Pull Plays: Horizontal Stack Pull Plays by Brummie

The most common movement patterns in horizontal stack are:

• Peppermill Pull Plays
• Windmill Pull Plays

We’ll also review some other methods of initiating movement, and look at how to deal with poaches:

Isolating cutters

Horizontal stack is popular because it provides cutters with lots of width to work with, while also keeping the cutters relatively close to the disc, making deep cuts easier to hit. In this example of a bricked pull, cutters have already moved and so we can’t see exactly where they all are. The initiating pass is thrown to a cutter who went deep then turned under. Note the angle of her under cut and the width of the throw, which sets up an easy deep throw as her defender is forced to over run on the mark:

In the following clip, the defence lets out a swing pass and the marker overruns on the mark in order to prevent a continuation pass (see Breaking marks for continuation). This presents the whole field to the thrower, making a deep throw much easier. One reason this is effective is because Brute Squad have an isolated cutter on the near side of the field, and because many offences will try to throw continuation in the same direction, a sudden reversal of direction to attack deep catches the defence off guard:

This is a good example of how horizontal stack works in flow. Notice how:

• There are usually two active cutters at any one time offering options to different areas of the field (such as under & away from the disc)
• Approximately half the width of the field is given to the active cutting lanes. This means throwers have enough width to throw to both the forehand and backhand side of the field, and are almost constantly threatening to break the mark. This amount of space makes it really difficult for the marker to contain the offence.
• Other offensive players cycle around in a clockwise motion, keeping wide to stay out of the cutting lanes as they get into position, then providing an under cut whenever the active cutter in front of the disc goes deep

For more on flow in horizontal stack: Cutting, Clearing and Maintaining Flow

Handler Clears

Fury play a lot of horizontal stack, and one of their favourite methods of initiating play is for one of the swing handlers to clear downfield, creating a gap for a cutter to attack. Once the disc is in motion, you can see the other cutters flowing in from the near sideline as described above: