I think its a ridiculous tactic - Instead of being almost certain of regaining possession, we turn the situation into a lottery, with the odds stacked in favour of the opposition and only an outside chance of coming away with something positive.

Perhaps its an admission that we have a full back who is now so slow, that unless we stop the kicker, then its highly likely we will be pinned back in our own 20?

Great tactic, builds pressure and makes the kicker stand deeper, but it must be executed better than last night.

We barely ever get the ball back from it, needs to be cut out.

09 10 and .11 it came off, last year it was noticed that it wasn't working as well, in fact I think it was Monas in the saints game down here where it went off the boil.

Whether its just cos no one else is following up the charger to assist I don't know. I think there's a time and a place for it, when you've got some momentum



I'd rather we keep doing it though, I'd rather kickers still had to keep it in the back of their minds

The kicker knows he has to drop deep, if he's dropping deeper he's also leaving 12 players offside, i like the tactic but we just need a couple more guys switching on and following up.

A thought to the reason it's not paying off... we're the only team playing the tactic so teams are preparing for it a little? Maybe?

I think the charge down should not be put back to Zero tackle puts pressure on the last play and kicker and would make game more interesting !!!

Its catch 22 with charge downs..You let the player put the kick in and he may kick 40/20 or a very accurate bomb/grubber resulting in a try... Or as has already been said the charged down kick goes back to the opposition resulting in another set of 6...
Personally i like that we put pressure on the kicker and go for the charge down.

Keep the pressure on the kicker, pressure them into poor kicks or mistakes.

A charge down can go anywhere, it's a gamble, but not as much of a gamble as going for an interception for example and as long as the rest of the team are switched on and ready for the chance of a loose ball, turn up the heat.

It is a low percentage play. Usually leads to back to back sets which is hardly a good outcome.

100% agree. It is a nonsense tactic. Why deliberately give yourself extra defending to do? Which is invariably what happens each time. It may be ok against lesser teams, but when you are up against teams at the top end of the table the one with the most possession usually wins, so why keep giving them the ball back.

Its turned into a rubbish tactic this year so far. I beleive that this is case because in previous years we seemed to have had two players charging at the football so that one makes contact and the other is available to pick up the scraps. this year it appears that it is one out stuff which gives the percentage of pick up back to the kicking team.

I think it is only a successful charge down if the same player who charged it down is the first to touch the ball again but if a team mate plays the ball first i think it 's classed as a knock on.

Hate chargedowns, just about to get the ball back and you decide to make it a 50-50 gamble. should be left to desperate situations.

The idea of the charge down is to keep the chasers back as much as making the kicker stand deep. If you watch when we kick, the middle men are generally infront of the kicker and on kick chase before the kick has come, resulting in less meters from the fullback/winger, so starting the set deeper in the opposition territory. Teams now can't do that, incase the ball comes back and you get a break away. I'd stick with it

I hope you made this up.

IIRC it was trialled in the Boxing Day fixtures, and I assume wasn't adopted for this season. Below is a quote from a report of a Boxing Day game:

"The next of the changes comes with the charge down rule. As was the case, for as long as I remember, if you attempt to charge a kick down and the kicking team regains the ball the tackle count is restarted. Not now, charge downs no longer alter the tackle count."

As has been said, trialled but not adopted into the rules.
Saints must have had a number of repeat sets following a re-gather after a charge down. Repeat sets are energy sapping for the defending team and I'm not sure why Wire still continue to do it.

But we nearly scored off it trouble is the players that are doing it are the slow players i.e. Monaghan.

Good tactic though just needs to be executed better i think

Monas may be slow but his speed of thought isn't.
It's other players that need to switch on.
If that rule had come in it would sure make the game interesting.
I like the idea that if you recover a kick you've just had charged down you're still on the same tackle.
We'd have had 100% success if that had been the case.

No, it isn't a knock on.

How about instead of getting another set of six, the kicking team gets one extra tackle? A successful chargedown is well executed pressure play by the defending team and a poorly executed kick from the kicking team. Yet the kicking team get a huge reward if they manage to regain posession. Perhaps they should be allowed one more tackle to re-set themselves for the kick again.

It would make the last tackle a bit more interesting!

That's not a bad idea IMO it's a bit more balanced. There should be some reward for charging the kick down even when not succesfully regathered.

If things stay as they are, without stating the obvious, the validity of the tactic depends on field postion and when in the tackle count it takes place. I say keep at it, if it pays off or nearly pays off once in a game the pressure will build next kick

Surely then your middle men would all be off side, unless they give the receiver 10 metres or the kicker runs in front of the said middle men and plays them all on side. I only saw Ratchford kick then sprint in front of the middle men to play them all on side on Friday night once. (he may have done it more than once, but I can't recall if he did)

IMO it's a great tactic, if they are kicking from there own half charge it down every time, they can't score a try if the balls not near our line. If it's regathered by the opposition we set up and go again for another set.

I think its generally a poor tactic under current rules. Steve Price used to get all kinds of pats on the back from commentators for chargedowns, but in fact almost always the best outcome wasn't a chargedown but a rushed and therefore poor kick. If that's the aim then its fine, but actually wanting to cause a situation where the kicking team can reset the count is just dumb (and from my albeit subjective memory I'd bet the odds are heavily stacked in favour of the kicking team retrieving the ball because it usually goes back into their line somewhere).