kabz, I don't know anything about landing a 172, but certainly don't disagree with the principle of what you say. I've often heard instructors suggest that learning how to land a taildragger may improve the quality of one's trike landings, and I think that I have found that to be true in my case (just have to be careful not to biff the tail bumper on the Pups or Bulldog I fly when triking)