There possibly is an impact in the game plan, but not a change IMO. We did have the 2 players running off the back of the square last year, which meant we had more immediate forward pressure along with a line of players running through. That potentially helped with the "chaos ball" game plan through weight of numbers. I wonder if now with the 666 rule, we aren't able to get those numbers forward as quickly and by the time we've launched that quick bomb forward the players behind the ball aren't far enough forward to have any impact?
I don't have the stats in front of me, but would have thought Hogan, Kent, Watts and Melksham have been among our best users going inside 50. I understand the differing reasons we don't have those players currently, but when their inside 50s are replaced by poor decision makers it has to have an impact eventually.