The lineout defies conventional wisdom
The lineout defies conventional wisdom
Ewen McKenzie
Saturday, April 21, 2007
"Chuck it straight."
"Why does the Hooker have to throw the ball into the lineout?" - it's often asked and the answer is simple - They don't have to. Convention over the last 30 years has seen this happen because it used to be done by the wingers. There have been flirtations by the French who used to use the halfback but generally speaking it falls back to the Hooker.
Convention is a shallow reason for doing things but there are some significant logistical and technical elements that need to be considered that now pervade the modern game which did not exist prior to the 1990's.
The lineout changed in the early 1990's when the world adopted the South African method of lifting in the lineout. Overnight props went from being a blocker in the lineout to becoming a lineout lifter. Every time a ball was thrown a props job became focussed entirely on lifting someone to catch a ball. Prior to this we spent our time grabbing, pulling, blocking and protecting our lineout jumpers who were basically required to jump on their own. This worked brilliantly especially when we had the bean poles like Bill Campbell and Steve Cutler.
Throwing the ball in was not as highly regarded activity in the old days, although you could still develop a reputation. Tom Lawton was outstanding throwing one handed, Mark McBain had a unique but effective bowling action that got the job done. My old mate Phil Kearns did not escape in the 90's and earned a nickname of the "Scud". Named after the errant missiles that Iraq was dropping on Israel at the time, getting a projectile in these modern times to hit a target seems to be getting more difficult.
The modern lineout now equates to about 16 per game on your throw, sometimes over 20. The pre-lifting era you could expect 30 plus. There are now fewer lineouts which make them more obvious as they still provide one of the best attacking platforms in the game as it is the only time the defensive backlines are 20m apart. The attacking opportunity coupled with the limited opportunity creates some anxiety for both teams and that is why the defensive lineout is practiced to deny the opportunity. Most teams will lose 15-20 per cent of their throws and this is because there is a genuine contest. If there is a genuine contest then there will be tactics to practice and the current laws allow effectively the defensive team to use the hooker as an extra lifter in defence so the tactical pressure is always on the attacking team.
When you throw the ball into the lineout it used to be jump first and then throw. This was not too difficult as speed won the day and subtle throwing skills were less relevant. If no one was lifting then the tallest players were advantaged. When lifting came in the physics of the contest become interesting. If you are 2m tall and your standing jump is 60cms then your jumping height is 2.60m then you add the arms extended above the head. When lifting was introduced the total lifting and catching height went up to about 4m. If I lift a guy at the front of the lineout to this height the throwing logistics and the arc the ball has to travel is radically different. Remember you are still throwing into the same 10m space. This all ends up as pressure on the thrower as they now need to throw with more loop and find target with subtle throwing skills that are not impossible but substantially more difficult. Other dynamics to improve ball winning include the throw jump concept where the ball is thrown first to space and then the jumper has to jump. Try doing this yourself - it's not easy.
Aside from the physics there are the simple training elements of the game that mean backs and forwards spend some of the week training separately. This makes it difficult for the backs to contribute in the detail. You will occasionally see a halfback (Brumbies) or a centre (Bulls) in the lineout formation but they rarely contribute to the ball winning and are there to advantage the use of the ball from the lineout. Can another forward throw the ball in and the answer is yes but the intricacies of the lineout and team selection makes this hard to occur. If you always played in the same team with the same players this could happen. The prop could throw it in and this sometimes happens. If, however, you were selected to another representative team and the prop didn't get selected then who throws the ball in?
Every team at the professional level has a minimum of 70 or 80 strategic throwing options across the various lineout lengths to suit specific games. This requires skill and knowledge which is not understood overnight. People that say "just throw the ball to the front" do not understand that if it were that simple then the opposition would be stupid to allow that to happen too often. Most teams now invest in full time lineout coaches because the cat and mouse skills are so specific. There are thousands of lineout tactics. The problem is that they will definitely work once, but can they stand the test of time and scrutiny? Much time has been spent on the mechanics of the throwing action and sports science is making some headway on the closed skill of simply throwing the ball. Despite this The task of landing or intersecting a football with someone's hands in a congested space is keeping the hooker's life a very complex and stressful one.
