful when the game is fast, uncontrolled and losing structure.
- Switch more: Move the ball laterally to find space when the opposition's defensive numbers are one-sided.
- Up the pressure: Emphasise importance of pressure on the ball in addition to covering the outlets up the field with urgency. Pressure is not just felt, it is also what the opposition look up and see..
- Kick-mark to settle: When chains are breaking, simplify back to controlled possession.
- Corridor vs boundary: Choose the riskier centre or the safer flank depending on what the opposition gives you.
- Adjust inside-50 method: Messaging around lowering eyes vs long to contest, taking skinnier options which are easier to defend, fat side entries to increase space forwards can exploit.
Strategy is the lowest-friction lever. It's also the one community coaches reach for least often — usually because they don't have a clear menu of options to pick from. If your players know two or three strategic switches before the game starts, you can call them with one sentence at quarter time.
2. Structure — where we stand
Structure adjustments move people without changing who's on the field. The shape of the team changes; the personnel doesn't.
Examples:
- Adjust wings: This may look like wing on wing at stoppage, pulling defensive cover deeper to support the backs or using the off-ball wing to provide support for the defence earlier..
- Push an extra behind the ball: Add a numbers advantage in your defensive half.
- Fix stoppage shape: This may look like an adjustment inside the stoppage, the addition of a forward to this mix, wing position, but also the structures ahead and behind the stoppage.
- Change forward-line spacing: Bring forwards higher up the ground when they can't get involved, or push them deep to create midfield space.
- Reset team-defence: Adjust to a more aggressive corridor bias, shift to back shoulder, look tom defend higher to take out uncontested marks.
It's important for the success of a structural change that these are well planned and trained. When developing a game plan, as coaches we need to create a toolkit that allows us to address a variety of issues that occur within game. These structural changes should reflect something that sits within that toolkit.
3. Personnel — who is involved
Personnel adjustments change who's on the field or who's playing which role.
Examples:
- Mix the midfield: Swap a runner for a bigger body if you're getting pushed off contests.
- Apply a tagger: Stop a dangerous opposition midfielder from controlling the game.
- Change matchups in defence or forward: When a one-on-one mismatch is hurting you.
- Rest tired players earlier: Manage rotations to keep legs fresh in the last quarter.
- Move a forward into the midfield: Inject a different impact when the contest is stuck.
Personnel changes are tempting because they feel decisive. But they often address the wrong layer of the problem. If your wings are out of position, swapping a midfielder won't fix it.
How to pick the right category
Use this sequence:
- Identify the phase (offence / defence / contest).
- Identify the cause within the phase. Is it execution (strategy issue), positioning (structure issue), or matchup (personnel issue)?
- Pick the smallest fix that addresses the cause.
How Powercoach helps you pick
The platform's in-game prompts include the suggested category alongside the alert, with the metric that triggered it. So you don't just see "lost 5 of last 6 stoppages in D50" — you see the suggested category (Structure) and the recommended action ("Go wing on wing to take away opposition feedback option"). The category tag stops you defaulting to a personnel change when a structural one is sitting right there.
Up next
In Module 5, we'll look at the most expensive thing that can happen in a game — momentum — and how to spot a run-on before it becomes goals.
