If you know your opponent is going to kick at you all night, what tactics do you take in after receiving kick after kick?
1) Get men pushing back hard to get behind the ball, and throw it at least two passes across field to stretch the defence (Crusaders are the bench mark here, but teams like the Reds and Blues have also done it well at times)
2) Select guys with a huge and accurate boot to win the kicking duels and apply pressure from tactical kicks (Rebels for example, with Gerrard and Huxley)
3) Select big and strong guys to run it back hard, then recycle and work out a game plan from phase ball (Plenty of teams take this option a lot of the time)
4) Kick it back aimlessly and whine about the other team's tactics (Tahs, sadly)
There's no reason the Tahs had to take option 4. Clearly they aren't coached to do option 1 (although with Mitchell, Beale and Turner they certainly had the cattle), and they didn't back themselves to do option 3.
You can bet your bottom dollar, though, that the whole 'Saders team is coached to work their asses off to get behind the ball and do at least two passes across field to shift the point of attack, no matter who is in the team. It's a lack of coaching / game plan / leadership that allowed the Tahs to get sucked into aimless kicks back. It certainly doesn't help when you have one of the best running halfbacks (who is also one of the worst kicking halfbacks) in the comp putting up silly midfield box kicks.
If the other team is just going to kick at you all night, you have to make them pay. Adjust your tactics - get your flankers to hang back, for example, to either run the ball back hard into traffic or to ensure you can recycle your own ball, or get your blind winger running back hard to get onside in support to shift your point of attack and counter. The Tahs game plan simply can't adjust, or is woefully prepared to deal with negative tactics.
