Ouch! Sh*tt! etc.....

Yep. Said before the season that we'd be 2-4 points a game worse off simply because of goalkicking (might have been underestimating) and that would cost us some tight ones. Zak still looks nothing like a goalkicker - don't even feel confident it's going to go over from right under the posts. Same with Sutcliffe. If Lilley is going to be a regular I'd give the job to him.

If Lilley is the best kicker ......then he should be kicking when on the field.

Let's hope our FB and SO are given extra homework in the art. Obviously it proved VERY costly tonight in at least gaining a point.

Meh, always gonna be a massive drop off in reliability. He's only going to learn from mistakes / experience.

I'd blame our inability to capitalise on our overwhelming dominance in the first half, but hey! It's game one... We're building for bigger battles ahead and it's a long way till the end of the season.

Relax.

Lilley should be kicking. Can't see Mac starting him though. It took Singo and Ward a good few years to gain his trust. Lilley should get a run

very strange... its almost like "sinfield was holding us back with his kicking every penalty mentality"

so you decided to not kick for the 2, when in the past, its been an obvious tactic.

For as long as I have known in this game, the captain will always ask the kicker "can you kick it" before making a decision to take the two.

We haven't needed to do that for 15 years, and that system broke down tonight. Hardaker had already clearly indicated to run the ball, before Burrow told him to go for goal. The doubt was already in Hardakers mind before he made a pigs ear of the last penalty.

They urgently need to review that failing as a team, while we continue to try and develop a new regular goalkicker. Confidence and composure in that situation is everything.

Aye lad, aye.

An' just wait till new southstand is built with seats, eh?

No atmosphere = another 6 points worse off.

At least!

hardakers kick though under pressure

Hes got a cannon of a foot. It needs an awful lot of practice though.

As for whether he wanted it or not, if he's going to be goal kicker, he's got to take those on, and let's face it he should've done better.

Might be just the "reality check" that Hardaker needs after the huge success of last season with the treble, man of steel and internationals and might focus him better.

The most disappointing aspect of Hardaker's play isn't his goal kicking, it's the fact he gets tackled with the ball far too often. His decision making in attack still needs a lot of improvement.

The problem Hardaker has is that you feel he wants to be kicker (and captain) because he loves the spotlight, not because he's good enough for either role. TBF he has apparently practised a lot in the pre-season and Sutcliffe's knee injury must've reduced his practise time significantly, but he doesn't look to have taken any of Sinfield's style on board (lifts his head unlike Sinfield) and just goes for the smash them route.

I can understand the stance of Hardaker stays kicking even when Lilley is on because Lilley won't be on that often so Hardaker needs to stick at the role.....but personally I would let Lilley kick when he does play even if it's cameo appearances.

Good ol' Southstander! One narrow loss and the daggers are out.....
For one of our own!

I think Whoever will be long term kicker need at Least 3 seasons to become Sinfield level. Maybe longer.

How's about for once can we not hammer said player till the cows come home.

I hope to christ this isnt a thread that goes on and on.

Zak's not Kev. Zak for whatever reason has been given the job by Mac.

Deal with it. Shut the f*ck up.

He gonna miss a ton more before we see a marked improvement.

"the smash them route" is how ZH plays his whole game. I too can understand the logic of selecting a new kicker who you would expect to start most games. None of the other candidates tick this box yet. However I do not believe a SL game is where you learn the technique of how to kick as this should be done on the training field.

Burrow was right to call for taking the 2 points - shame Hardaker isn't good enough. Lilley should have been a starter based on current form and should take the kicks.

It appears Zak has an RLFANS account. Rein that temper in Zak...Stay away from the red.


Last night we had a problem with goal kicking - this is a forum to discuss said topics - deal with it and stfu!

3 Games without Sir Kev last season:

Vs Wigan - 5 Tries - 3 Sutcliffe conversions

Vs Catalan - 7 Tries - 5 Sutcliffe conversions

Vs Cas - 5 Tries - 3 Sutcliffe conversions


Point being - Sutcliffe is the 1st choice kicker and his stats are not that bad given age and time in the role.

That's it you rumbled me! I'm Zak! I started this account when i was 14. 2 years before you started posting.

In 2006 at age 14 I thought I would masquerade as a a staunch Rhinos fan racking up a few thousand posts with the forsight of defending myself when I made it into the first team.

Silly me! I thought I would be defending myself from Wigan and Wire idiots!
Turns out my own fans look very much like they have turned on me first game of the season after been MOS.

Marching on Together ey!

It's entirely possible Zak was kicker elect last night because he outperforms Lilley at the task under practice conditions. Unless someone on here's privy to the club's training and knows different?

Not privy to training, but find it hard to believe with Zak's kicking technique that he could outperform Lilley in a competition.

My thoughts FWIW on Zak's goalkicking is that he's trying to kick it too hard, going for power not accuracy.
I thought last night that we should have gone for touch not for goal.
But the Wolves goal line defence had been so strong all night (that's what won them the game) that the likelihood is we'd have come up short anyway.
We didn't go for goal in the first half when there were a couple of easier chances.

Possible but most unlikely. Zak is not a natural kicker (or passer) Most successful goal kickers have a set routine before taking the kick designed to give them full concentration on the line to the target and a clean contact with the ball. Like good golfers who have a natural swing and keep their head and eyes over the ball they develop a good technique often holding their hands in a way that gets them mentally in the zone. Whereas Hardaker appears just to give it a wack.

Pretty much sums up my take on it. Although the easier chances were spurned while we were throwing a considerable amount at Warrington's tacklers. It wasn't unreasonable at that point to suppose that they'd cave in eventually. Many teams would have.

Sutcliffe looks a better kicker but needs to improve his technique too. But I guess they do not want to risk him so soon after a serious knee injury as place kicking puts undue pressure on both knees.

Unlikely but not impossible. Just seemed to be a lot of folk making the point that Lilley should have been kicking without examining possible reasons as to why he wasn't. I assume there are some.

Sutcliffe's priority is binding back into the team and playing rugby after being out. you can see why kicking duties haven't appeared on his 'to do list' yet this season.