Hannibal Barca 
Hannibal was a Carthaginian general who plagued the Roman Republic from the 3rd century into the 2nd century B.C. Despite being heavily outnumbered he fought the Romans to a great victory in 216 B.C. at the battle of Cannae, due to his manipulation of forces.
In Hannibal’s time, standard tactics dictated that formations of soldiers would line up abreast of each other in a phalanx, march forward and do battle. Numerical superiority was thought to be the key to victory. Hannibal however armed with fewer resources configured his forces differently and achieved a stunning success.
At Cannae, the Romans marched forward in a narrow and deep phalanx that marched in front of Hannibal’s smaller force. This narrow front greatly negated the Romans numerical advantage. Roman training also dictated that soldiers pursue a fleeing opponent.
During the battle Hannibal’s leading troops appeared to break and withdraw and the Romans pressed forward to pursue leaving their flanks wide open to Hannibal’s infantry. The Romans were also taken unawares by a change in cavalry tactics. Once Hannibal’s cavalry had driven off the Roman cavalry, his horsemen did not pursue the fleeing romans, instead they fell upon the rear of the Roman infantry which became tightly packed and easier to envelop leading to their destruction.
Hannibal achieved this victory not with superior numbers but with superior strategy and great tactical execution. The lesson from this is: when faced with superior competition, use your knowledge of your competitor’s habits and their weakness to outsmart them.
In the situation that the Kalamunda Football club finds itself, can we invent commonplace thinking to outsmart our competitors when there falsely feeling confident?
Do we start with our training methods by changing dull boring warm-up routines like running laps or should we devoting more time to strength conditioning or tactical field manoeuvre’s.
Adopting more of a ‘bottoms-up’ approach to training methods instead of a ‘tops-down’ approach where the coaching staff do all the instructing may also encourage team members input and encourage creativity.
Commonplace thinking simply involves such disciplines as thorough training, hard work and sound planning. These elements form the heart of strategic capability.
This page is dedicated to Carter Woodgate, proud sponsors of the Kalamunda Football Club.
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