Pro's and cons all round for this but I agree it is easy to get out of trouble if you have a kicker that can just hoof it dead. A penalty on the 20 would be pointless because you can already kick for touch from the restart just has to bounce before going dead.

I think the restart on the 40 would be a good way to stop it happening so often and hopefully improve the standard of kicks. I would only do this though if the kick was made from within your own half.

Still too many rules being changed/manipulated when our game is good enough as it is. Would be nice if coaches and players alike would stop trying to find shortcuts and appreciate the game as it is supposed to be played.

Simple solution.

Within 20m from opposition line - 20m restart
Within 50m to 20m from opposition line - 30m restart
Own half - 40m restart.

So what's stopping the full back/wingers just letting the kick go dead so they get a better restart?

So problem will still be there.

Exactly. More often than not it's the fullback that is willing the ball over the line and want it to go dead. Therefore you can't just have a go at the attacking team for the negative tactics. Who's to determine it's the attacker's fault or the un-willing defender's fault? I don't think there's a massive problem with it, it's not as though it happens every last tackle during the game.

We should stop the full back being tackled too. That would make the game more interesting.

It's perfectly ok as it is

It's fine as it is. Why would want to go even further in encouraging fullbacks and wingers not to run the ball back?

Yep the rule is fine as it is. As has been said wingers & full backs are often willing the ball dead, and if the defending team are so worried about it then they can defend it better, either through dropping more men back to make it harder to kick into space or pressuring the kicker more.

I like the penalty on the 20 idea

Maybe you'd prefer it the rules were changed to make it mandatory to kick the ball straight to them and then not chase the kick so they don't feel under pressure and risk knocking on, hell why not outlaw tackling such players as well because we wouldn't want to negate their attacking abilities with such negative tactics!!!

It is the responsibility of the defending team to work out how to defend against such tactics ,not the authorities job to prevent them!

It is a negative play. An easier way to solve it is to have a 40m tap if the kick is from your own half and keep the 20m tap if you are less than 20 away from the oppositions line.

What he said.

By punishing kicks that run dead (whether intentional or not) you risk making kickers far more risk averse and rewarding negative defending (full backs letting it run dead instead of returning it). So you end up with more negative tactics rather than solving a problem

So you want to reward the fullback for letting the ball run dead even more than the 20 tap currently does?


Seriously, defending teams don't have a problem starting with a 20 tap. They're happy to do so very often, hence how you so often see a winger or fullback standing over a ball that runs dead rather than trying to pick it up. Giving them more reward for not running the ball won't reduce these instances.

If anything when the ball goes dead, maybe less controlled restart as in the attacker can restart play quicker from anywhere on the 20 meter line or stop having to wait for ref and the defensive line.

The NRL this year has reintroduced the quick restart - so long as the ref is in position and the team returning the ball is behind the 20m. That is one of the main solutions to it being used as a dulling tactic by the kicking team. A restart on the 20m is not a bad place to be even against a set defence.