Fifty-one years ago a South Sydney star forced the game to do away with the two-point field goal, so it was fitting that Adam Reynolds kicked the first one of the new era. Reynolds on Thursday night nailed a 43-metre drop goal in Souths’ 35-6 win over Brisbane, becoming the first man to score a long-range double-pointer this year.
But it was far from the first two-point field goal in rugby league. Until 1970 field goals had always been worth two points, before the introduction of limited tackles made them a far too popular option.
Indigenous Souths fullback Eric Simms kicked 68 of them between 1968 and 1970 alone, including the last two-point play in the 1970 grand final win over Manly. The avalanche of drop goals forced the NSWRL to change the value of the play to one point, before Peter V’landys made the shift to two for kicks outside the 40-metre line this year.
Reynolds had been one of the biggest supporters of the move in a pre-season poll, where more than half of the NRL’s kickers did not see the play being used. At the time Reynolds even joked that they should be worth four points from outside 50, despite the strike rate of those kicked from beyond 40 metres being just 4% across the NRL.
He began training for long-range attempts from the start of the summer, certain they could become a serious option to swing the momentum of matches.
“I just think it’s an opportunity to grab some easy points,” Reynolds said after Thursday’s two-pointer. “The timing was right. I think there was less than a minute on the clock, so if you miss and kick it dead, they’re not going to get the full seven tackles anyway. You’ve just got to try and be smart about it and get in good field position.”
Reynolds’ successful shot sparked the biggest celebration of the night, in a sign of how valued the off-contract star is by Rabbitohs teammates. But he is not the only one at Redfern who can boot them from afar. Latrell Mitchell is another long-shooter, with Reynolds revealing the pair have a kick off before games to determine who gets the shot if the team is in position.
“He’s got a big boot on him. He could probably travel 50, if it comes to the crunch. He hits the ball so sweet,” Reynolds said. “We had a hit each in the warm-up. I nailed one and he missed so I said I’m taking it tonight. The rest is history … Sucked in to Latrell.”
#Twopoint #field #goal #returns #NRL #51year #absence
Source
