In a word: no.

It devalues the product and is a slap in the face of committed fans.

They also tend to fall into the wrong hands.

No No No I'll give you two instances why it doesn't work, Manchester Storm and Manchester Giants when at the Arena both pulling in five figure gates most with free tickets.
When the management of the Arena changed the free tickets were removed the attendances fell to below 2,000 and both clubs whent to the wall

I think that everyone under the age of 16 should get free access to every game of rugby league, make it a proviso that they accompany an adult and encourage children too attend games.

As for free tickets they don't work, discounted options is another matter but 100% free just eats into the revenue being made through the turn style.

That is quite an assumption. I know a few supporters of many years who stopped buying season tickets due of the regularity in which they were getting freemans or discounted tickets. I suppose that skews the meaning of what a supporter actually is, but if it means turning up to games, cheering the boys on, buying food and drink in the kiosks and official merchandise, then it still sticks.

But thats because we used to give away more than were bought. The reason why this happened in the past is because of how regularly we were giving them out. We need to simply target a few matches which wont attract big crowds. It's unorthodox, but I genuinley think the club will (quietly) start giving away free tickets again; we already give away more than you'd imagine through competitions that are harder to lose than win.

Oh I agree it can work – the Swinton friendly where loads turned up was quite a feat by the club to achieve. And you will always have the gifting of free tickets in some respect anyway. But you will have more success giving away free tickets for the bigger games. Just because somebody receives a ticket for Wakefield at home, it doesn't mean they'll be more likely to go. Whereas if it's against Wigan or Leeds, clubs like that, they probably are more likely to attend and less likely to regift or even sell on.