I HAVE a problem with seven tackle sets.

As a kicker I feel that the rule change has taken away from some of the skills we possess.

Kickers are playing scared. They’re terrified they’ll put too much pepper on the ball close to the line and gift the opposition seven tackles.

As a kicker I want to try my hand close to the line but we need to reward the players for doing so.

Round 19

It’s no secret that when I played for St George Illawarra we used the ploy of kicking the ball dead as a way to take the fullback out of the game.

It meant the likes of Jarryd Hayne couldn’t return the ball and we could get our defensive line set and while the rule change has eliminated that tactic, it’s hurting our brightest prospects.

That’s why I’ve devised a change to the rule which would help the halves and produce a more exciting brand of football.

Jamie Soward launches a bomb. Source: AAP

The rule just needs a slight tweak.

When you’re inside the 20 metre zone, that’s genuine attacking area and players should be encouraged to attack.

So if a player happens to kick the ball dead, I propose that it goes back to being a six tackle set.

If you kick dead from outside the 20 metre then we keep the seven tackle set which will keep the reason for the rule change in play.

Under the current ruling, it’s completely changed the game and not for the better.

When I was a young half coming through the grades, I was encouraged to run to the line and kick but the kids these days are too scared. They either bomb or run the ball. It’s very one dimensional and it’s hurting our product.

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Under my new system you’re awarding teams of attacking and trying to get repeat sets or a try.

Last Saturday we saw Ben Hunt kick for Anthony Milford and produce a brilliant try in Brisbane’s win over Newcastle.

It was a gutsy play early in the tackle count and we’ll see a lot more that happening if you take away the threat of seven tackles and reward kickers for their skill.

I’ll be the first to admit that it has changed the way I play.

I don’t want to kick the ball dead and put my team under pressure. When we played Canterbury in round two and I put a little too much on a kick for the corner which handed the Bulldogs seven tackles. As history shows they worked their way up the field and scored.

The critics will say I should have pulled the kick up but I had been nailing them all night. Yet when one comes off my boot a little heavy, we’re punished for it in the worst way.

I could have run the ball and got tackled in the corner which would have looked like a negative play and translated poorly on television.

But it’s something you’re going to see become common practice in the game the more the year goes on.

We’re seeing less of players kicking for the corners and more bombs launched from halfway.

It happened in the State of Origin series last year.

Mitchell Pearce launches a bomb. Source: News Corp Australia

Mitchell Pearce was bombing as a safer option than risking a kick for the corner and putting it dead.

How often do we see players running the ball on the last rather than try their hand at a short kick for a repeat set?

It happens every weekend and this isn’t an accident. The instruction from the coaching staff is not to give your opposition a seven tackle set.

As a result it’s taking skills away from younger players like Luke Brookes and Mitchell Moses.

Watching the Tigers’ game against Melbourne last Sunday and the majority of their kicks were bombs.

The more I watch younger halves come through and listen to the experts critique their kicking games, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that they’re scared to kick for the in-goal.

As a half your want to trust your first instinct and mine is to kick, but if coaches are urging their playmakers not to so they avoid a seven tackle set, then you’re robbing them of a major skill and putting them in two minds.

Tigers Luke Brooks misses a field goal in golden point. Source: News Corp Australia

We should be encouraging younger halves to chance their hand on kicks for a repeat set.

People will be quick to point the finger at the halfback and say that they should be able to control their kicks, after all that’s a major part of their role within the team.

That’s much easier said than done. Just picture that you’re three meters from the line with defence trying to belt you and you’re trying to delicately thread the ball through. It doesn’t sound so easy now, does it?

You have legs in the way, fullbacks trailing behind the line, kicking for someone else and pulling it up in such a confined space is such a difficult skill.

You’re not always going to get the right weight on your kicks but does that warrant a seven tackle set?

I also have an issue with where we pack scrums.

I hear commentators praise the kickers when the sneak the ball inside the corner post to keep the ball in play, yet we come out to the 10 metre line to pack the scrum.

That’s not rewarding the kickers.

If you packed the scrum a metre off the line, that would be rewarding an inch perfect kick and really give the fans and commentators something to get excited over.

How exciting would it be to see a scrum packed a metre from the try line?

That’s how you reward my kick and give the fullback incentive to keep the ball alive.

Unless we make a change over the seven tackles now, the game’s going to become stale and that’s not the game I know and love.

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