Round 22 - Dragons vs. Broncos - Post Match Discussion

[austyphoon]

I take it you're being sarcastic ? The ground was mint

Are you?

There was more sand on parts of the field than on a beach!

 

[LittleDavey]

Fucking devastated for Hodgo...this was his last year in an Origin jersey, he won't be back for next year. Just hope he can come back from it the way he did the first time, he's another couple of years older...hope that's not the end of his career :crying:

Ugly, ugly win - but it was a win.

Didn't mind Drew at all: he's got a bit of pace, good ticker/balls, and seemed to have a pretty cool head too, I'm guessing we'll be seeing more of him now with Hodgo out, good for him.

Hunt was a bit quieter but still did some good things, damn I love his footy brain and he made a couple of tackles that HAD to be made too.

Fucking refs are killing our season - death by a thousand cuts. Have we had "even" refereeing standards ANY game this year?? Feels like we're always playing against them too, this year - there was some fucking clangers out there today.

We seemed to be playing at a canter most of the game, line speed was shithouse. Great to see Ben Hannant back, he/Parker/McGuire had a pretty good passing game happening there at times - great to see.

Generally I thought we absorbed pressure put on us well today, and created some of our own too. Got a lot of work to do to look like winning the rest of our games though. Not sure how to feel about today really. Relieved, gutted...exhausted about sums it up. It's been an exhausting year to be a Broncs fan.

 

[Bull Shark]

First game I'd been to for over a year .. Great weather, great seats, good atmosphere but the football was garbage... Haven't missed watching a broncos game in years via tv but being at the ground today really highlighted to me what a poor side we've become..

 

[Broncoman]

Ironic we won considering we were on the wrong side of many vital statistics

 

[Kimlo]

was it 3 tries down the side we had Stagg in the centres. I think it was. Don't underestimate how hard it is to replace Hodges defensively in the centres mid match.

I'm with you on this one mate. I reckon if Hodges played out the game you can take away 3 Dragons trys and probably add 2 more to us. The way Hodges was playing in fullback in attack these last few weeks was simply sublime, him and Hoffman alternating those roles were perfect because Hoffman is a top notch defensive fullback and Hodges is an elite attacking fullback.

Hodges 5 years younger without injury problems and I reckon he's arguably the best fullback in the game. Such a shame his career has been continually hammered by injuries.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Just wanted to say I thought the surface condition of the ground looked decidedly sub-standard today .....

I take it you're being sarcastic ? The ground was mint

Are you?

There was more sand on parts of the field than on a beach!

Agreed !! (and I'm not being sarcastic !!)

 

[hayseed]

I take it you're being sarcastic ? The ground was mint

Looked like a beach in some areas, ground was in very poor shape.

 

[Porthoz]

The ground looked pretty crap on TV...

Obviously devastated for Hodgo. He deserved to be in the World Cup and will also be shattered about that.

Broncos season really over now? Probably, as we don't have his roving attacking fullback X-factor and are too limited creatively in the spine to really make waves. Hoffman is as good in our own fifty meters as he is bad in the opposition fifty. I agree with those saying that he has to be on the wing or possibly centre next season.

For his first game, I liked young Drew. Made a couple of rookie mistakes, but wasn't helped by loosing Hodges so early and having to cope with Stagg as his centre on the same wing as Prince plays. Prince was quite good today actually, even if he let their young Quinlan kid through for one of his tries.

Gillett played one of the best, if not the best game this season. He was excellent in all aspects of the game.

I was a bit disappointed in the forwards, especially facing a pack with Creagh as a prop. Expected more from them... But then again, the ***** in pink were never going to allow much more...

It's very unfair for people to say we only won by 2 points against the Dragons. They haven't been that bad, beating souffs a few weeks ago. More importantly, we managed to win despite one of the most biased refereeing displays I've seen this season, not only keeping the Dragons in our half of the field with incredible piggy-back penalties, ignoring a clear knock-on that resulted in a Saints try, while taking our opportunities away, including a try to Macca (according to the current system, there wasn't enough certainty to deny it) that has been given every single time this whole season.

Add to that the fact that our whole structure was affected, both defensive and offensively with Hodges injury, and we did pretty well to come back from behind and win this game!

I hope Hook resists the urge to recall Maranta and sticks with youth. Hopefully Kahu is ready to go to replace Hodges, or move to the other wing with Oates coming into the Hodges spot, but at this stage while still fighting for that elusive spot in the 8, we need to start building towards next season and giving this youth some much needed experience!

 

[rnabokov]

IMO, in attack in particular, Gillett needs to spend a lot more time out wide. That is where he is at his best probably because he sees more ball with more room to do something where it counts.

 

[Alec]

Still waiting for the game to be uploaded online. Gillett has been very impressive this year when he's running onto the ball and not dancing around flat footed. I assume he was more like the former yesterday. Gonna be hard to decide who to start with between him and Glenn.

 

[Broncoman]

Obviously devastated for Hodgo. He deserved to be in the World Cup and will also be shattered about that.

Personally I would pick Josh Morris for rep footy, not because i'm NSW but Morris always stands up and performs at rep level when Hodgo has the tendency to go missing in rep footy. Hodges still probably would've been picked as he has had a very good year and was impressive for QLD in Origin.

 

[ningnangnong]

Personally I would pick Josh Morris for rep footy, not because i'm NSW but Morris always stands up and performs at rep level when Hodgo has the tendency to go missing in rep footy. Hodges still probably would've been picked as he has had a very good year and was impressive for QLD in Origin.

Okay then... :winky:

 

[Huge]

Watched a replay of the game and St George played better than their position might indicate. The win was ugly in parts but there was some good stuff too. Attitude was good and even when headed there was no dropping of heads. Hopefully Oates will play centre next week. We will miss Hodgos maturity but whatever happens, the Broncos will benefit long term. The debutant played okay and will be better for the run. He has the right stuff , being committed when he had to be. Princeys playing for his future and was a plus although his defence has not improved. Overall, a pass mark today generally.

 

[Kaz]

I was so grateful to channel 9 for putting on a bit of the footy, in between all of the ads.

 

[Kimlo]

I thought Drew did well today, given the circumstances. Firstly, it's worth noting he's only playing because of an injury crisis (same could be said for Maranta really...) to our backline so I'd say he's playing well ahead of his time. I thought he was solid in the opening exchanges and showed good awareness to support Gillett and catch the flick pass because it's something I could imagine Maranta not being ready for. In defence I thought he was badly exposed, the Dragons only had to go down that side to have a chance of scoring but then again it was his first game defending alongside a backrower who he wouldn't have trained to play alongside and of course Prince being on that same side makes our defence down that edge flimsy to begin with.

All things considered I'd give him probably a 6/10 for his debut, not sure we'll see him play next year unless we have yet again another unfortunate run of injuries but from what I saw of him I already rate him ahead of Maranta, which admittedly isn't a hard thing to achieve.

 

[mieko]

First game I'd been to for over a year .. Great weather, great seats, good atmosphere but the football was garbage... Haven't missed watching a broncos game in years via tv but being at the ground today really highlighted to me what a poor side we've become..[/QUOTE]

Bit harsh mate. Care to elaborate on how poor the side is? Are the Broncs not "entertaining" enough for you?

What's the difference from being at the ground than watching on tv that makes you think the side is poor

 

[mieko]

I thought Hunt had a cracking game as did Gillette. Macca played quite well as well but the passing from the ground is still a worry.

Drew had a good game for debut and a youngster. True, there was a one or two bad reads in D but overall very good.

absolutely shattered for Hodges, poor bugger. That very well could see the end of his playing days which is a massive shame.

One step closer and still a possibility, fingers crossed.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I love how Hunt can get us a repeat set. I can't remember us getting may repeat sets.