(Some of) What I learned from Danny Newcombe

5 Key Takeaways from “(Some of) What I learned from Danny Newcombe”

1. Huge influence – Danny Newcombe’s coaching ideas have deeply shaped how I plan and run sessions.
2. Start with the problem – Ask what’s going well and what needs work. For my team, it was poor decision-making on vertical passes.
3. Design smart practices – Build sessions around realistic, game-like challenges that target the specific skill (in this case, vertical passing).
4. Gradual difficulty – Start with easier setups and progressively increase the challenge to support learning.
5. Aim for 50/50 success – If players succeed about half the time, they’re challenged enough to grow without becoming discouraged.

What’s the problem ?

I usually start by asking what my players are doing well and what they need to work on. This question is also not my own - I first heard it from Sarah Kelleher, and it took me a while to understand what she meant by that.

One of the 1st XI’s I have coached had a big problem with down field passing. I did a bit of match analysis, and found, to my surprise that, while they seldom carried into contact, and while they were generally able to switch play through the defensive line, their down field passes (or vertical passes) were intercepted something like 70% of the time.

The problem was sometimes technical - a mis-hit or a mis-direct being much easier to intercept - but was mostly about decision making under pressure.

In this case, a ball carrier could see a teammate in an advanced position, but was either failing to notice that no passing lane existed, or was trying to make up for the absence of a passing lane with POWER.

In short, they could not recognise a good vertical pass opportunity.

How to solve the problem ?

So I came up with a simple exercise. It offered a lot of opportunities to attempt a down field pass.

A successful vertical pass was the way to score.

The exercise was opposed - ostensibly 3 attackers v 3 defenders, but actually 3 attackers v 2 defenders.

Then I deconstructed it. What techniques could be used to pass vertically ? Well, passing while carrying laterally, passing first time with correct footwork, good movement ahead of the ball, and use of disguise on the pass.

Therefore my session began, after a warm up and an explanation of the goal of the session - to get better at recognising an executing vertical passes - with a series of technical exercises to practise these techniques unopposed.

I initially set up the exercise in a relatively wide playing area to try to make it easier to move the ball laterally, to create the downfield passing lane, and a short playing area to make it easier to complete the pass without it being intercepted.

Once the players had got the hang of the exercise and had got some success, I then started to narrow and lengthen the playing area to gradually increase the challenge.

“About half the time”

Maybe the most important lesson from Danny Newcombe was the idea of challenge.

Danny told a story on a YouTube clip (which I regret I can no longer find) where he watched another coach becoming agitated while his players were doing an exercise Danny really liked.



Danny wondered why the coach was so agitated:

“I really liked this exercise”, said Danny.

“They keep getting it wrong though!”

“What, all the time?”

“Well”, the coach admitted,”about half the time”.

Danny felt that this was about right.

If the players are only failing they will become demoralised. If they are only succeeding, they are not learning anything. The correct level of challenge (success about half the time) provides the best learning environment.