CONGRATULATIONS: Broncos make the top Eight!

[Kooly87]

We've really made a rod for our own backs this year and in so many ways we've been our own worst enemies, but that said, we've had some fairly dreadful luck with injuries in particular to our Halves, and for most teams that would be terminal for their season, so I think some credit is due to the Coaching staff and the players for being able to overcome that and still scrape into the top half of the competition considering where we started the year from.

The jury should still absolutely be out on Seibold, but I think he deserves probably a C- for getting us to this point so far and honestly, if he can go on and shock us all and get us to week two or three of the finals, I think that could very easily become a B or B+ considering where our roster is at compared to the Top 4 sides.

It's actually exciting to think these players will get a taste of finals football with pretty much nothing to lose and very little expectation and achieving a good result here could do wonders for our mindset going into 2020.

Huge opportunity here for Sean O'Sullivan to build a strong case for being the first guy picked next season in the Halves.

 

[Broncapz]

he jury should still absolutely be out on Seibold

I've been very impressed how he's handled our team this year. Getting rid of McGuire, Kahu and Niko to keep some good young talent was a good move.

The way he is handling Darius too, it's not an easy situation being caught between fans and a playing group. You need to handle that well, because there are player relations to manage as well as fan expectations.

I'm pretty happy with Siebold so far, as we seem to be getting better and better. He no doubt has a plan for 2020/offseason which will be good too.

 

[Kooly87]

I've been very impressed how he's handled our team this year. Getting rid of McGuire, Kahu and Niko to keep some good young talent was a good move.

The way he is handling Darius too, it's not an easy situation being caught between fans and a playing group. You need to handle that well, because there are player relations to manage as well as fan expectations.

I'm pretty happy with Siebold so far, as we seem to be getting better and better. He no doubt has a plan for 2020/offseason which will be good too.

I'm inclined to agree for the most part. I think he's bitten down hard on some tough decisions that should have been made a while ago and he's obviously felt brave enough to do that knowing it would cause some short term pain.

His willingness to select and actually use rookies has been really refreshing relative to Wayne Bennett and he's entitled to stick around now and enjoy some of that success those guys will hopefully achieve.

That said though, we started the season awfully, and I know he came in for his first pre-season on a short turn around, but we looked way, way underdone and just not in the same league as even the other mid table teams, let alone the good ones. This ironically came at a time when our playing depth was actually much better than it was at the back of the year when we had much better results. I think for this reason, a C- is a fair grade and I think anyone who achieves a C result should by definition still have the jury out on them overall.

If he gets us into week two or three of the finals though he's going to put a heap of doubt to bed and it'll be a very different story.

 

[theshed]

The team made obvious improvements compared to the first half of the season. Considering the interrupted off season, the new coach, the shedding of core players, constant injuries/suspensions to our halves, the inexperience of our team and coach i think Seibold has done quite well.

If we contribute on the trajectory we’re on and have a good stable off season then I am very optimistic for next season and beyond. If we make the finals and look competitive or even win a game or 2 I think Seibold deserves a bit of gratitude.

 

[pagey]

Better to limp into the finals than to limp out of the finals.

We might do both

 

[Purple Pills]

I'm inclined to agree for the most part. I think he's bitten down hard on some tough decisions that should have been made a while ago and he's obviously felt brave enough to do that knowing it would cause some short term pain.

His willingness to select and actually use rookies has been really refreshing relative to Wayne Bennett and he's entitled to stick around now and enjoy some of that success those guys will hopefully achieve.

That said though, we started the season awfully, and I know he came in for his first pre-season on a short turn around, but we looked way, way underdone and just not in the same league as even the other mid table teams, let alone the good ones. This ironically came at a time when our playing depth was actually much better than it was at the back of the year when we had much better results. I think for this reason, a C- is a fair grade and I think anyone who achieves a C result should by definition still have the jury out on them overall.

If he gets us into week two or three of the finals though he's going to put a heap of doubt to bed and it'll be a very different story.

Agreed and I think a C/C- is a fair result based on the year.

I would say under the circumstances and what we have dealt with, for him to make the 8 especially considering the opening 2 months he could have been pushing for a C+/B- grading from me but some of the circumstances were of his own doing so I would be giving him a C-. If we beat the Dogs and have a 12-1-11 record I will give him a C.

Was a huge fan in us getting Seibold and think it’s still the right move long term but the only thing holding me back from really committing my faith in him is how ordinary we still are in attack, attacking structures and game management.

I would have hoped to have seen some improvement by Round 25 instead of trying to still putting squares in round holes. I know injuries have played a part but I believe once we let Niko go and Milford went back to 1 we should have been at least playing 2 actual halves.

If it wasn’t for us having to find a spot for Darius every week, we could have kept Milford at 6 with SOS at 7 and I reckon by now we would look much much better from a halves perspective. The way Isaako is starting to lift his game could have down a job in the 1 which would have opened up a spot for Farnworth and Boyd could have filled in at centre.

Anyway happy to at least make the finals (barring a miracle) to give ourselves a sniff. Not expecting much and can’t see us progressing past week 1 which in all honestly is probably deserved so at least I will hopefully enjoy the game without feeling the same finals pressure. I don’t think we deserve to get to week 2 playing worst football than at this same stage last season and think it would probably paper over some cracks still in the side. But I think the confidence and experience it will our squad heading into 2020 is a huge positive.

Hopefully a full pre season and with Seibold having 12 months under his belt will bear fruit in 2020. No excuses next year. Should be getting some things right in the off season and pushing for top 4.

 

[Thelmus]

We’ve done well to get this far considering the start to the season. We still aren’t playing particularly well, but lots of individual brilliance. Hopefully we can put in a few decent performances to build some sort of momentum heading into next season.

)

I'm inclined to agree for the most part. I think he's bitten down hard on some tough decisions that should have been made a while ago and he's obviously felt brave enough to do that knowing it would cause some short term pain.

His willingness to select and actually use rookies has been really refreshing relative to Wayne Bennett and he's entitled to stick around now and enjoy some of that success those guys will hopefully achieve.

That said though, we started the season awfully, and I know he came in for his first pre-season on a short turn around, but we looked way, way underdone and just not in the same league as even the other mid table teams, let alone the good ones. This ironically came at a time when our playing depth was actually much better than it was at the back of the year when we had much better results. I think for this reason, a C- is a fair grade and I think anyone who achieves a C result should by definition still have the jury out on them overall.

If he gets us into week two or three of the finals though he's going to put a heap of doubt to bed and it'll be a very different story.

My concern with the coach is that we seem to be succeeding in spite of him, rather than because of him. I'm not sure about his impact on player retention positive or otherwise, however what I do know is we need to be seeing a concerted strategy that plays to our strengths.
He has been hampered by injury and the letting go our halfback mid-season, so I'm not without sympathy for his predicament. The thing is though that for about 2 months we have the same players in the spine and there is still little threat from our outside backs against a decent defence.
I'm loath to agree with anything Phil Gould says but he summed up our strategy pretty well with "give it to the big kid".
If he has pushed our spine to back up our forwards more it is a step in the right direction, but you still need your backs doing more than backing up kicks and plying ad-lib.
I'm sure an off-season together will give the team a chance to build something there, but worries me that even now, at this time of the season our backs still look clunky.

 

[Purple Pills]

Just in the finals scenario, you can bet your bottom dollar that the NRL/referees would love to see the Sharks vs Tigers game go to golden point.

That way you would have 3 sets of fans including us tuned in on the edge of seats for the potential last squeaky bum 10 minute period. A very very unique scenario. Don’t know if our hearts could take that.

Just beat the Dogs FFS

 

[theshed]

)

My concern with the coach is that we seem to be succeeding in spite of him, rather than because of him.

This reminds me of that great Wayne Bennett quote about coaching - “when they win they thank god. When they lose they thank me”.

 

[Foordy]

That way you would have 3 sets of fans including us tuned in on the edge of seats for the potential last squeaky bum 10 minute period.

if we win on Saturday the draw is out of the equation, so you may have only 2 sets of fans on the edge of their seats. and no one will care whether it goes to golden point or not.

 

[NSW stables]

I am split on seibold. In terms of roster decisions, he has made some significant decisions i.e. mcguire, kahu, su'a, roberts and niko (although that was more his decision) which i see were positive steps for the club's future. He has retained a lot of players people were convinced would follow wayne or leave. He has also supported his players when given a hard time. I do think his support of boyd and macca led to the retention of some players as they saw the club does right by the veterans and players who serve the club.

However, i am not convinced regarding our onfield performances. Yes, we have had injuries and changing roster but some of the core components not there. Our attacking structure depth is so shallow that no One is able to run onto the ball, we have few set plays, kick chase is terrible and we dont appear to have a defensive structure/strategy. I was hoping that given reports that seibold was "detail orientated" that we would have addressed these things but we havent.

So i think a C (pending finals performance) is about fair

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

What's really impressed me the last two weeks is our defensive mindset, aggression off the line and cohesion.

You can do things with good defence and power forwards

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

I'm inclined to agree for the most part. I think he's bitten down hard on some tough decisions that should have been made a while ago and he's obviously felt brave enough to do that knowing it would cause some short term pain.

His willingness to select and actually use rookies has been really refreshing relative to Wayne Bennett and he's entitled to stick around now and enjoy some of that success those guys will hopefully achieve.

That said though, we started the season awfully, and I know he came in for his first pre-season on a short turn around, but we looked way, way underdone and just not in the same league as even the other mid table teams, let alone the good ones. This ironically came at a time when our playing depth was actually much better than it was at the back of the year when we had much better results. I think for this reason, a C- is a fair grade and I think anyone who achieves a C result should by definition still have the jury out on them overall.

If he gets us into week two or three of the finals though he's going to put a heap of doubt to bed and it'll be a very different story.

Us being underdone has a bit to do with the condition of the squad prior to him arriving though does it not..?

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Agreed and I think a C/C- is a fair result based on the year.

I would say under the circumstances and what we have dealt with, for him to make the 8 especially considering the opening 2 months he could have been pushing for a C+/B- grading from me but some of the circumstances were of his own doing so I would be giving him a C-. If we beat the Dogs and have a 12-1-11 record I will give him a C.

Was a huge fan in us getting Seibold and think it’s still the right move long term but the only thing holding me back from really committing my faith in him is how ordinary we still are in attack, attacking structures and game management.

I would have hoped to have seen some improvement by Round 25 instead of trying to still putting squares in round holes. I know injuries have played a part but I believe once we let Niko go and Milford went back to 1 we should have been at least playing 2 actual halves.

If it wasn’t for us having to find a spot for Darius every week, we could have kept Milford at 6 with SOS at 7 and I reckon by now we would look much much better from a halves perspective. The way Isaako is starting to lift his game could have down a job in the 1 which would have opened up a spot for Farnworth and Boyd could have filled in at centre.

Anyway happy to at least make the finals (barring a miracle) to give ourselves a sniff. Not expecting much and can’t see us progressing past week 1 which in all honestly is probably deserved so at least I will hopefully enjoy the game without feeling the same finals pressure. I don’t think we deserve to get to week 2 playing worst football than at this same stage last season and think it would probably paper over some cracks still in the side. But I think the confidence and experience it will our squad heading into 2020 is a huge positive.

Hopefully a full pre season and with Seibold having 12 months under his belt will bear fruit in 2020. No excuses next year. Should be getting some things right in the off season and pushing for top 4.

We have to remember that we lost like how many of the first few games? Who was put out of commission at the start of the year?

Haas.

He was a huge loss at that point in time.
If he hadn't have been suspended, maybe this year looks very different..

 

[WASSHHH]

We have to remember that we lost like how many of the first few games? Who was put out of commission at the start of the year?

Haas.

He was a huge loss at that point in time.
If he hadn't have been suspended, maybe this year looks very different..

Maybe, maybe not.

Maybe he gets injured in the first tackle of round one and we lose him for the entire season, not just the first 4 games.

Sliding Doors.

I did at the time, and still do now, support the clubs decision to suspend him.

 

[Purple Pills]

We have to remember that we lost like how many of the first few games? Who was put out of commission at the start of the year?

Haas.

He was a huge loss at that point in time.
If he hadn't have been suspended, maybe this year looks very different..

Valid point but hindsight is a wonderful thing too. There is no way knowing Haas was going to have this big of an impact on our squad on a weekly basis consistently when you consider he has played barely 40 mins of first grade heading into 2019. We were all hanging our hats on that dreaded p word. ‘Potential’

 

[Kimlo]

If we get past week 1, is TPJ back in week 2?

 

[something]

Yeah, weird season. Our defense is pretty good, maybe a B+, attack is a fail i think. D. Dealing with media average B-, dealing with players good B+, overall maybe C+... maybe B- depending on next two weeks