HOW TO OFFLOAD

Nor thampton Saints wing Ollie Sleightholme t alks sleight of hand

“The first job is to try to beat the defender. If you do beat him, obviously you don’t need to offload but even if you don’t, you’re likely to have won the collision and can then free your arms for the offload. Unless you’re a big player, you’ll have to use footwork to try to get around the defender. Don’t think about the offload at first, just think about winning that collision.”

“You will always make some mistakes with offloads, they are harder than normal passes. I follow my process, though, and judge whether I made a

mistake with the decision or the execution. I want to make sure I’m getting past contact, freeing my arms, looking for support, and then deciding whether to give the pass or not. If I’ve done that and made a good decision but didn’t execute, then that’s okay

– I can work more on the execution.”

“Once you’ve won the collision, look to free both arms – or at least one arm. Look around for your support runners. Early communication from them is great but if you’re in a loud environment you can’t always hear them, so make sure you’re looking as well. Decide yourself whether you’re in a position to give the offload or not.”

“You can practise offloads in touch games if you make it more like scrag, so the opponent is trying to stop you freeing your arms. We also do drills where we use tackle shields, or anything you have to make it so the carrier must work to get their arms free. Your offloads will improve too with better footwork and carrying, so those should be a focus.”