How many times this year have we had kicks charged down? It must be some sort of record!

It's school boy stuff getting charged down and it's costing us every week. It's not just our make shift halves either as Burns has had kicks charged down.

We have Sean long on the coaching staff who was a hslfback and kicker. Surley he should take these players to one side and tell them to take a few steps back.

The ones kicking aren't normal/natural kickers, so are taking far too long in getting shut of the ball - taking an extra step or two that someone like Walsh wouldn't do.

The problem today was amateurish approach, as pointed out by Phil Clarke. JT is a right footed kicker and he was taking the ball on the left hand side of the ruck, then having to turn back to kick with his right. Had he been on the other side, he would have been able to kick quicker. Also not being a natural half back, he was too close to the line when he kicked, he needed to be starting five metres back from where he was.

IMO Lance was the better kicker on the day, he did one or two strange pointless ones but his kicking was generally splitting the defence.

Burns has been charged down as Wilkin as. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to take two steps back, it's actully basic common sense.

Can't KC and longy see this?

I reckon its partly down to flat attacks and defenders running in on the kicker from an offside position. The officials are pretty poor this season and are not policing the situation as there is also an increase in borderline hits on the kicker after the ball release.
It wouldn,t suprise me if charge downs are up this season with all clubs, Wilkin and Turner are not the quickest and nimble of ball from hand to foot transition, we should see some improvement if Walshy comes back next week.
We also this season run the ball a lot on the last tackle and when that tactic closes down often the dedicated kicker is flat along the line, i,m sure all this hasn,t gone unoticed by KC.

Fair enough we might have had some early on in season charged down but it continues every single week! It's costing us points now and I'm shocked we ain't adressed this.

Turner just seems to take ages to get kicks away. Perhaps in training they're not accounting for him being slower to get the kick away. And it's one of those things coaches will target when they know the kicker is slow.

Having said that there seem to be loads of charge downs this season generally, not just Saints.

Centre being asked to play half-back in charge down shocker!

It says it all when you're whining about a centre playing 4th string half and a loose forward-cum third-string half three quarters of this forum would gladly have got shut of not twelve months ago.

I wouldn't mind so much if it weren't for the fact that both Turner and Wilkin have played beyond all expectations recently. The former coped with all manner of challenges at the back end of last season and Wilkin has been one of the form players this SL.

Turner's "position" is far less relevant than your childish attack on him. Ditto Wilkin. As for Burns, given the fearful stick that lad took against Hull KR (whilst carrying on like a true hero) I'm amazed he didn't have every kick charged down.

Throw in your obvious grudge against Mose ... and now Amor!

You do realise we are the current SL champions!?

What on earth are you blathering about? Burns (who played on with a TRIPLE FRACTURE OF THE CHEEKBONE) was charged down at the opposite end of the pitch. Had Hull KR not benefited from an enormous slice of luck (ditto Wigan) with the ball bouncing into the most ideal position imaginable no-one would remember the incident. Well, maybe no-one but you.

And ... third string kicker in charge down shocker against one of the greatest teams the NRL has ever produced? Puhleeze

I've no idea about this "best pack in the world" you keep talking about. I did say we have the best pack in the league. A pack that you repeatedly trashed all last season. A pack that was the cornerstone of arguably the greatest Grand Final victory in Saints' history. For someone who can't help promoting the myth of his bona fides of Rugby League judgement - it must be particularly galling knowing I recognised this obvious strength whilst you missed it entirely.

Is it possible for you to look an even bigger fool on this board? Logic suggests no. But given your track record, who knows?