It was as bad with Moran.

When Dobson arrived his debut game was v Saints at our place.
His very first kick on the fifth hit the ground splitting Wellens and Gardner, it was greeted with a applause from the crowd.
That was the first kick of the season that had split opposition players.
As we all know, that was 2006, five years ago and were as bad now as before Dobson arrived.
It was Salford's great kicking game that brought them back into the game in the first half.
If we'd had a kicking game like Salford's we'd have won by 40!

I agree with this, the only reason Salford managed to keep in the game was because at times they were dominating field possession due to our poor long kicking game. They only didnt score more points because their attack wasnt clinical enough to get past our defence. If we had been sliding kicks in to the corner and finding touch like Matty Smith was doing for them time and time again we probably would have scored a lot more points. Hopefully this is something that will drastically improve when Brett Finch starts playing.

I also think Sam and Tommy would benefit from having a look up before they catch the ball so they know where the FB and wingers are so they have an idea of where to place it. It all seems a bit hit and hope at the minute just a big hoof up the field with very little accuracy.

I remember that like it was yesterday, the problem in that game was that Dobson was the only one chasing. He chased that first kick like his life depended on it and was calling the rest of the team forward. The way our current team works we would have any team in super league pinned back if we could put some good kicks in.

Our kicking game is superb.

For the other side.

The kicking game is definitely something that needs improving if we are to remain champions.

Leuluai tries, but this aspect of his game is not good enough in my eyes. However the rest of his game is pretty good



It may be me going crazy, but didn't Mickey kick a few last sunday? Sure his kick was the first one that managed to hit the ground

Still terrible. We put in two awesome kicks all night. One split the winger and FB and got a big cheer from the fans and the other was Lockers to the corner.

This is still the only major thing wrong with our game, it will cost us soon enough. Probably next week if it is not sorted.

It's one area we desperately need Finch and/or Deacon back for.

Briers will kick us to death if we keep sticking the ball down Hodgson's throat on Friday.

Too right, it's getting to the point where I just want us to kick it dead every time.

There were times tonight when it was 12-6 when someone needed to take the kicking game by the scruff of the neck and just hit it along the floor in to the corners and try and find touch. We seemed to keep going for awful midfield bombs which were putting us under some pressure and gifting Hudds possession. The long kicking game has definitely improved over the last few weeks though, hitting the turf a lot more often than we were doing. It's just the possession kicking at key moments of the game I think we need to improve on because it's gifting teams easy field position at the minute.

Agreed. I think that was McIlorum, wasn't it?

Straight from Dummy Half.

An intelligent kick that turned Hudds around - what we need to do much more.

Yes, it was a superb kick, one that Thurston would have been prowd of. The main thing was he kept it nice and low so the FB and winger could not reach the ball in time.... Leuluai kicks it forward like a kick off and lets them catch it.

We need to start being more creative with kicking, maybe even a set move to give the kicker more space and to drag the defence to one side of the field and the kicker can boot it across field.

36 mins before we found the floor with a clearing kick.

yes , still worryingly bad , i wonder how many times this thread will be bumped up this season ?

Tommy must be saving his kicking game for the Grand Final again. It was worse then awful last night summed up by one around the 30minute mark where he got the ball to go exactly where he aimed down the right channel but straight down the throat of Grix.

He literally aimed it at him i'm sure.

Of his first 5 kicks in general play, 3 were simple catches on the full from the defender, and his first 2 were charged down.

He really needs to knuckle down and sort this out.

Agreed.

Lockers used to have a good long kicking game back when he first broke through and he'd always lead a brilliant kick chase. I'd go back to him if things don't pick up.

I suppose Finch will be taking his share when he's fit though.

Hopefully Finch will help solve this, because our kicking game as it is, just makes thinks that bit harder for ourselves.

didn't we score two tries from KICKS last night?

IMO its our tactical kicking that lacks whereas our attacking kicks are more or less on the money. roberts and goulding weren't far off scoring from attacking kicks as well if i remember correctly?

Yep, it's the long range kicks we're talking about.

Any news of the team?



It's a strange one as Lockers kick for Charnley was simply quality as it was used as part of an attacking move

BUT

It would have also been a 5th tackle kick if it would have found touch as well. He found the space behind the winger and it would have probably resulted in a repeat set.

Why can’t we do that every time? Find the space and the turf. It doesn’t have to be a monster kick that reaches their try line as our defence is that good we can give away a few yards.

The kick for our first try from Lockers was acually poor and not in the 'pocket' where the ball needs to land to give momentum to the attacking team. It was Charnley who made it into something good. The actual kick was poor and we should never have been allowed to score from it.

slightly better last night , still lots of room for improvement

what i didnt understand last night is why brett finch didnt take the bulk of the kicks ?