I actually wish they'd go back to the old rule where you couldn't touch the flag. Yes it looks good when they jump in the air but you see it so often now that I'm actually a bit bored of it and it took more work as a team to get a player in without touching the flag.

I am in agreement, and I think a lot of players actually make it look harder than it is purely for the entertainment of it. However, some clubs, Cas been one of them, have actually worked hard on this particular skill set, and it can hardly be said it hasn't paid off for them.

Wasn't it a relatively unnecessary leap into the corner that saw Eden knacker his shoulder earlier in the year?

RL is in the entertainment business nothing more nothing less. If the occasional sepectacular elevates the game from the dreary offering most games are these days that most be a good thing surely

At first yes, but you get them every week now that it's lost its excitement value for me, especially when you're seeing guys do it when they actually don't need to and could've gotten it without the dive. It's just making the skill of a team getting over the oppositions tryline easier because you're effectively giving them more room to do so.

Excitement should be a try that only a few players could score like the Hall effort vs Aus where he did Slaters shoulder and didn't touch the flag. How many times you see ones like that and how many wingers could score it? These jumping ones touching the flag, you're getting them weekly and by most wingers.

Hall scored that try because he weighed about 3 stone more than Slater a bit like Big Les it was just a question of size. Now a try like Donald's in the 2007 Gf where he left Wellens for dead then you are talking. A great try isn't just the plonking the ball over the line it's the build up that creates the opportunity which is why Cas have been so good to watch this season

Very harsh to say that try is all about Hall's weight advantage. Took great reactions and skill to come off that collision and get the ball down in time. Another one from memory, Ali's vs Wigan in 2006 when he managed to squeeze into the corner. It was entirely possible to squeeze into the corner without hitting the flag, you didn't see it week in week out though which made them all the more special instead of the weekly dive over the corner flag competition we see nowadays.

So you think if Hall was the same size as Slater he scores not a chance

Neither of our wingers has the athleticism to score the tries Eden does Eden couldn't score the tries Hall does variety is what makes the game entertaining and at the end that is the whole purpose of the game.

If Leeds had wingers who could score these type of tries you wouldn't be tired of it. The corner flag should be in play the posts are in play there is nowhere else on the field where your feet can be in play but your body not

I dont think England will take the risks of Cas but in general, most of the Cas tries have come from structured (usually double) block plays so timing and combinations will be really important

I think we should pick the entire Cas left edge including McMeeken but swap Eden for Hall (dont trust Eden in defence)

Removing the corner flag from the equation just removed an oddity in the rules whereby the corners of the pitch were treated differently to the rest of the field. I've no problem with it at all, and whilst the diving tries are a bit more common, its also making up for the fact that cover defences now are so much better than they used to be. A few years ago in the NRL wingers virtually stopped going for the corner at all because defences would smash them into touch. Now they can't do that quite as effectively because the best wingers add half a yard to the width of the pitch. Why would anyone rather see wingers dying with the ball instead of going for the try?

As for Hall, he scored 30 tries plus a year for 4 seasons in a row to 2012. Coincidence or otherwise since the arrival of Moon his strike rate fell markedly. This year in 32 games of a season when we've played well enough to finish second he's scored 14 tries. From what I've seen Cas would only need to make minor adjustments to get Hall over the line close to as often as Eden. Leeds by contrast show virtually no intent to get Hall into a position to use his strength to score. Even in big wins in the CC this year (Doncaster, Barrow and Fev), where we scored 35 tries in total, just 4 came from the wingers across those games. In our last two league games this year we've scored 14 tries with just one by a winger (Briscoe).

My issue with that is that it suggests there isn't even the intent to get the winger over the line. Whilst I don't think Moon helps in regard to getting the ball wider he's not solely to blame.

No but to put it all down to size is daft.



I would be bored of them regardless of who scored them. It's saying you don't really have to break a defence down properly anymore, just let the winger have 75/80% of his body hanging out of the field and just reach back infield with his arm. It's a shortcut I liken to the rule they recently got rid off in that a FB could make a good kick in goal dead by having one foot over the dead ball line instead of challenging him to bring it back.

If it's become harder to score because of better cover defences you don't add a shortcut so they can still score, you challenge them to overcome the improved defence.

Top level sport shouldn't use the view it became too hard so we made it easier.

Cas this season have shown wingers can once again score tries. We owe a lot to Senior in the past, Calderwood, Bai, Donald and Hall all scored 20+ tries a season outside Senior whilst he scored a fair number himself.

Amongst other things we need a good /wing partnership where either are just as likely to score making the opposition defence work overtime!

The rules were changed due to some good try's being disallowed due to some very marginal contact brushes with the corner flag. Which I think was right decision. But this leaping in the air does not do it for me. Personally I would like the rule similar to the NFL, if you hit the corner flag but one or both your feet are in play then it's a try. If you leap into the air and hit the flag while placing the ball down your out. Probably get the he best of both worlds then.

Cas have also revitalised Jake Webster's career. Imagine what they could do with Kallum Watkins? Ergo England should employ the entire Cas team, irrespective of nationality, except for Hall & Watkins.

Wigan have been doing it fine for several seasons now.

We've got a very big winger with a proven record of getting the ball down given space on one side, and a potentially brilliant centre on the other. In terms of setting up tries I would have thought it almost a no-brained to work out how to use them to their maximum. The fact that it gives us strike power and options on both sides of the field makes it even harder to understand why we don't make better use of what we have. Cas' attack is very one-sided and they still make it work despite the fact all their opponents know which side they're going.

Printer - you do change the rules if there's an anomaly that needn't exist, and removing it adds to the entertainment. It doesn't make the contest any different as both sides can do it. Its brought back a skill that was disappearing due to other changes, notably the coaching and fitness of teams improving to the point that a well-drilled set defence could cover touchline to touchline with ease. All this change has done is added a little to the effective width of the pitch and like I said removing a completely pointless anomaly in the rules. Diving acrobatically is a skill, but its also high risk because its score or bust. Its not as though just being able to dive matters - far more important is getting the ball wide in the first place.

It hasn't brought back a skill, in fact it's cheapened the skill of breaking down a goal line defence. Now you don't need to properly draw in the opposition winger, just get the ball to the winger and let him throw 90% of his body sideways out of touch and like I said before it happens which such regularity that I can't believe people still are excited by them. You make it sound like teams can't score in the corner if it wasn't for this when they clearly can and do. More impressive for me is when a winger gets in cleanly and the opposition aren't even within arms reach of him, that's proper skill of breaking a team down and not this false one we have now that's akin to setting up a batter friendly wicket with short boundaries in cricket or a golf course deliberately set up easier to shoot low scores. Sure some will be easily pleased by that but others will see it for what it is.

I agree.

Reduce the width of the pitch to 30m. The skills required to score would obviously be staggeringly entertaining.

Well your lot has reduced the length of the pitch to make 40/20s easier.

Love a 40/20 me

....for both sides.

But Cas are used to it since it's their ground.