Kicking..Why is this not addressed?
This has bugged me for a few seasons now. Can anyone explain why the coaches have not addressed his awful kicks to touch. 10 metres on a good day. Last night Hulls kicks were 30 plus constantly. I just can’t get my head round why this is not sorted. We have to put so much more effort getting up field off p*** poor kicks.
Rant over.
Humans are more concerned with having than being.
remember a couple of monsters from Lussick, and the penny didn't drop, we can only hope.
Maybe a lack of confidence from Dodd.Originally Posted by 49er
It has been remarked on by Wigan fans as well for the last few years. It doesn't matter who we have kicking for touch but they would sooner make a safe 10 metres rather than go for 30 metres.
I agree it’s very strange, especially given our style of play is entirely dependent on having good field position. Every metre counts.
Watching highlights of Wigan last night Harry Smith out of hand and especially high kicks are massive it seems like he as improved massively in the last couple of months.
Dodd can't kick it any further
I wondered about this on our board and compared the distance theRU kickers make. Is it down to a different ball shape/size or technique?
One thing I’ve noticed is that he seems to aim for the 40m line (even if the penalty is on halfway or 45m). My guess is that the team sees 40m as the ideal starting point for a set - close enough that after a couple of big hit ups you’re within striking distance but not within 10m of the line, which would mean less space to work with. I’m not sure what I think of it, that’s what I suspect is going on.
The problem with that idea is he only kicks it 10 yards even from our own 20 yard line. Even the side officials move backwards because they take a position where they guess it’s going to go, but then have to come back towards him as it’s that poor. I just don’t get it not being addressed.
Humans are more concerned with having than being.
I,m not sure because in the rare case anyone else kicks it goes at least 10 metre further, Tommy has a good hoof on him and he takes the goal line drop outs he should be taking some of the kicks to touch.
That 10 metre shortage distance by Dodd just seems we waste one tackle in the set, our attack target should be between the oppositions 20 to 30 metre, the 40m target line is too far out. If we are starting our set around that 20 to 30 metre line it means we are putting in end of set grubber kicks or cross kicks instead of a weak kick lob. The Wigoons work something similar and its very effective for them, Harry Smith has it to a fine art now and they score quite a few attacking points.
Moses looks like he can give it a good whack. Maybe he could take the touch kicks.
Just watching Ire v SA, their 60 ... 70 yards kicks to touch - never saw one 20 yard or less. Green with envy at the riches in that code, absolute thriller of a game.
Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk
I know what you mean about not starting from 10 mtrs, but the number of crash over tries we have from close to the line, you would think we could start close than from 45-50 mtrs.
Here's a thought from left field - Big Al.
Long legs built like tree trunks. Remember how far that penalty from Paul Anderson was in his last match ?
League balls are slightly longer (and better suited for passing) than those in Union which are also slightly rounder and thus have a larger sweet spot for kicking.
Sorry only just seen this thread, which I do not believe has been raised on here before and I find that unusual given how often people comment upon it when at the ground.
I think in RL a lot comes down to where the mark is. Sometimes it can be quite close to the side line which makes it hard to get distance because of the angle and the chance of the opposing player being able to knock it back into play. If the mark is central, then again it makes it hard to get distance without the chance of someone knocking it back in.
I am a big believer in making sure it goes dead for the sake of risking a longer kick for the sake of an extra 10m by taking that risk. However, it is a skill that I wonder how often kickers train for it during the week as to get those extra meters would be useful.
However, I do know that a lot of teams are big believers that getting too close to the opposition line too early in a set is a bad thing. It is why a lot of teams in the NRL go for the short drop out because they find it is far more difficult to score within 10m of the line than it is for building a set for much further out.
For RU field position is far more important than it is in RL so it is worth taking that risk when in RL it is not quite worth the risk.
I am one that has criticised Dodd for his kicking, but I thought in his choices against Wire he did well.. In fact I thought he had a decent game all round.
What's happened to the spiral kicks for distance? I'm sure people will know what I'm talking about where the top of your right hand is on the ball and your left holds the side....I've often wondered why nobody kicks for touch like this...not that I'm some sort of kicking coach..maybe I'm stuck in the 90s?
The good old torpedo punt which makes the ball spin around its long axis in the air, resulting in extra distance. I've never understood why rugby league players don't seem to practice and perfect the different types of kick like the AFL lads do.
You only have to watch the NFL to see how they think the best way to get distance is from their punters, and that is hand over spiral too rather than kicking it at the end of the ball.
Slightly off topic, but in the NRL now there is quite a lot of variation from a goal-line drop-out.
I wonder if this will come over here next season, if teams have had chance to practise and assess the effectiveness in the off-season.
I hope that we don't use it the way Brisbane did in the GF !
Because AFL is a game primarily based on kicking and RL isn't ?
Yeah, I get that, but if longer kicks result in less metres the forwards have to make, then surely it's worthwhile. The little things like that can be the difference between winning and losing in tight playoff games. Small margins n all.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote