Just watching the Hudds and Sts game again and the amount of times Huddersfield kick the ball out of the back is ridiculous. Its nota good skill to do that and is just a containing tactic. Id like to see a rule where if the ball is kicked dead from outside the oppositions 30m, the play should be restarted on the 40m line. This would stop this negative tactic imo.

Kicks within the 30m would still restart on the 20m line as attacking kicks will by law of averages go over the dead ball line sometimes.

I'd like to see a rule introduced whereby if the player receiving the pass, catches it ahead of the point at which the passer released it, then this is deemed illegal .

I would suggest we give this offence a catchy name, like an "ahead move" or an "infront catch" or a "forward pass". The game could be restarted by having a scrum, head and feed to the non-offending team.

I accept that this is a fairly revolutionary idea, but I think it may work well.

I agree it's a negative tactic.

I think kicks from inside the 20 going dead should restart with a tap on the 20 as they do now.

Kicks from outside the 20 going dead should restart with a tap from where the ball is kicked.

Why not stop teams from tackling with more than one tackler, that's a negative tactic too...

Just take the rule from Union, kick it dead & its a scrum(we could just hand over) from the place the ball was kicked. if you kick it into the in goal & the defending side catch or ground the ball they get a 20 meter restart. It would encourage more ball handling close to the line as attacking kicks would have to drop just short of the try line to be any good it would also stop the easy extra set of six as you would have to drive the player into the in goal or crowd him to force a mistake.

So you want to reward the defending team for letting the ball run dead?

If they aren't happy with seeing the opposition kick the ball out of the back, then there is a simple solution to stop it: put someone deeper to catch it and run it back.

Is it not more a matter of punishing the attacking team for kicking the ball dead?

Kick returns are one of the more exiting phases of play we have in the game. Whether it's a jinking run from a full back or winger that gets the crowd going or a well placed kick followed by a really good chase that leads to great field position or a repeat set.

Last night Huddersfield were effectively settling for Saints starting their sets on the 20 by just kicking the ball dead at times, it takes a bit of the skill out of the game for me.

So why weren't Saints trying to catch it and run it back?

I dont think we were intentionally doing it, it was very blustery inside the stadium, think one of wilkins kick for touch only gained 5 metres or so cos of the wind.

it is intentional.....happens alot in the NRL

Agree with this - probably the only rule from Union I would take to make our game better

Sounds like a good idea but how would you handle situation where both players are running at speed and therefore, while the ball is thrown backwards, it is caught ahead of the point of release? Or would you say that players can’t run with the ball and must pass statically like in netball – that would be easy to referee but I’m not sure it would improve the game?

It's not possible to do that, it's kicked so hard and so direct there is very little chance of stopping it. Hoofing it dead so often is a negative tactic and it was used utterly brilliantly by Huddersfield. It is however a completely negative tactic and is pretty horrible to watch it happen repeatedly.

They don't have to do anything drastic, but change it so that if it's kicked dead from inside the 20 the rules don't change so as to not penalise attacking kicks, but if it's kicked dead from outside the 20 then the restart is on the 40 yard line, not the 20. It negates the negative tactics but doesn't discourage attacking kicks.

I agree, its a negative tactic that needs a rule change, I like your idea and its simple to implement.

It is possible, after all the ball has to hit the ground before going out.

It would be a disaster, almost completely ending the idea of passing whilst running forwards.

What's the difference between that and kicking to touch?

Alright Captain Pedantic, it is technically possible. But how many times do we ever see a fullback actually get near a kick like that? They aren't intended to be caught, they are hammered over the line. There is no skill involved and it's incredibly boring to watch, far less attractive even than watching Union players kicking the ball back and to all day.

Maybe the Fullback would need to stand further back to field said kick. Maybe he would need to have his wingers drop back to cover a larger portion of the field and this would free up space for the team in possession to attack the line.

It is as negative a tactic for the defensive team to allow the ball to be kicked out as it is for the attacking team to kick it out.

Maybe we should look at it the complete opposite way and should the attacking team kick the ball out of their own forty, and the ball bouncing behind the twenty metre line before going touch in goal results in a scrum on the 20metre mark with head and feed to the kicking team. Force defending sides to cover that play and free up some space in the defensive line.

Another kick rule id like to see changed is when the ball is kicked into touch within 10m of the opposition line the scrum should be set where the ball left the field, not the 10 m line.

As Smokey says, the defence should choose to cover it. Instead they choose to cover a different threat, and seem happy to take 20 metre taps.

As well as agreeing with this point, something that worries me about rule changes like this is that it would remove a way for an inferior team to compete with fitter teams. I prefer a game where there is a balance that requires skills and tactics to win, as well as stamina. When teams from different divisions play in the Challenge Cup or Wales play Australia in the Four Nations this year, I'd like there to be ways to even the contest a little.

This change might not make much difference as teams that wanted to use this kind of tactic could switch to kicking the ball into touch.

What's the difference between a tactic and a negative tactic?

Charge downs shouldn't restart the tackle count.