POST GAME [Round 13, 2026] - Broncos vs Dragons

Bucking Beads said:
I can't be bashing Paix though. He is who he is. Defends well and tries his guts out for the team. We need so much more from him out of dummy half though. You'd think he would have been more creative given he was a halfback coming through the grades.

We desperately need Walters at 9 TBH. A guy who is prepared to run and be a threat.
Click to expand...
Revisionist history on Billy, probably based on his short purple patch at 6.

We need fresh blood at 9. Mozer.
 
BroncsFan said:
Yes, but there is only 1 team in the NRL that gets Payne Haas... and in he's basically been the undisputed best prop in the comp for his 7.5 year career to date... but he's only got 1 premiership to show for it.

Panthers have been dominating the comp since 2020 and are miles ahead this year with a front row pairing of Leota and Lindsay Smith.

Leota is good, but he averages about 40-45mins a game and just over 100m a game... so they've found a different way to lay the platform for their guns.

Payne is a generational player and will be a massive loss, but he's not the be all and end all for winning a comp... for us the be all and end all is putting Reece into the best position to have him playing at his best and they haven't been able to do that so far this year.

We had Payne dominate yesterday, but that didn't allow Reece to suddenly own the game, so the coaching has to figure out how best to do that.
Click to expand...

I just hope they don't end up overpaying some other middle forward just because Haas left. Carrigan and Willison are pretty much all that's left that's rep quality and they sure aren't worth what Haas is getting.
 
6moresongs said:
At least BRS is a distraction from the guttertrash they dished up yesterday. Another coaching master-class from Madge!
Click to expand...
I wonder if he was snuck in when Madge went to do the press conference. This is one of the most dumb-**** moves I’ve seen in sport ever.
 
Scorchie said:
I love 2025 Hunt but this year something’s not right. Looks slow.
Click to expand...
It's been kind of crazy. Hunt was brought here expecting him to play 9, but he's barely played hooker at all.

Last year he basically played in the halves all year.

First 8 rounds at 6 whilst Mam was suspended... then he ****ed his hammy.

I think he played a couple games at 9 when he returned, but Reyno and Mam then go down in storm game and he plays 7 through to the prelim.

Even in the GF he ended up at 7 because Reyno ****ed his calf.


This year he's not played much 9 again... usually he's coming off the bench (because Paix is getting played way too long) or subbing in for a Reyno injury... and then he's been out with the MCL.

It's hard to know if he can even play 9/lock because he's barely had to
 
Alec said:
I just hope they don't end up overpaying some other middle forward just because Haas left. Carrigan and Willison are pretty much all that's left that's rep quality and they sure aren't worth what Haas is getting.
Click to expand...
I think we're doing ok for middles 🤔🤔

Patty, Willison and Barney... Semu is looking promising and Tupou looks a great talent coming through.

Payne leaving frees up like $1.3m or something... we've picked up Barney, but I'd like the rest to be spent on upgrading Willison and then finding a young gun forward... preferably an edge considering we cant seem to develop any ourselves anymore.

Not sure who that young gun forward is, but try to get the "next guy" before they become "the guy".

Grab a Kaiden Lahrs or something... shore up the middle rotation to have the Barney replacement ready to go
 
So basically every set the other team gets off attacking kicks or near attacking kicks.
This increases the frequency we make mistakes in our half. The reverse is true.

The ruck is a serious...serious problem... a team on a 11 game losing streak was making 60M to our 40M per set. This is going to lead to blowouts against actually good team.

No Ref to blame this time. We just get out metered. All game. Every game.
 
BroncsFan said:
It's been kind of crazy. Hunt was brought here expecting him to play 9, but he's barely played hooker at all.

Last year he basically played in the halves all year.

First 8 rounds at 6 whilst Mam was suspended... then he ****ed his hammy.

I think he played a couple games at 9 when he returned, but Reyno and Mam then go down in storm game and he plays 7 through to the prelim.

Even in the GF he ended up at 7 because Reyno ****ed his calf.

This year he's not played much 9 again... usually he's coming off the bench (because Paix is getting played way too long) or subbing in for a Reyno injury... and then he's been out with the MCL.

It's hard to know if he can even play 9/lock because he's barely had to
Click to expand...
The times he's played dummy half hasn't really been a revelation. None of our regular hookers going back to Macca have been anything beyond barely adequate. Jake Turpin might've the best we had there for a few minutes, but eventually became nothing more than a routine tacklebot like Paix is now.

Lot of folk seem to be make believing Billy was it, but they must've forgotten the odd time he did run, it was aimless, never hooking up with support. His defence was okay, but it wore him out to the extent his service tended to go to shit after 15 minutes. I might select him at 14 or 6 (with injuries). He just doesn't have the ticker for 9.

Mozer and Bukowski were a breath of fresh air in their limited minutes. **** knows how they go with 80 against grown men.
 
McHunt said:
The times he's played dummy half hasn't really been a revelation. None of our regular hookers going back to Macca have been anything beyond barely adequate. Jake Turpin might've the best we had there for a few minutes, but eventually became nothing more than a routine tacklebot like Paix is now.

Lot of folk seem to be make believing Billy was it, but they must've forgotten the odd time he did run, it was aimless, never hooking up with support. His defence was okay, but it wore him out to the extent his service tended to go to shit after 15 minutes. I might select him at 14 or 6 (with injuries). He just doesn't have the ticker for 9.

Mozer and Bukowski were a breath of fresh air in their limited minutes. **** knows how they go with 80 against grown men.
Click to expand...
Most our players I think were in shock that our 9 actually ran tbh,mozer and bukowski be a good 1/2 to go with imo no need to be playing 80 min in 2026 unless you are really dominating possession
 
Professor47 said:
Agreed, but 2024 and 2026 (so far) ... we don't look like we are in any form of cohesion though (as a holistic team)

and as many have said, you get the sense 2023 / 2025 was more build off massive momentum from our superstars at the right time of year.... (rather than a 'team' functioning optimally , i.e. panthers/storm)

I guess what I'm saying is... if we keep relying on 'Walsh/Mam' to have 'Jarryd Hayne 09'-esque type of 'runs' to win premierships... it's not a good bet to place.

We need to build proper team cohesion, structures, strategies, mental connections etc. (on the field)

to be honest... I thought we'd be challenging for top 4 every year for the next 5-6 years...
certainly I feel that should be the expectation internally
Click to expand...
It’s hard to have cohesion and build combinations etc when players are dropping on a weekly basis and you need to scrape the bottom of the barrel for troops. We’re playing shit house, no doubt, but consider any other team in the comp copping our outs and they’d also be cooked.

That said, Arey looks done and needs to be dropped, probably for Dufty. Madge needs to tell whoever is playing half to let Walsh run the show like the tail end of last year. IMO Mam gets left out a bit when Arey is getting a million touches at the expense of Walsh who is frantically trying to get on the ball.
 
Battler said:
That said, Arey looks done and needs to be dropped, probably for Dufty. Madge needs to tell whoever is playing half to let Walsh run the show like the tail end of last year. IMO Mam gets left out a bit when Arey is getting a million touches at the expense of Walsh who is frantically trying to get on the ball.
Click to expand...
I think they already are letting Walsh run the show to an extent.

Reynolds seems to be getting the team in structure and through the sets, but if Walsh is talking for it he then has to give it to him.

I dont think Walsh is in the right form to be leading our attack just yet.

He's trying to do too much and his team can't keep track and support him if he's just popping up and running something that no one else knows about.

There was a blind side play in the second half where Reece takes it from dummy half and then he's looking for Ezra, but Ezra is 5m behind the play... Did Ezra know the play was coming? Did he not think he was part of it (congested blindside)?

It's why Ponga is a better fit for rep teams at the moment... he fits into structures better... Walsh wants to do everything and plays erratic... players around him cant help if they dont know what's coming.
 
BroncsFan said:
I think they already are letting Walsh run the show to an extent.

Reynolds seems to be getting the team in structure and through the sets, but if Walsh is talking for it he then has to give it to him.

I dont think Walsh is in the right form to be leading our attack just yet.

He's trying to do too much and his team can't keep track and support him if he's just popping up and running something that no one else knows about.

There was a blind side play in the second half where Reece takes it from dummy half and then he's looking for Ezra, but Ezra is 5m behind the play... Did Ezra know the play was coming? Did he not think he was part of it (congested blindside)?

It's why Ponga is a better fit for rep teams at the moment... he fits into structures better... Walsh wants to do everything and plays erratic... players around him cant help if they dont know what's coming.
Click to expand...
I've seen many times Reynolds, Hunt and Mam cut out Walsh when the right thing to do is pass him the ball. There is some issues within the side at the moment. There is no clarity with what they're trying to do.
 
Broncapz said:
So basically every set the other team gets off attacking kicks or near attacking kicks.
This increases the frequency we make mistakes in our half. The reverse is true.

The ruck is a serious...serious problem... a team on a 11 game losing streak was making 60M to our 40M per set. This is going to lead to blowouts against actually good team.

No Ref to blame this time. We just get out metered. All game. Every game.
Click to expand...
I started counting how many plays we defending without 2 markers. Insane amount.

We always have players left rolling around on the ground or next to the ruck. Then the opposition just run directly into the gap in front of the ruck and make 10+m, get tackled by scrambling defence which causes us to not be at marker again. Repeat that for 60ms per set.

I’m not sure what the fix is. Maybe condense the defence and make it one players job every tackle to stand where marker is going to be and not get involved in the tackle. Then we at least have 1 marker for sure each time
 
theshed said:
I started counting how many plays we defending without 2 markers. Insane amount.

We always have players left rolling around on the ground or next to the ruck. Then the opposition just run directly into the gap in front of the ruck and make 10+m, get tackled by scrambling defence which causes us to not be at marker again. Repeat that for 60ms per set.

I’m not sure what the fix is. Maybe condense the defence and make it one players job every tackle to stand where marker is going to be and not get involved in the tackle. Then we at least have 1 marker for sure each time
Click to expand...
100%. We don't fight to get up as much, and we don't fight the markers enough/just play the ball off the mark like the others do.

We made Damien fkn Cook look like prime Harry Grant the amount he was running behind the ruck.
 
New Posts

Unread

Back
Top