OPINION New Halves after injury to Reynolds and Ezra

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I believe the best team for broncos right now is - Ben Hunt 7 , Reece walsh 6, Jesse Arthurs 1, Billy walters 9 Josiah Karapani 2. This will test Reece walsh as more times he touches the ball he should create alot of opportunities on the short side with passing and speed.
 
I believe the best team for broncos right now is - Ben Hunt 7 , Reece walsh 6, Jesse Arthurs 1, Billy walters 9 Josiah Karapani 2. This will test Reece walsh as more times he touches the ball he should create alot of opportunities on the short side with passing and speed.
Reece at fullback is important for a couple reasons, but mostly in defence I think.

A lot of the stuff he could do in attack from five eight he can just do by chiming in from fullback (kicking, etc.), but in defence we have no other fullbacks... like at all now that Cobbo is injured... and I think his communication in defence has improved this year and he's become really important to us defensively.

We're currently 6th in the league for points conceded per game at 21.2pt per game, but if you take away the games where he was missing due to injury or origin we're up to 4th at 19.3ppg. Dogs, storm and panthers would be the only ones above us, who are the elite defensive teams in the comp.

I think Reece cops too much hate at the moment... he's upped his game in defence... he's seemingly getting better under bombs... and he is always competing.

Yeah he has brain snaps, but he's also stepping up because no one else is choosing to.
 
Reece at fullback is important for a couple reasons, but mostly in defence I think.

A lot of the stuff he could do in attack from five eight he can just do by chiming in from fullback (kicking, etc.), but in defence we have no other fullbacks... like at all now that Cobbo is injured... and I think his communication in defence has improved this year and he's become really important to us defensively.

We're currently 6th in the league for points conceded per game at 21.2pt per game, but if you take away the games where he was missing due to injury or origin we're up to 4th at 19.3ppg. Dogs, storm and panthers would be the only ones above us, who are the elite defensive teams in the comp.

I think Reece cops too much hate at the moment... he's upped his game in defence... he's seemingly getting better under bombs... and he is always competing.

Yeah he has brain snaps, but he's also stepping up because no one else is choosing to.

The Walsh effect size is 12 points a game since 2023.

When Walsh plays, attack improves from an average of 21.1 points per game to 26.9. When Walsh is out, leak more points, conceding an average of 19.2 per game to 25.6.
 
The Walsh effect size is 12 points a game since 2023.

When Walsh plays, attack improves from an average of 21.1 points per game to 26.9. When Walsh is out, leak more points, conceding an average of 19.2 per game to 25.6.
True... I didn't really consider his influence in attack, because I figured that should be known at this point... but in terms of combined effect, this year it's sitting at 16ppg... which is pretty insane... and it's interesting that he has such a big impact in defence as well as attack, because he cops so much shit about his defence.

Attack = +9.6ppg
- 29.3ppg with Walsh (2nd in the league) vs 19.7ppg without (13th)

Defence = -6.4ppg
- 19.3ppg with Walsh (4th in the league) vs 25.7 without (13th)

It's pretty clear that with Walsh we are a top 4 team and contender... compared to being near bottom 4 without him.

The 5 game stretch where we didn't have him looks like the definitive period of this season, with the losses to souths, dragons and manly being most prominent.

Hopefully the coaching and recruitment team are looking for a viable back up at fullback heading into next year, because you can't have the team's season completely dependent on one player being healthy.
 
Billy will do the job for now but I do think he was going so well in the role he was playing and we've lost that bench impact with Smoothy and Paix coming in.

Abit of a wild suggestion and this isn't thinking about the defensive side of the position but Mariner as a running 6 could be a real threat.
His biggest assets speed and footwork aren't really being utilized on the wing.
When he was scouted from NZ as a 14 year old by Scanlan he was playing 6.
 
Billy will do the job for now but I do think he was going so well in the role he was playing and we've lost that bench impact with Smoothy and Paix coming in.

Abit of a wild suggestion and this isn't thinking about the defensive side of the position but Mariner as a running 6 could be a real threat.
His biggest assets speed and footwork aren't really being utilized on the wing.
When he was scouted from NZ as a 14 year old by Scanlan he was playing 6.
Mariner is our version of forrest gump. I wouldn't be surprised if the club has a big sign pointing in the direction he needs to run. Putting him anywhere but the wing is a bad idea.
 
I'd hoped Billy would be left at 14, he's been so good there for a while now.
In Madge we trust I guess.
I’ve always seen Billy as a 14, even before he played a game for us. He’s not the best hooker or half, but he’s good insurance for halves loss on the bench, injects a bit of speed and energy late in the game even if his passing isn’t great.

I can see why Madge wants him at 6 in this situation, he doesn’t want to inject new names (Rogers, Madden) this late in the season. But we get genuine value from Billy at 14, it’s a role that’s more than just ‘second best hooker’.
 
It's pretty clear that with Walsh we are a top 4 team and contender... compared to being near bottom 4 without him.
And this is the sort of stuff that make me furious, every other day the media is shitting all over the bloke for the stuff that doesn't go to plan.

The kid is 23. He's easily got another decade and change left in his career. Most play makers are well on their way to 30 before they become consistent NRL performers.

Shitting on him all the time could really mess him up. He needs to develop and improve, no question. But the manner in which he's a lightning rod for all the teams problems when we lose is utter bullshit.

We surely have the top 3 worst 2nd rowers pairings in the comp, if not the worst.

We're drowning in hookers, but only one has really had a successful campaign this year.

Carrigan has had one of his worst years to date - not a total spud, but he's been very ordinary.

ARey is looking very much past it and super inconsistent.

I shudder to think what Hunt might be like next year - he could very well be playing Left Right Out.

Ezra has had some games where he's gone off like a frog in a sock and a fair few others where I wonder if he's even on the field.

But sure media, let's throw all the shade on the 23 year old as the core problem. /s
 
6. Rogers - he’s had a good Cup season, can do the job. And he replaces Reyno for shots on goal.
7. Hunt - not excited about it but he’s our best shot here. Form isn’t great but he’s what we got.

Walsh - wouldn’t move him.
Madden - barely played footy all year with that injury, understandably rusty on return.
Billy - keep him at 14. Shift him to 6 if Rogers shits the bed.
Paix - he’s a hooker now.
Kotoni - he’s a centre.
Black - would love to see him play a game this year but this isn’t the time to blood new players and his form hasn’t been that good.
 
True... I didn't really consider his influence in attack, because I figured that should be known at this point... but in terms of combined effect, this year it's sitting at 16ppg... which is pretty insane... and it's interesting that he has such a big impact in defence as well as attack, because he cops so much shit about his defence.

Attack = +9.6ppg
- 29.3ppg with Walsh (2nd in the league) vs 19.7ppg without (13th)

Defence = -6.4ppg
- 19.3ppg with Walsh (4th in the league) vs 25.7 without (13th)

It's pretty clear that with Walsh we are a top 4 team and contender... compared to being near bottom 4 without him.

The 5 game stretch where we didn't have him looks like the definitive period of this season, with the losses to souths, dragons and manly being most prominent.

Hopefully the coaching and recruitment team are looking for a viable back up at fullback heading into next year, because you can't have the team's season completely dependent on one player being healthy.

I think it's important to distinguish between a fullback improving a team's defence and the fullback's defence improving.

A vocal fullback that can communicate and count can improve the teams defence- I think Walsh does this well. I don't think his efforts in defence individually are great.
 
They past the first test can they. Keep it up
I do like seeing hunt get stuck into the team when we were down
And Walters did what he needed to do didn’t over play his hand
 
So once Reynolds comes back, does he slot straight back in? I'm conflicted on this one. Hunt's been doing well as the main shot caller which I think has managed to help Walsh and others with their game.
I know the obvious answer is to slot Reynolds straight in and move Hunt back to hooker but neither were setting the world on fire in those roles before the Melb game though.
 
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