Practicing catching kicks at training is one thing. Manly's Instagram is loaded with pics of Jorge Taufua catching bombs at training.....though in 99% of the pics he is in there is no one else in sight putting any pressure on.
Its quite different to having an opposition winger, centre or fullback (or all 3), among others, bearing down on you also intent on getting the ball without knocking it on.
They need to be practicing more under pressure kick taking IMO.
As for our own kicking game? I agree with
@Dan in that the delivery to our kicker (I say kicker instead of kickers because in the 2 games so far its apparent we only have one) is shocking from dummy half which makes it so much easier for opposition defences (especially if they are allowed to be offside). I also agree with
@Uk eagle saying that so far this year we've hardly been in a position to get repeat sets. Of the 4 tries we've scored this year, at least 3 have been started from breaks from around the halfway line, not from any plays close to the line. Most of the time when we have managed to get near their line, someone has literally dropped the ball and turned it over before we even get to a kick. And in general play for long kicks, if DCE is the only one kicking (I've seen LG kick once....and then he missed a tackle on Tedesco that 100 metres later saw Cordner score), its not hard for the opposition to work out that he's going to get the ball so they rush him on the 4th or 5th tackle. That added to the poor dummy half service has seen our kicking absolutely suck so far this year.
LG or whoever is 5/8 needs to be taking at least 1/3 of the downfield kicks so that the opposition doesn't know which kicker is getting the ball. Right now its just too damn easy to shut down.
