Contact Skills drill
Ball Carry into Contact
Arrive into contact low, shoulder-first and legally, with the ball protected.
- Time
- 15 minutes
- Players
- 1 to 10 players
- Intensity
- High
- Equipment
- Tackle bag, ball
- Space
- 6m run-in
- Positions
- All positions
Setup
A tackle bag or hit shield propped 6m away on soft ground, and a ball. This drill needs a bag or shield.
How to run it
- Run at the bag at about 60% with the ball in two hands.
- At 2m take a short hard power step to shorten your stride and lower your centre of mass - get low through your hips and knees, never by folding at the neck, because dropping your height significantly right before contact is now an actual penalty as well as your own head-injury mechanism.
- Make contact on your shoulder with the ball carried on the far side, then drive your legs through the bag.
- Finish either by staying on your feet and squaring up, or by going to ground and executing a long placement.
- Do 4 sets of 6 alternating your contact shoulder.
Coaching cues
- Ball in two hands, ball away from contact
- Shoulder first, then leg drive
- Low through the hips - eyes up, chin off chest
Common mistakes
- Diving or ducking the head into contact, which is now explicitly illegal and is how ball carriers concuss themselves
- Carrying in one hand into contact, which loses the ball and the arm you need to protect yourself
Session plans that use this drill
Related drills
- Ball Placement Under LoadMake a long, clean placement with a body on top of you.
- Fend and Hand-OffCreate separation with a legal fend rather than a strike.
- Preparation for Contact WrestleBuild the shoulder position, connection and rolling strength that contact demands.
- Get Up Off The FloorFight to your feet under a body, which is what every phase of contact demands.
- Contact Security One-on-OneTake the carrier down and immediately win the ball on your feet.
- Latch and DriveBind onto a carrier just before contact and drive as a unit without conceding obstruction.