POST GAME Round 5 - Titans vs Broncos

[ivanhungryjak]

Idiots. He deserved a 9. Played out of his skin.

Didn't make an error all night.

 

[broncos4life]

He had blinding speed

 

[Socnorb]

I think the Titans will surprise a few teams this year. A good halves pairing , a new combination which managed to keep us pinned down for the first 20 mins . Underrated forward pack with serviceable hooker in Moseley. Genuine speed in the outside back

 

[rnabokov]

I think the Titans will surprise a few teams this year. A good halves pairing , a new combination which managed to keep us pinned down for the first 20 mins . Underrated forward pack with serviceable hooker in Moseley. Genuine speed in the outside back

They do have a good halves pairing but their very inexperienced 7 made too many mistakes, some of which possibly cost them a few tries.

And on another note, I am still enjoying Copley's hits in defence, especially on Ryan James. Copley just HAS to partner Hodges in the centres. The more he plays on the wing, the more sting we lose in the centres. We need Copley in the centres.

 

[Porthoz]

He had blinding speed

So much so, practically no one could see him...

 

[Foordy]

Idiots. He deserved a 9. Played out of his skin.

I know the Titans couldn't lay a hand on him

 

[broncos4life]

So much so, practically no one could see him...

Tell me bout it, I watched the replay on slow mo and I still can't see him

 

[CaptainHook]

I feel sorry for Vidot.

He was like the classic example of the labelling theory, where you call somebody a thug enough, they end up becoming one.

Bennett has basically called him a liability enough times that he's come up with the worst mistake I've seen him make in a Broncos jersey and it hurt the team.

Meanwhile, if Milford's line-ball pass isn't called, he bags an early try, could go onto get a double and we're all left wondering why he isn't in the team.

Instead, we're all trying to pack his bags.

Gotta disagree, mate. He had every reason in the world to have a blinder last night. It's a real breath of fresh air this year. Players actually competing for spots and having an incentive to perform. Copley is a classic example. Now that he's in the centres if he is playing great he won't be shifted. I don't think Bennett is that silly and he has already shown he is reluctant to change a winning side unless injuries occur.

Vidot is a good player but Oates and Maranta have shown they're more defensively sound and are better at finishing off tries. I think their positional play is a also a lot better too. That's why they're ahead of him at this particular point in time.

Maranta is always in the right spot more often than not whereas it looked like Vidot was caught out a few times last night. I think Vidot played better than Oates (I think that was his first real sub-par game on the wing) but he's getting more right than wrong. I think it's that simple really.

 

[Big Pete]

I haven't seen any sources for Bennett calling Vidot a liability. Have you got any links or recall where you saw him quoted saying anything like that? I'd like to have a look if you do.

I posted the article a few weeks back in the 'Why Bennett Dropped Vidot' thread.

He didn't flat out call him a liability but said he made too many critical mistakes.

Put two and two together.

I'm not defending him, by rights he should have played well but I don't see Bennett being as specific about others short-comings as he was about Vidot. Critiques like that play on the mind and the more you try to do the right thing, the easier it is to slip up. And that's what happened.

 

[Porthoz]

The most pleasing part of last night's game, was our excellent goal line defense, with the only flaw being Reed jumping out of the line and leaving Oates exposed in Mead's try. The 2 other Tits tries came from broken play and 2 bad reffing decisions (Vidot's dropped ball would've been inconsequential, had James coat hanger on Milford been punished, and how was that dropped ball not a knock on?).

Milford's "back to the future" moments filled me with promise and expectation of what is to come. The way he latched onto that Maranta offload (good work there Lachie) and just burned everyone on his path, was a delightful vision.
My head was about to explode when I saw Reed being caught by Mead while he had Milford coasting behind him, and although Anthony was lucky in the way the ball was just there for the perfect kick, he made the most of it and got the try with determination and speed. How good was that!

Loved the work by McGuire in every sense. Him and Gillett were hunting all night, and I could not believe Matty got a penalty against him in that textbook dominant tackle! If only I had a bottle handy...
Too bad about those initial mistakes by Gillett, or he would have been high up in the MOTM stakes.

Hunt's kicking is improving, and he was pretty unlucky with the bounce of every ball that found space between defenders and ended up going out. His 3rd tackle kick which turned the Tits inside out towards the end of the game, was excellent and relieved the pressure so much so, it pretty much ended their resistance. That is him maturing, and I am loving it.
Macca was very good too imo, and showed what he can do in the kicking stakes with that beauty of a 40/20 (yes, not technically, although he was awarded it in NRL stats for those of you who have him in SVRL).

I liked what I saw of Garbutt and Dodds (outside of his tries), and for the first time in ages, we didn't notice the bench rotation and the decline that normally goes paired with it. Thaiday to the bench and Wallace to start was a great move by Wayne imo, giving the bench that little bit extra maturity and experience, keeping Sammy hungry, and allowing him to do a much better job against tired forwards. I doubt he would've given that pass to Maranta that led to our first try, if he had started the game.

In relation to the backs...
Reed was relatively ok and kept Roberts mostly quiet, although that rush off the line was unforgivable.
Other than that all backs were solid, did their job well, except all committed one mistake, with Vidot really unlucky that his led to a direct opposition try. I thought he was otherwise pretty good in everything he needed to do, and the "that's why he's in ISC" bullshit is really unfair on him. He was robbed of a try too!

Of course, we still make way too many mistakes with the ball, and that has to end, especially against a cunning chooks team, who will crucify us if we commit the same errors against them, but that's for another thread...

P.S. Shout out to [MENTION=2003]Clintos[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1917]Ari Gold[/MENTION], whom I had the pleasure to meet last night. Needless to say Clintos had to stop me from throwing Ari in front of the train when we started talking Big Brother... :evil:

 

[Ari Gold]

Shout out to your son too Porthoz. His translation services were invaluable!

 

[Battler]

Wallace had three runs all game for the anti-blair crowd. Its good to see players like mcquire and our backrow putting their hands up for hit ups, put macca needs to use both his props more often, he's playing extremely well this season though.

 

[Splinter]

Passing thought..

I thought Garbutt was great last night, he was only on the field for what seemed like 10 minutes, but in all 3 of his runs he made ~10 metres and was looking to get his arms free for an off-load. Was hitting hard in defence as well, hope he gets more minutes next week.

I will be really surprised if he is there next week unless someone is suspended

 

[Big Pete]

Loved golden boy's reaction to being quizzed over Dodds' first try.

:laugh:

Now I just need an image of Thaiday's wink.

 

[Splinter]

I thought with Wallace starting the game he was half a step behind the pace which allowed the Titans to really get on a roll when he was not quite to marker. I think at this stage he is better off the bench as the game has slowed just a touch by the time he gets on.
You are right @BigPete I really like Dodds play and hope he keeps improving. If you go back through the replay of last night when Titans players were bent in half or driven backwards more often than not Dodds was involved in the tackle. He just needs to get the attacking side of his game better.

 

[Porthoz]

I thought with Wallace starting the game he was half a step behind the pace which allowed the Titans to really get on a roll when he was not quite to marker. I think at this stage he is better off the bench as the game has slowed just a touch by the time he gets on.
You are right @BigPete I really like Dodds play and hope he keeps improving. If you go back through the replay of last night when Titans players were bent in half or driven backwards more often than not Dodds was involved in the tackle. He just needs to get the attacking side of his game better.

I thought he actually ran well in possession, but yeah, definitely better than Wallace last night. Agree that he probably needs to start from the bench against a tired pack, where he has more impact.

 

[Socnorb]

I thought with Wallace starting the game he was half a step behind the pace which allowed the Titans to really get on a roll when he was not quite to marker. I think at this stage he is better off the bench as the game has slowed just a touch by the time he gets on.
You are right @BigPete I really like Dodds play and hope he keeps improving. If you go back through the replay of last night when Titans players were bent in half or driven backwards more often than not Dodds was involved in the tackle. He just needs to get the attacking side of his game better.

You mean Dodds .
two try hero Dodds.

 

[Unbreakable]

I will be really surprised if he is there next week unless someone is suspended

The only scenario in which he isn't in the team next week is if Blair returns from injury and Thaiday doesn't get suspended.. I wouldn't hold by breath for them both to happen.