[quote="Wires71":1g01lvf6]All of those you mentioned would likely have kicked this. https://youtu.be/wsCqGQEmyWg?t=415[/quote:1g01lvf6] It was a poor miss, but he's a 22 year old kid in his first season as a kicker for the first team, and looking at the only other realistic option in the squad - Leyland - his %'s were pretty poor last year too. If we sign a recognised kicker by all means Thewlis can step aside, but for now I think we stick with him.

[quote="Wires71":1g01lvf6]All of those you mentioned would likely have kicked this. https://youtu.be/wsCqGQEmyWg?t=415[/quote:1g01lvf6] It was a poor miss, but he's a 22 year old kid in his first season as a kicker for the first team, and looking at the only other realistic option in the squad - Leyland - his %'s were pretty poor last year too. If we sign a recognised kicker by all means Thewlis can step aside, but for now I think we stick with him.

[quote="Alffi_7":2ige27mc]It was a poor miss, but he's a 22 year old kid in his first season as a kicker for the first team, and looking at the only other realistic option in the squad - Leyland - his %'s were pretty poor last year too. If we sign a recognised kicker by all means Thewlis can step aside, but for now I think we stick with him.[/quote:2ige27mc] Ratchford was very "average" as a goal kicker when he came to Wire. He could kick the difficult goals but miss a lot of easier kicks. His % rate improved when Wire recruited a RU specialist goalkicking coach and he has maintained that ever since. I`m sure that Ratchford is helping Hayes and Leyland with their kicking technique, but for that little bit of extra gain and consistency in the pressure games maybe we should bring in a RU goalkicking coach for Hayes & Leyland.

[quote="Alffi_7":3a9vkitc]It was a poor miss, but he's a 22 year old kid in his first season as a kicker for the first team, and looking at the only other realistic option in the squad - Leyland - his %'s were pretty poor last year too. If we sign a recognised kicker by all means Thewlis can step aside, but for now I think we stick with him.[/quote:3a9vkitc] Yes this is not bagging Thewlis. He can only kick as good as he can kick and hope to improve with practice. The question was it that good enough for us as a team. But as you say Leyland at 66% was pretty poor last season too.

It’s quite rare in RL to get beaten if you have out scored the opposition in tries. Only a handful of tight games in RL have more than 7 tries where a kicking average of only 60% to win you the game even if the opposition has a 100% strike rate. Only a try less games is where the game gets decided on kicks, and those games are extremely rare. That is why I say, a good kicker doesn’t win you games, but he could lose you one. It isn’t about the kicker, it’s about not having the try advantage, or having to rely on the opponent poor discipline to give the kicker a chance to make the difference.

However, I'd proffer that quite a few games have both teams on level try's, or a one try margin. Goal kicking success isn't just about the points equivalence of half a try, it's so much more IMO. In addition to turning four into six, taking the two and getting the ball back what's not to like? A kick success can stretch your lead to a two score advantage, perhaps forcing the opposition to start taking chances on riskier plays depending upon the clock. Although and it rarely backfired on Sinfield, it didn't work out in the Challenge Cup when I think we viewed the option as weak desperate move........but then again thanks to Mr Ganson, he and Leeds fared better in the 2011 play off.