Quote Juan Cornetto="Juan Cornetto"Spot on. Any form of deliberate obstruction is cheating and should be penalised even if not near the ball carrier, then perhaps it will stop being coached.'"
Agreed.
Also agree with the comment further above that the obstruction rule has been overcomplicated by the authorities. Instead of sticking to their guns a few years ago they allowed the rule to be bent by attacking sides who insisted on sending runners into the line. Attacking teams have got slightly better at making the obstruction look less obvious but it’s still there.
In the end a player in front of the ball is offside. It should be entirely on that offside players shoulders to not interfere in any way whatsoever with the defensive line. That shouldn’t only include contact with the defence, it should also include causing a defender to deviate their run in any way at all. Defenders shouldn’t have to be stepping around offside attackers.
If an attacker is offside and is in the way of a defender then penalise him. Then like you say teams will coach differently and refine and improve their attack to be properly creative not just chucking blockers into the defensive line and sending someone quick through the gap it’s created.
