Winning the Tackle
The area of the tackle is becoming increasingly contested in the game of rugby league, and more and more teams are looking to become more competitive and achieve more play the ball wins.

It is fast becoming one of the vital statistics in assessing the performance of a team post-match. Achieving dominance in the tackle is as important on the attack as it is in defence, and it is crucial that your players know how to successfully contest this region of the game.

The basic goal in contesting the tackle on the offense is for the player to square himself against the defensive line on elbows and knees, letting him play the ball before the defence gets time to react, thus offering chances to open it up.

Unsurprisingly however, achieving this successfully requires a whole combination of skills, including speed, careful footwork, timing and good hands.

Choosing to run the right line can also vastly increase a player’s chance of success at the tackle, as meeting the defensive line at right angles greatly reduces the risk of gang tackles and being slowed down in his attack.

As a team, there are many things other players can do to avoid the defence getting the edge on the tackle. For example, having enough players coming in for support can suck players away from the tackle, thus also reducing the risk of a gang tackle.

It is also important for your players to consider their field position as to how defensively they should play. In your own red zone, it is important to give no room for the opposing team to make multiple tackles or slow down runners hitting the line at an angle, in order to free you up for a kick.

Conversely, in the green zone, good performances on the tackle can be open up a defensive line and give you space to make a successful attack in.

In order to this successfully, speed is a useful attribute for your forwards, but is no substitute for strength and general strong ball carrying skills. A good sense of balance can be the difference between success and failure in the tackle through good body positioning on the ground.

Intelligence in line running is naturally vital as your forwards attempt to create an imbalance among the opposing team's defenders.

Again the clever footwork comes back in here - while running a line is important to open up the defence, remember that the tackle should be made square on for best results.

This is much more likely to yield dividends than trying to go out and around the defenders, and is a much more intelligent way of running attacking lines that you should try and pass on to your forwards.

There are many ways you can encourage these skills in your players. Ultimately, your goal is to make it the natural reaction of your players to go in to the tackle square and straighten up when they hit the line.

Playing games with varied rules is probably the easiest way to make this second nature to them.

For example, try a normal game, except there is an automatic turnover where a player doesn't hit the line square after running at an angle.

Similarly, this can be done on a three metre defensive line, allowing only one on one tackles, where there is an instant turnover for a ball carrier not going in square.

Repeating these drills time and again will hopefully override your players' instinctive efforts to go around the defence at the last moment, rather than taking the contact straight on and competitively.

Above all then, the important thing to remind your players is that every moment of the game should be contested.

It is not enough to know when to go into contact - rather, every attempt should be made to win that contact as well, through body positioning, footwork and ball control.

Ultimately, your players should know instinctively that they can only achieve a good play the ball win through hitting the defensive line square on.

Getting these seemingly basic things right can add a crucial edge to your game and add precious metres to your game as well as opening up the defence and adding speed.