by J.R Rogers

It looks like the increasing trend of spread offenses has finally landed in
Gridiron West, which is traditionally a power football league in comparison to
organizations around Australia.

If you had of mentioned a team using Shotgun or Pistol in Western Australia
people would assume they had heavily recruited from a bike gang (insert
assumed team name here).

Round one of Gridiron West play saw half of the league play the majority
of their snaps in a spread alignment (Broncos, Blitz, Steelers and Fire). 7
teams showed some form of 1 back or empty backfield at some stage (first
game Wolverines stayed in 2 back sets). Round 1 also saw The Steelers and
Broncos operate exclusively from the Shotgun and Pistol respectively.

Is this movement in place to take advantage of player availability from smaller
athletic winter sports? Is it due to more confidence in quarterback play? Is
it a result of a lack of Fullbacks? Or is it ultimately a move to combat the
previously dominant 5-3/5-2 Defenses that have proved popular in GW?

Either way it looks like we will see more spread football in Gridiron West this
season.