NEWS Brisbane turned down Brodie Croft

[Nashy]

The issue is that every time someone does something good we get an article saying how we missed out on them, but every time we sign someone we get an article saying how we have every advantage under the sun.

I don't think it's possible to hoard all of those talented young players when the Titans and other teams are willing to throw millions at them. And we all know the story of how the Storm somehow kept the big three and half of the NRL wanted to play with them. They're still reaping the benefits of cheating the cap to this day.

It's not the 90s anymore and we can't sign every good player from Central Queensland to the Gold Coast. There's a salary cap and other teams scouting the areas. Our squad isn't bad overall but it's impossible to have superstars in every position. I obviously wish we could though.

This will make some people happy but it's Bennetts fault. He shouldn't have left us with Henjak and Hook who brought in such mediocre players for all those years.

What were we supposed to do? Keep some blokes at the club even though we had other young guys showing more talent at the time? We are the club that finds these players, has them in our system and then the vultures swoop in. We are one of the richest clubs but because the NRL force us down to the level of every other club we can't compete at a level we should be able to.the salary cap is a joke

No one is saying to hoard them. I don't even know how you're making that connection. The issue isn't that we aren't hoarding them, it's the fact that they are ALL gone. All of them, and not one of them is running around in our team. Kodi Nikorima is our half, that's the biggest issue.

 

[Cult]

No one is saying to hoard them. I don't even know how you're making that connection. The issue isn't that we aren't hoarding them, it's the fact that they are ALL gone. All of them, and not one of them is running around in our team. Kodi Nikorima is our half, that's the biggest issue.

But they all left because we had our halves sorted for years and nobody could have predicted how that would work out. But you’re also cherry picking very small parts of my response. Each case is different and while we might have let a few through our fingers, others were signed for more than we could offer or just had shitty attitudes and went to clubs that don’t have the same media scrutiny that we receive.

 

[Cult]

And wasn’t Kodi touted pretty highly as a junior? He transitioned from NYC to the first grade team like they’re supposed to and fought tooth and nail for his spot. He did earn it, he just hasnt done much since.

 

[heartly87]

For me losing Yow yeh through injury and Ben Teo through stupidity lost us some real genuine stars. Teo is the exact type of player in the middle we lack and letting him go cost us. My two cents. Not to say we don't have one sitting there waiting for his chance.

 

[Cult]

For me losing Yow yeh through injury and Ben Teo through stupidity lost us some real genuine stars. Teo is the exact type of player in the middle we lack and letting him go cost us. My two cents. Not to say we don't have one sitting there waiting for his chance.

Yow Yeh would have been a career Bronco as well I think.

 

[Renegade]

Two or three of them wouldn’t be too much though would it? If Broncos see potential in Keary at Ipswich and Munster at Capras it changes the team completely now.

Cap doesn’t come into it when you’re playing for the Capras and on nothing and would sign for nothing or school boy playing in Ipswich. That’s where they’re missing them- you're looking at the wrong end.

You're always going to have your misses, every club does but I do believe when one guy looks at Munster and says no good and one guys says we will take him for $5000 and that type of story is repeated several times over you have to review.

Do you think it comes down to us having too many scouts and thus, scattergunning rather than honing in on a couple as storm tend to do?

I mean when Bunn was here, who were the guns we signed/brought through? Everyone was seemingly happy to get the guy from Canberra back here, Brian someone - now Bunn is at Melbourne everyones like ohh how come he can pick them?

So maybe it's the system and not the individuals?

 

[Nashy]

But they all left because we had our halves sorted for years and nobody could have predicted how that would work out. But you’re also cherry picking very small parts of my response. Each case is different and while we might have let a few through our fingers, others were signed for more than we could offer or just had shitty attitudes and went to clubs that don’t have the same media scrutiny that we receive.

We know. But they didn't work out, so that comes down to the Broncos fucking something up. This isn't all that difficult dude.

 

[Renegade]

We know. But they didn't work out, so that comes down to the Broncos fucking something up. This isn't all that difficult dude.

Something is fucking up sure, but that doesn't mean it's purely the scouting. Could be the coaching. Could be injuries. Could be attitude (which may or may not be picked up in the scouting process).

I think we'd all like to have the others, but would the others be as good as they are if they were in our system?

 

[Cult]

We know. But they didn't work out, so that comes down to the Broncos fucking something up. This isn't all that difficult dude.

It’s not difficult but you’ve literally brought nothing to the table except “there’s a problem”. How would you fix it, dude?

 

[1910]

Yow Yeh would have been a career Bronco as well I think.

Ironically given the debate at hand, Yow Yeh was cut from the Eels/Rod Reddy who didn’t see anything. Came back to Norths Colts. Broncos picked him up start of 08 for the 20’s and he scored 27 tries in 26 games.

 

[Nashy]

And wasn’t Kodi touted pretty highly as a junior? He transitioned from NYC to the first grade team like they’re supposed to and fought tooth and nail for his spot. He did earn it, he just hasnt done much since.

I'm not sure his name was every thrown around as a decent future half. His brother, absolutely, but when he left, it was like we had already had the jerseys printed up, so we went with what we had left.

I think Kodi is a great little player, don't get me wrong, but I don't think he's a halfback.

 

[Cult]

I'm not sure his name was every thrown around as a decent future half. His brother, absolutely, but when he left, it was like we had already had the jerseys printed up, so we went with what we had left.

I think Kodi is a great little player, don't get me wrong, but I don't think he's a halfback.

Thats another example we can use. What should we have done about losing Jayden? He was offered overs by another club, should we have matched it?

 

[Danoz Direct]

That Churchie side was a great school boy side- back to back with Ponga, Croft and TPJ.

I you mean Su'A, not TPJ.

 

[Nashy]

Thats another example we can use. What should we have done about losing Jayden? He was offered overs by another club, should we have matched it?

I'm not sure. But you just keep showing me that you don't get my argument. I'll simple it down a bit.

The Broncos fucked up by not identifying the correct talent.

 

[Cult]

I'm not sure. But you just keep showing me that you don't get my argument. I'll simple it down a bit.

The Broncos fucked up by not identifying the correct talent.

But what were they supposed to do?Release the players who were killing it in juniors and keep the ones who weren’t?

Like usual, plenty of criticism and lots of attempts to belittle and absolutely zero answers. What did I expect though..

 

[1910]

Do you think it comes down to us having too many scouts and thus, scattergunning rather than honing in on a couple as storm tend to do?

I mean when Bunn was here, who were the guns we signed/brought through? Everyone was seemingly happy to get the guy from Canberra back here, Brian someone - now Bunn is at Melbourne everyones like ohh how come he can pick them?

So maybe it's the system and not the individuals?

I think it’s a couple of issues.

- People are more likely to move now. Once convincing a kid to move from Rocky to Melbourne- hard sell. Now they do it at 17.
- ISC being used by other teams.
- Children aren’t growing up just loving the Broncos. They see every team now a kid born in Redcliffe loves the Storm and wants to play for them. He might never have been to Melbourne in his life.
- Cyril and not just his talent spotting but his role. People forget he was a teacher, school inspector, Regional director and deputy director. He had school contacts all over the state and he was an ex Australian half so he had people that delighted in ringing him saying drive out and look at this. You don’t just have 50 years of education contacts overnight.

Then if you're slipping a bit as well in ability, mixing with these issues and you miss things.

Bunn was at Brisbane for 14 years until 2012 so he was pretty much with Cryil the whole time.

 

[Renegade]

I think it’s a couple of issues.

- People are more likely to move now. Once convincing a kid to move from Rocky to Melbourne- hard sell. Now they do it at 17.
- ISC being used by other teams.
- Children aren’t growing up just loving the Broncos. They see every team now a kid born in Redcliffe loves the Storm and wants to play for them. He might never have been to Melbourne in his life.
- Cyril and not just his talent spotting but his role. People forget he was a teacher, school inspector, Regional director and deputy director. He had school contacts all over the state and he was an ex Australian half so he had people that delighted in ringing him saying drive out and look at this. You don’t just have 50 years of education contacts overnight.

Then if you're slipping a bit as well in ability, mixing with these issues and you miss things.

Bunn was at Brisbane for 14 years until 2012 so he was pretty much with Cryil the whole time.

So then, in your eyes, how do you fix this? Like you said, you can't replace 50 years of contacts so what's the next best step? Clearly stealing other scouts isn't necessarily the be all and end all as shown by Bunn going elsewhere and still ending up with players that we could do with right now. So how do you combat this? Do you set up multiple regional scouting centres and have them all report in like they do in soccer? One dedicated to Cairns, one to Townsville, one to Mackay, one to Rocky, so on and so forth? Have a dedicated network where all they do is follow their area every week, club games, schoolboy games, regional comps etc?

 

[Nashy]

But what were they supposed to do?Release the players who were killing it in juniors and keep the ones who weren’t?

Like usual, plenty of criticism and lots of attempts to belittle and absolutely zero answers. What did I expect though..

Sometimes I swear you wake up and don't fully activate.

I don't know what they are supposed to do. I'm not arguing that, I'm not giving solutions, I'm trying to tell someone who is struggling to comprehend what my issue is and what argument I am putting forward, because he's not getting it.

It's so damned simple. We have seen many good halves either missed, or moved along. That is 100% our scouts not having a decent eye for talent, or our club getting them, and the people who need to agree they are going to be decent, not playing them for fear of them not being decent. Instead of having a good half, we are stuck with one that is doing his best.

That's it. I don't have to provide a soltuion, but if you need one, it would be to stop all the bloody talent from leaving our club!