Phil Clarke: Huddersfield have gone from the bottom to the top

Since the turn of the century I've visited the home of the Huddersfield Giants on many occasions.

If any of you saw the game last Friday between St Helens and Warrington you may have noticed an incident when Jonny Lomax was tackled in the air after the ball had bounced high and he'd leapt to gather it. At the time I asked our expert on the rules, Stuart Cummings, if it should have been a penalty as I assumed that you can't tackle a man in the air. He corrected me by pointing out that this only applies if the ball hasn't touched the ground. As I drove home after the match I began to ponder the logic of this. I guess that the rule was initially brought in for player safety. Tackling a man in the air can be extremely dangerous and the sport has outlawed this to protect the player. If the ball bounces high after a kick, as it will on hard ground, the defender may choose to jump to re-gather this before any on-rushing attacking. Does he deserve the same level of protection? As we get to the end of the season, I think that it's a good time to ask your opinion on the current rules. Many of them are outdated, and several not enforced.

Wrestling

Do you think that we should make each player touch the ball with his foot when he plays the ball? This would be a more natural way of slowing down the natural speed and perhaps remove the ugly wrestling that sometimes spoils a match. What's your opinion on the 'team warning'? Do you think that the increased use of the sin bin has reduced the interference at the play-the-ball area? (It's the number one cause of penalties in rugby league?) Would you like to see the defending team from a scrum be forced back 10m, not the current 5m, to give the attacking team more time and space to attack? Should the loose forward be able to hold the ball at the base of the scrum like they can in rugby union to keep the defenders on their heels? Should we remove the 'differential penalty' and allow all penalties to be kicked at goal for two points? Please let me know what rules annoy you or prevent the game being better to watch. After watching the Challenge Cup Final, I think that there's room for improvement. What do you think?