Right, so the change in reffing has aloud some teams to fully exploit the 'flopathon' and long lay on. It allows teams to throw or four into a tackle and then have enough time to organise their defence line. Hudds do this brilliantly, hence their great defencive record this season.

So...... what do people think is the best tactic to overcome this? Should Potter copy the strategy or is their somethig that can work against this and leave Hudds etc. with gaps in their line?

Any suggestions you want to make to Potter? No smart please. I'm being serious.

It's no use complaining about this. We need to come up with something to combat it.

What do you all think?

So if we come up with an idea to combat the laying on, you will take the idea directly to Potter ? And he is willing to listen to the fans ideas? And asked us for our ideas ?

Bradford did it well the other week.

Huddersfield squeeze the space well by getting players 20 or 30 metres in from the touhline.

An early kick for a wide running player causes them problems (Gardners try on Friday).

If you can make them stay out further then they can't get so many in the tackle.

However to do it your kicking has to be good. I'll bet Briers will try to exploit them this way in the final.

Correct, it seems the kickign game and pure speed to burn is the way aroudn this type of defence, even speedy 2nd rowers.

Hiring wrestling coaches? Isn't that what happened in the NRL the last few years?

Yes, well. We don't exactly have a reputation for that, which is probably why we haven't yet used it. We have had all season to at least try and sort out our kicking deficiencies, which are many, but we don't seem to have made any progress at all. Except Longy's kick to Gardner on Friday was fab and I wish they'd all be able to kick like that!

If you look here [urlhttp://viewtopic.php?t=426822[/url you'll find we are discussing the exact same thing.

Since Tim Smith got injured our kicking game has been really poor.

Wrestlign is part N parcel of the rugby training these days though isnt it, swear it started back in 1996 were wrestle coaches would come in and show the club how to do it. Ballet lessons were tried to, but not sure we still do those anymore.

Need to get a better coach for it then! Its hardly surprising Hudds are the best at it when their coach has come over from a league where it was the norm.

I agree, get Brock Lesner over from UFC to teach some moves on our kids.. Get O'Loughlin in a choke, drop him & watch him tap out!! BOOM.. WHAMO.. love a bit of UFC. Maybe we could sign Kimbo Slice at Prop



Were too nice in the tackle, usually 1 or 2 players at the most & I've seen us help other players up!! Were too soft.. Lets wrestle aaaagggghhhh

Yeh that's right, he said he hasn't got bloomin' clue what to do and would I pop on here and see if Syd's got any pearls.


Seriously though.... I think the kick to corner is right. However, what about the offload? After drawing in three or four defenders wouldn't a well timed offload find gaps in the line?

I think that you're blinkered. All teams do it. Three or four in the tackle when they can, and then peel off one at a time.

The way to stop it. Instruct the referree to allow say a maximum of five seconds from the tackle being completed to the ruck being cleared.

Really, seriously, were too nice (except KC)
3 or 4 in a tackle... never seen it la

It would in theory

But that's just not going to happen though is it? If all teams fully adopt this as the natural form of play then Super League is going to be boring as hell.

Anyway Saints are better than than that. We don't follow, we lead.

Fed up of seeing TP and Pryce get nailed yet have the ball available, and no saitns player there to take advantage. Shaun Edwards would have a field day... Danny Mc Guire to actualy.

Kick to the wings. Off loads in gang tackles and the back up being there. Thats two Potter now has. Maybe the attacking player milks the penalty a bit more, sneakily holds down a defender on top of him whihc leads to the other defenders being slow to get off, PENALTY !

The problem we have especially in the 2nd half of this season is we don,t have any go forward (lack of props), this means most of the tackles are "surrender" ones which allows the referee and defence more time to layon. Our quick the balls dissapear and the backs receive the ball under pressure. When Cayless and Maurie provided the go forward we were up and running and gaps appearing, we need these players back pronto.

Yep you're right, offloading has to be a full team tactic with two players in close support, waiting to catch the offloaded ball. And the line waiting for the ball to come out in a split second.

It would be a very difficult tactic to get right as a counter to the flopathon. But it could really catch that defence on the back foot, especially with three or four defenders pulled in all thinking they're about to have a nice lie down for a while on top of TP.

If Daniel Anderson was here this nonsense would never have happened.

He would have been in the press calling the referee names and suggesting in passing that he always failed to control the play the ball area. We would then have had wizzy-bang quick play the balls and won by 40.

Meanwhile Potter just sits there nervously hoping no one speaks to him as he's too shy to reply.

Cruel but funny.

Clone a younger version of Wally Lewis. He had the skills to defeat any defence.

More like cruel but true

Huddersfield, in the semi, slowed us down through an awesome defence. Wrestling the player, and throwing numbers in to each tackle. It was skilful defence.

However the big problem with Super League this season, is the referee's allowing sloppy interference as a slowing down tactic. For example when we played wigan they slowed us down by flopping after the tackle, holding down, grabbing hold of a leg as the player tries to get up, and leaving a hand in when the player is trying to play the ball. I am not picking on Wigan here, as most teams are doing it when they can get away with it.

I think fair game for Huddersfield, they earn slowing the play the ball down (in the semi). However when the referee's tolerate interference and meddling at the ruck it not only makes the game more boring, but it dumbs down the game. Teams aren't needing to work at slowing the opponents down. Like Potter said, there should be a reward for good offensive play, and this means not eroding advantage by taking the at the play the ball.

If the RFL think they are helping the game by making things NRL like then its not working. We aren't any better at wrestling, or turning the player; the referees are just more tolerant of players doing whatever they can to stop a player getting up to play the ball quickly.

Sign John Hopoate.
Everyone would get up very quickly!

But are they even making it more NRL like? Hasn't the NRL speeded up somewhat with the two refs initiative?