League: Casting call for some natural born kickers

Although it was seen as something of a joke that prop Paul Rauhihi was the only Kiwis player in this weekend's Anzac test to have kicked a goal in the NRL, the lack of talented goal kickers in New Zealand is much less of a laughing matter.

While the presence of a handy kicker for New Zealand would not have made much difference in Australia's clinical 32-16 win over the Kiwis on Friday night, so often it can be the difference between sides. New Zealand league teams have rarely had natural kickers in recent times, and when they did they were invariably rugby union converts in the likes of Mathew Ridge, Daryl Halligan and Frano Botica.

Halligan, who kicked 855 goals before retiring in 2000 to put him second with 2034 on the all-time points-scoring record, is recognised as one of the masters of the art. While he was a handy winger as well for the Bulldogs and North Sydney Bears, there's no denying he prolonged his career because of his goal-kicking exploits and he's since been employed as a goal-kicking coach by the likes of the All Blacks and Queensland State of Origin side.

Halligan said the dearth of goal kickers could be as a result of little emphasis being put on the skill in the junior ranks, especially as it was seen as an "uncool" thing to practise. He also said it was compounded by the fact that a select group of sides often dominated in junior league, meaning there was very little reliance on a kicker.

Although Australia has a handful of accurate kickers like the prolific Hazem El Masri along with Andrew Johns, Craig Fitzgibbon and Darren Lockyer, only three NRL clubs have kickers who have achieved a success rate better than 75 per cent. Halligan, who once set an NRL record of 30 for the most consecutive goals (in 1998), felt that all clubs should be aiming to see their kickers slot at least four out of five attempts and it was up to the individual to put in the hard work.

"It should be something kids practise at first XV or first XIII level while they're at school and it's just about putting hours in on the practice field," said Halligan, who's now a Kiwis selector. "We've known as selectors for some time that there aren't many good kickers around and we're not too concerned about that. We can't afford to be able to pick a guy just because he can kick because he needs to be able to play the game first."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY