kick play

[MJT]

Ok, but you said "R has the incentive, instead of playing the ball themselves, to station themselves just in front & in-field of the ball, blocking K from recovery and secure in the knowledge that if the ball doesn't roll out of bounds untouched on its own, K might force R into the ball and likely cause it to go OOB. Don't you want R to have the incentive to play the free kick themselves rather than camping over it like that?"

This is the part that I cannot see happening. I couldn't see R keeping K from the ball instead of fielding the ball themselves.