When playing against a quality zone, precision skills can be the difference between scoring or coughing up possession and being scored against.

In this scenario, the Crows force North Melbourne out onto a wing to the right of screen from full-back.

Nathan Grima has a free kick after Taylor Walker pushed him into the goalpost and he quickly handballs to a streaking Daniel Wells. Adelaide has the switch and corridor well covered.

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Wells looks to the middle but realises he has to head right to the outer wing. Leigh Adams enters the play and sensing what is happening, leads hard into space to create an option for the ball carrying Wells.

Brent Harvey is close to Adams, which means his opponent could easily cut off a pass from Wells. In the second bit of smart play, Harvey leads towards the middle to draw his man away from Adams, but not too close to the sea of Adelaide defenders in the centre corridor.
The ploy works and Adams has enough space to receive a pinpoint delivery from Wells. If Wells’ kick had been off the mark, the ball could have gone over the boundary line or turned over. Luckily Adams marks the ball on the wing and it becomes apparent just how much damage has been done to Adelaide’s zone.

The tables have now turned for North. Adams has drawn Robbie Tarrant's man to create an overlap. But as can be seen in the picture, he still has multiple choices. If the options further afield aren’t on, he could head backwards or handball inboard to the hard-running Liam Anthony.
Adams handballs to Tarrant, who looks further afield to a wide open forward 50. The swift and accurate ball movement has left the Crows' forward press floundering as there are just two one-on-one's between Tarrant and the North Melbourne goal; Drew Petrie and Lachlan Hansen and their opponents.

An unheralded part of this play is the continued running of Anthony. If the two key Adelaide defenders had been able to stop both Petrie and Hansen, Tarrant could have simply passed over the top to Anthony, who would have run to 50 and most likely taken a shot at goal.
However, there is one more smart decision to come. As Hansen leads back into the 50, Petrie and his opponent are positioned just outside the goalsquare. Petrie could easily have led towards Tarrant, demanding the ball but instead holds off ever so slightly, to allow Hansen space to drag down the mark and have a set shot on goal.

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