Tri* posted:
The best defencive player on the warriors is Wayne Godwin! His overall tackling technique and after tackle groundwork, is just awsome. When it comes to 1 on 1 tackles Vs Props, he is just number one!
cpwigan posted:
Rob you are spot on. My definition of a great tackler is that 1 v 1 he can stop anybody and Lockers does that. My funniest moment with Connolly is actually when he played for Bath. some giant forward ran straight at him and thought he would run straight over him. Suffice to say the big lump of lard was left dazed on the floor.
I remember Fielden running straight at Connolly
thinking he was going to flatten him,but was left wondering what had hit him.
Lockers despite what the idiots on here think, is our best tackler,but I agree with Flash that Nathan Hindmarsh is the worlds best tackler by a mile.
This is not about who makes the most tackles, but technique! Lockers technique is very poor at the moment, he could have lost us that game on Friday with his head high shots. He did about another 5 that went unpunished. When we talk about technique, you can go no further than Orr at Wigan. Lockers for all his tackling is usually the second man or the flop.
He didn't lose us the game though. Do you count the points that he saves us with try saving tackles? Like the one on one in front of the post.Lockers technique can't be that bad when he making close to and more than 40 tackles a game. The fact that he makes the odd high tackle is down to his work rate and the fact that referees are over keen on giving penaties for high tackles now. Take his 39 tackles and his work rate out of the game and we would have lost the game.
Best tackler has got to be Radlinski - even playing on one leg, he still has excellent technique.
If you want proof just watch the Murrayfield game!
"And Martin Offiah, trying to make some space, now then..." - Ray French, Wembley 1994
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Interviewer: So that obviously means that you're not going to St Helens and you're not going to Leeds?
Frano: I don't know why I would ever want to go to St Helens or Leeds
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Danny Orr has the best technique. Hardly the biggest man on the pitch, is often first man in, makes a lot of tackles in a game against the big men and I can't remember the last time he conceded a penalty in a tackle.
Just goes to show it is not inevitable that you give penalties away if you put in a big tackling stint and blows that particular excuse over Lockers technique out of the water.
Ithink Kris radlinski is the still the best defensive player in the game, When he used to play full back the way he read an attacking play and got himself in the right posistion was fantastic.
Even now on one leg he kept solomono out of the game the lastweek, it was only when solomono gave up and swapped wings to get away from kris that he actually did anything, his tries were scored on the right wing whilst kris was defending the left.
The problem is Lockers was coached properly I believe he is one of only a hsndful of players in SL who has the depth of training / skill development equivalent to the NRL.
Often size is important in making tackles look worse / better. I am guessing Hindmarsh is at least 1 maybe 2 stones heavier than Lockers. The lighter you are the more vigorous you have to be.
Flash posted:
OK and so to the reason for this thread. It has come about because of three things: The 2 penalties conceded by O'Loughlin on Friday and the subsequent comments by Paul Cullen; the obsession with his tackling technique on this board and the Paramatta game shown on Sky this Saturday morning.
I have considered Nathan Hindmarsh to be the best defender in world rugby for a couple of seasons now and this is a view held by many good judges and is also backed up by the statistics, chief of which was his recent NRL, and I think, world record number of tackles in a game which I believe was 68. So it was with some incredulity that on watching the game on Saturday that I was watching a near identical style and technique to that of O'Loughlin! I had never noticed this before, but he invariably goes high, wrapping one arm over the shoulder and very often coming into contact with the attackers face (I kid you not, check out the game for yourselves to see the evidence for yourselves). So how come one is widely regarded as the best in the world and the other is castigated as a 'head hunter', a 'liability' and as having 'a poor technique'?
Well the best answer I can give is to refer you to the aforementioned match. Wind it to 44 mins 35 seconds and sit back to watch two consecutive tackles that were both worse than either of the ones for which Lockers was penalised. The difference was that neither of them resulted in a penalty. Just two more tackles added to his (as usual impressive) tackle count.
Which brings me to the point of the thread. Cullen suggested that the game was going soft if the first O'Loughlin tackle was regarded as high and the commentry team were all of the opinion (and I agree) that the second wasn't even high anyway and was on the shoulder. Yet both were penalised. As I remember it the 'High Tackle' rule was meant to prevent injury to players and is not meant as a technical offence as is, say, the play the ball. I remember the phrase 'attacking the head' being used in the past to describe this offence, although I'm not sure if this was in the rulebook or merely common parlance. What I am sure of, however, is that neither of the tackles on Friday could in any way be described as dangerous, or liable to result in injury and simply would not have been given in the NRL.
I found it interesting that one poster (Martin Taylor) said that Lockers technique is 'very poor' and generally criticises him, then nominates Hindmarsh as one of his best defenders. I have no particular beef with this viewpoint other than to say that it could be indicative that Cullen is right, that the British game is indeed going soft.
Thoughts everyone?
What a crock of **** you talk Flash! You are still thick enough to base a good tackling technique around the numbers of tackles made in a match. If Danny Orr made one excellent tackle yet O'loughlin made 60 tackles it still does not mean the Lockers has the best technique. It simply means he has made more tackles. If Hindmarsh only made 5 tackles per game, he would still in my opinion have the best technique around! Don't be confused by quantity rather thyan quality! A more accurate test would be to look at tackles made against penalties conceded of each player! The fact is Lockers still swings high and could have been penalised far more for it on Friday, and one on one he still chooses to meet players high, rather than around the ankles. Well done of a pointless exercise you muppet!
