T stack Pull Plays by Brummie

The T stack sets up with 3 players lined up vertically on one side of the field (like a side stack), and two players lined up horizontally on the other side of the field (like a horizontal stack).

Peppermill

Using a horizontal setup provides instant width while keeping your deep cutters close to the disc. This is ideal for setting up hucks, like this first example from Chicago Machine; one cuts under and throws deep to the other for a goal:

The two cutters closest to the camera set up quite close together

Another similar play from Brute Squad, although this one was dropped:

The spacing is quite different in this example, the two horizontal cutters are much more widely spread

Here we see another peppermill, but neither cutters gets the disc; instead, the handler throws to a poached handler:

Note the classic 'Peppermill' movement from the Fort Collins Shame cutters on the side closest to the camera

Once the initial pass has been thrown, continuation options can flow as though for a normal horizontal stack. See Cutting, Clearing and Maintaining Flow for more detail. Here’s a nice example from Scandal with two cutters running a peppermill to initiate movement, then getting continuation from the back of the far stack:

Scandal hit an under then continuation from the far stack

Read more: Peppermills

Other options

There are plenty of other ways to initiate movement of course. Revolver ran some innovative pull plays at Nationals in 2023; here’s an example of using a peppermill within a T stack, creating space for the third to get the disc. The player who cut away then turns underneath for continuation, before throwing deep to a cutter from the far stack:

A more complex play but there are plenty of throwing options available

Here we see Revolver initiate from a handler position, isolating a cutter for an easy goal. It is the player helping to field the pull who initiates the play, while the two players in the horizontal part of the T-stack push deep to create plenty of space for the initiating cut. One of those cutters then clears, leaving the other isolated for a deep strike:

At the point the disc is centered, there are three defenders poaching in the lanes. Revolver's use of a handler cut to initiate movement gives the offence a few more seconds to shift the poaches and set up the deep throw

What next?

Drone footage gives us a better angle of a T-stack from Phoenix, who clear two of the cutters from the side stack in a flood play [LINK] to isolate a cutter coming under. When that option isn’t hit, the cutter turns deep. Although the throw doesn’t connect, the spacing is excellent:

Despite being backed following the pull, using a flood play enables a Phoenix cutter to get free going deep

Here’s another clip of Phoenix, again using a flood. When the flood doesn’t immediately work, the horizontal pair create space for one of the cutters from the far side to get the disc: :

A flood pattern in T stack; note how the horizontal pair clear when the flood doesn't work

Despite what’s drawn up on paper, an offence should always be opportunistic. When the defence leave a cutter wide open, Brute Squad’s handlers are quick to recognise there’s an opportunity for a quick give & go, generating power position. A well-timed continuation cut from downfield leads to a quick goal; note the pro-active boxing out from the receiver, Sealing the Lane to prevent her defender making a play:

Brute Squad beat the poach with a quick handler strike

In the following example from Machine, we see one player cut underneath, leaving a second player isolated in space. After he gets the disc, the next continuation cut comes via a lateral cut from the middle of the far stack. From there, Machine continue to move the disc to the left side of the screen, and as the disc moves to the left side, so the remaining cutters both cut, one under, one away. Eventually, a deep cutter is isolated and while the throw isn’t on target, the spacing and patterns tell us a lot about how Machine want to play from a T stack:

As the isolated cutter turns deep, so a defender poaches from the middle of the far stack. This is an opportunity for the offence, and the poached player cuts laterally to get the disc