Word.ws English Dictionary

Pagan's Paddock

Pagan's Paddock noun: a sporting tactic in which a large amount of space is deliberately left open in the attacking area of the ground, into which players can run.

Noun (1)

Pagan's Paddock (plural Pagan's Paddocks)

  1. (usually Australian rules football) A sporting tactic in which a large amount of space is deliberately left open in the attacking area of the ground, into which players can run.
    • While on the subject, does anyone think that the days of Pagan's Paddock are numbered? Over the weekend, a number of clubs used this tactic, but it seems to me, at least, that if the defence can't break past the centre, the ball just goes back into the attacking 50, and eventually a score will...2002 17 July, Epigram (username), Connolly's Carousel, in aus.sport.aussie-rules, Usenet
  2. (usually Australian rules football) A large amount of space on a sportsground, often created by this tactic.
    • Given a veritable Pagan's Paddock by the Cats to work in on Friday night, Danger booted two goals in the first seven minutes to send Geelong fans into orbit.2017 September 18, Andrew McGarry, “AFL finals week two: The heroes and villains from the elimination semi-finals”, in ABC News, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2018

Noun (2) capitalized: Pagan's paddock

Pagan's paddock (plural Pagan's paddocks)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Pagan's Paddock.

Forms of Pagan's Paddock

pluralPagan's Paddocks
alternative formPagan's paddock
pluralPagan's paddocks

Origin of Pagan's Paddock

In reference to Denis Pagan, the coach who popularised the tactic in the 1990s.

Questions about Pagan's Paddock

What does Pagan's Paddock mean?
Pagan's Paddock means a sporting tactic in which a large amount of space is deliberately left open in the attacking area of the ground, into which players can run.
What part of speech is Pagan's Paddock?
Pagan's Paddock is a noun.
What is the plural of Pagan's Paddock?
The plural of Pagan's Paddock is Pagan's Paddocks.

Words near Pagan's Paddock in the dictionary

  1. pagalee
  2. Pagalongan
  3. pagals
  4. Pagalungan
  5. pagan
  6. Pagan's Paddock
  7. Paganalia
  8. Paganalian
  9. pagandom
  10. Paganelli
  11. Paganellis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Pagan's Paddock (page history and authors); Pagan's paddock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Pagan's Paddock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pagan%27s_paddock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.