Round 24 - Broncos vs Knights - Post Match Discussion

[Marty Deutschmann]

Quoting from my pre game discussion "**** you guys are negative..

expect a good game from Hunt, Parker, Reed, Copley and Hennant. Barba will have nice touches and score a try.

:)"

Was wrong about copley... But maranta took his spot. Barba didn't just score one ;) Parker unfortunately didn't play the minutes he should of. Hunt was quiet but controlled the game.

 

[broncos4life]

Great effort tonight, where are those people who were last week saying Hodges is a has been and is past it?

Still feeling the same way?

Clearly not and they have said as much. People make opinions on what they are presented with, and unless you are a 12 year old it's completely to come in and play hindsight hero.

Do you and AP have a competition for who is the biggest troll?

 

[broncos4life]

All dew credit to the lads, but, What a classy and inspire masterstroke move by hook this evening. Heck of a gamble putting Hodgo at the back but he obviously had enoughconfidence or, just a gut instinct to go ahead with the move. We all SAW the results, right. So proud of the lads, and hook for serving it up to the knights gheybos tonite. Still shakin after watching the replay hehe

Bringggg onnn the dragons!! yeeehawww lol..night fellars

Welcome back

 

[broncos4life]

will you make a new alias next year?

I hope so. FaithinBennent = FIB

 

[gordjw]

Great effort tonight, where are those people who were last week saying Hodges is a has been and is past it?

Still feeling the same way?

Right here, buddy. To answer your question, yes.

If Hodges is going to do what he's done for most of 2014, push in and kill attacking structures by doing too much and hogging the ball, I would rather him retire.

If he's going to play like he did last night, be organised, actually talk with macca and hunt, look to pass and have faith in his teammates, I'd love for him to stay. He's a champion when he plays like that.

 

[Mister Wright]

So frustrating that we lose a game and results go our way, then we win one and results don't.

 

[Bucking Beads]

At the end of the day if we don't make the finals it is our own fault for losing the games we should have won. The Sharks game comes to mind and a handful of other games where we switched off as well.

 

[jarro65]

What a massive difference it makes with Hodges at fullback.

 

[Rabbir]

Can we play 2 or 3 good games in a row though?

 

[jarro65]

Can we play 2 or 3 good games in a row though?

No reason why not ??

They all seemed pretty happy last night .... right the way through the game actually, and appeared to be uninhibited by a stagnating game plan.

Maybe Hook has let them off the leash for the finals few rounds ?

 

[rnabokov]

He had one offload. It was unsuccessful. . The Knights caught it and we lost possession in a great attacking position. It was part of the game plan tonight to turn off the offloads from Parker due to the wet weather.

Maybe you are correct but I still don't see the logic. I can't see how wet weather affects an offload which is a short pass. For mine, each time Parker gets the ball, he should have at least one player following him, preferably Barba or Hunt. So much can happen from an offload, especially close to their line.

I saw too much one out stuff last night. It's ok to argue wet weather to justify a bit of that, not offloads. 2nd phase plays are critical against the top sides. Matt Scott had 3 offloads v Bunnies. Irrespective, so much of our creative game revolves around Parker's offloading and 2nd phase plays.

I can't recall anyone close to Parker when he carried the ball and he did look to offload. I watched him closely.

In any case, the proof of this pudding will be in next week's eating.

As well, it is time to get Thaiday running on the edges at the opposition backs. He just can't cut it as a prop which is how he is being used, when he has a good pass in him and can be dangerous out wide.

 

[jarro65]

Maybe you are correct but I still don't see the logic. I can't see how wet weather affects an offload which is a short pass. For mine, each time Parker gets the ball, he should have at least one player following him, preferably Barba or Hunt. So much can happen from an offload, especially close to their line.

I saw too much one out stuff last night. It's ok to argue wet weather to justify a bit of that, not offloads. 2nd phase plays are critical against the top sides. Matt Scott had 3 offloads v Bunnies. Irrespective, so much of our creative game revolves around Parker's offloading and 2nd phase plays.

I can't recall anyone close to Parker when he carried the ball and he did look to offload. I watched him closely.

In any case, the proof of this pudding will be in next week's eating.

As well, it is time to get Thaiday running on the edges at the opposition backs. He just can't cut it as a prop which is how he is being used, when he has a good pass in him and can be dangerous out wide.

Agreed re: Thaiday running wider ..... he's a much more dangerous proposition running wider on the edges, and throw in his passing game, makes for a real danger to the opposition out there.

I thought Parker offloaded a few times last night (not 100% sure) but i also agree that Barba needs to shadow him every time he makes a hit up.... particularly on the back of a quick play the ball.

 

[broncos4life]

Maybe you are correct but I still don't see the logic. I can't see how wet weather affects an offload which is a short pass. For mine, each time Parker gets the ball, he should have at least one player following him, preferably Barba or Hunt. So much can happen from an offload, especially close to their line.

I saw too much one out stuff last night. It's ok to argue wet weather to justify a bit of that, not offloads. 2nd phase plays are critical against the top sides. Matt Scott had 3 offloads v Bunnies. Irrespective, so much of our creative game revolves around Parker's offloading and 2nd phase plays.

I can't recall anyone close to Parker when he carried the ball and he did look to offload. I watched him closely.

In any case, the proof of this pudding will be in next week's eating.

As well, it is time to get Thaiday running on the edges at the opposition backs. He just can't cut it as a prop which is how he is being used, when he has a good pass in him and can be dangerous out wide.

Ask Fred flintstone about offloading in last nights conditions. And if he won't answer I'm sure barba will fill you in

 

[Alec]

Some actual thoughts. Despite some of our tries being incredibly flukeish, there's a lot to like about this game.


Hodges was incredible. Well, other than looking shaky under the high ball.

Maranta, did he actually show some pace?

For that matter, did Reed show some pace too!?

Vidot seemed to want to make up for last week. His runs all had that extra effort in them. No errors either.

Hunt and Barba looked pretty good. Hopefully Barba gets a lot of confidence out of this match.

McGuire and Parker, what can I say? They've been immense lately. Parker was my MOTM, he must have had like 1000 runs, and it was quanity and quality the whole time. McGuire seemed to sit out most of the 2nd half though.

McCullough looked a lot sharper last night.

Glenn's runs were great too.

Thaiday had his best half of the season in the 1st.

Kennedy had his best game of the year by far.


Now, I'm not going to go completely over the top with the win. We were great, but Knights were terrible. It's not going to be this easy again, especially against the Storm in 2 weeks time. Hopefully the confidence we get from this goes a long way to help us out though.

 

[rnabokov]

Ask Fred flintstone about offloading in last nights conditions. And if he won't answer I'm sure barba will fill you in

I did. He said: Yabba Dabba Doo! There's Cozza with the ball and Barney, sorry, Benny, standing a metre behind me ready for the offload.

WTF has rain got to do with offloading the ball 1 metre to a player standing ready and waiting?

By that logic, why did we play a series of rather expansive backline plays?

Your logic makes no sense to me.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Umm over the Wallace hating too. He showed solid effort for the minutes he got. Carted the ball extra metres each hit up and made several tackles in a row on multiple occasions. No errors and no missed tackles. Solid.

Now I've defended Reed long enough to have him change your minds again, Wallace is my new guy to back up. He will be a strong competitor in years to come

 

[rnabokov]

Agreed re: Thaiday running wider ..... he's a much more dangerous proposition running wider on the edges, and throw in his passing game, makes for a real danger to the opposition out there.

I thought Parker offloaded a few times last night (not 100% sure) but i also agree that Barba needs to shadow him every time he makes a hit up.... particularly on the back of a quick play the ball.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS ... rain hail or shine.
Thaiday in the middle is a waste of space. He's playing like another prop but making **** all metres when he has shown, in SOO, how effective he can be running at outside backs.

He is also so good with the ball, looking to pass in wrap around plays.

I think Parker tried to offload once.

 

[Morkel]

No, I won't be opening the Hodges to Retire thread :)

It was awesome to see that display live. Especially compared to the last game we watched live where we pretty much went insane with how disillusioned we were. But I'm not getting carried away, the Knights were seriously depleted. Snowden & Smith were massive losses, and call Mullen what you like, but the step down to Dobson is like falling off a cliff. I'm actually going to be a bit critical here, and a lot of you might disagree, but I didn't like Ben Hunt's two or three chip kicks. For mine, with the game won, there was no need to go for those low percentage plays. If he wants to practise them, do it at training, but in a real game, against real opponents, I'd rather they attempt plays that they will need to execute against quality opposition. Like continuing to build pressure, exercising ball control, and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves instead of trying to pull something out of nothing.

So Hodges. Hodges, Hodges, Hodges. What do I say. The man is a fucking legend. Easily his best game of the season, and one of the top 2 or 3 of the past few years. But here's the thing - what do we do next year? If Hodges stays at fullback, we have Milford & Barba competing for one halves, and I don't want to lose either of them or have one on the bench. Yeah, it's a great problem when you have too much talent for too few positions, but it's simply not practical.