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How I learned to stop worrying and loved the bomb
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
11th February, 2015
7
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Benji Marshall at the Tigers wasn't as long ago as it feels. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay)
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
11th February, 2015
7

While most fans prefer a good backline move, forwards breaking through the middle of the ruck or a crossover from a scrum, collecting a kick – whether a bomb, grubber or cross-field punt – and steaming towards the try-line is more likely to produce points on the board.

All the above are of course necessary ingredients in any team’s arsenal.

When Wests Tigers’ Benji Marshall scored his try from the scrum against Souths in the Charity Shield I was not only surprised he still had the speed, but I could also not remember when I last time I saw a try from the scrum in the NRL.

This was what I thought was the original object of a scrum – namely to keep the forwards bottled up and give the backs a chance (in fact the scrum is much more ancient than that but that is a complete article in itself).

Backline movements which sweep the field and with long breaks and long chases also seem to be rare these days.

So now we have percentage plays, working up the field, minimising mistakes, stealing metres from dummy half, and then the almost inevitable kick on the sixth tackle, which brings me to the subject of this article again.

If you are stuck in your own half and behind the forty then there is always the relatively new innovation of the 40/20. The trouble is that you need a good kicker, but if you have a good chase then at least you should get field position. If Jamie Soward is not the best at this then he is close.

I should also mention here that the kick out on the full, which has no particular tactical benefit of which I am aware, seems to be prevalent at this time of the season. No one is prepared to claim this title.

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There is also the short kick from the restart, which I think is about to have a resurgence. Tired players are not prepared and the short kick can retrieve a ball from a team which may have otherwise just steamed ahead. Benji Marshall is probably the best exponent of this kick at the most surprising times.

There is the chip kick and re-gather which always seems to work better when there is no fullback at home. Trouble is that you have to kick and catch and be fast enough to make it to the line. Not sure who is the current contender in this category.

Then there is the grubber, either an intended grubber or an ‘I lost the ball forward and then kicked it’ grubber. Rewards here depend on how far from the line you are, whether you can kick it again and whether you can actually re-gather.

Then there is the cross-field kick designed to put a winger or outside back away, effectively a big cut-out pass which can go forward. It can be very effective for catching sides out and has become very popular these days

But inevitably we come to the bomb. A multi-purpose kick from the past designed to confuse both attacking and defending teams and therefore provide a level playing field for whatever happens next. But now we have blocking defences, which for the most part seem to negate attacking chances.

I am sure there are many other variants and on the whole I prefer the backline movement, but I could also go for the chip kick every now and again.

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