2018 Bronco season review.

[Mr Fourex]

I cannot believe what I just read.

That can't be Mr Fourex. It has to be an imposter.

You both missed the point......

A rolled up baked potato > Peter Wallace.

:flipa:

 

[Steve-o]

Condolences on the loss. As I Tigers fan I would just be grateful to make the 8, but the Broncos obviously have much higher expectations. Barring any more signings, I would go with the following in 2019:
1. Boyd
2. Isaako
3. Staggs
4. Roberts
5. Oates
6. Bird
7. Milford
8. McGuire
9. Macca
10. Lodge
11. Gillett (C)
12. Sua
13. TPJ
14. Nikorima
15. Offa
16. Fifita
17. Hass

I think Boyd is still the best option at fullback, but he needs a wake up call IMO. So I’d give the captaincy to Gillett.

 

[Steve-o]

Also, if Bennett is not going to be re-signed past 2019, I would be wary of keeping him around next year. He left the Dragons and Knights in an absolute mess... There’s not much incentive to plan for the long term when you only have a year to go. Plus Bennett seems like an extremely proud person; the type that could be vindictive if he was forced out.

 

[broncsgoat]

Then why can the Rabbitohs? Apart from that rough patch they hit, they have been pretty consistent all season and have been playing at a high level for a very large chunk of it.

We have more experience than them. I really don't think we can use the lack of experience excuse. We have plenty of it.

They have won one more game than us this season and we beat them twice.

 

[broncos4life]

I thought his attack was first class before his ACL, no idea how a knee injury hurt his passing though.

EDIT: In my opinion our spine for next season needs to be:
1. Boyd/ Isaako (Boyd the front runner given his end to the year, but if Isaako can continue to improve in the off season he's a huge chance)
Halves: Milford is locked, the jersey number doesn't matter, so I'll go:
6. Milf
7. Will be one of Bird, SOS (god I hope we get him), Paix, T. Boyd, Dearden, or a signing if we lose TPJ or Oates or both.
9. Macca with Niko splitting time with him 50/50.

Send Bird to wherever the hell Milf has gone to learn to kick and he could legitimately turn into one of the best halves in the comp.

We have already signed SOS, how do we get him any more?

 

[Lebbo73]

If bird goes to lock then what happens with the likes of tpj and McGuire? Our forward stocks are overflowing and they are all really good. Bird needs to fit into the backs somewhere and fullback should satisfy his desire for more ball. Some tough decisions coming up over the off season...

Playing Niko in the side at HB has always been a better decision than the two made to pay Bird and Boyd as much as they’re on. Who was the f-wit that made that decision. Bird on 900gs and Boyd on 750gs is deadset lunacy. This type of dosh gets us a better hooker, HB and fullback.
I can’t see anything improving until at least Boyd, Macca and Niko aren’t in the side fullstop.

 

[Lebbo73]

**** if I know, but I rate the way they have been coached. I'm hoping the rumours about Seibold coming here are true.

They’ll win the GF this year. They’ve been to Melbourne and don’t have to leave Sydney again. The dragons will be cannon fodder for Souths next weekend.

 

[big k]

I love how fans single out a player. It was Hunt till he left, now Macca ( Who was one of our better players in the loss )

Our biggest issue this year was experience. We got exposed in certain areas where we had injuries and lacked experience. It was very smart of the Dragons to attack our edges like that. When you consider that we had Gillett, Glenn and Sua, our best edge defenders by a long way all sitting on the sidelines watching from the stands you have to give some credit to the opposition for exploiting it like that.

I know many want TPJ in the backrow... no, hell no. His defense isn't up for it, he is a middle forward and most of his best games were in the front row.

My verdict on Bennett is still a fence sitting one. We need to fix our defense and attitude when playing teams we should beat easily. Is he the man for the job moving forward, I don't know. What I do know is if we are going to replace him, we need to make it happen sooner rather than later.

I'm happy with our roster for next year provided we keep Oates and TPJ. I think Kahu's days are numbered, especially in the centres, he either plays wing or moves on. We have Staggs and the Shib whom I would like to see there.

Our side I would like to see next year is

Boyd
Oates
Shibasaki
Roberts
Isaako
Milford
Nikorima
Lodge
McCullough
TPJ
Sua
Gillett
McGuire

Offa
Hass
Fafita
Glenn

I think guys like Turpin, Staggs and Sulivan will get game time based on injuries and rep call ups.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

I just dont get it, how can Milf have these outstanding games, and go so quite the next and that being finals?

Can he just go back to his 2015 self! =(

 

[Gaz]

They have won one more game than us this season and we beat them twice.

Yes. But wouldn’t have beaten them yesterday.

 

[johnny plath]

MOST of our issues are fixed next season, barring the halves issue.

We get Bird, Gillett and Haas back into the squad.

Bird to centre, Gillett lock on the same flank can keep Kodi or Milf protected in defense - both are average.

Boyd to centre, Kahu to Wing and Isaako to Fullback solves the issue if Bird goes into lock. McGuire can roam between bench and lock/2nd row. With fresh legs McGuire can be a line buster.

I wish that Maccas game would evolve, half the time his half service is slow and lacks the cracking speed or direct passes. This along with Kodi is our weak point in middle. In a tough game, they just don't have the coconuts to take the game and make it theirs - this is between them!

Just a left field thought, but if Boyd went to centre, maybe Bird to fullback... would certainly justify his paypacket more if it worked.... doubt another year on the wing for Isaako is that bad an option... haven't really thought through the longer term implications of it all though.

 

[johnny plath]

MOST of our issues are fixed next season, barring the halves issue.

We get Bird, Gillett and Haas back into the squad.

Bird to centre, Gillett lock on the same flank can keep Kodi or Milf protected in defense - both are average.

Boyd to centre, Kahu to Wing and Isaako to Fullback solves the issue if Bird goes into lock. McGuire can roam between bench and lock/2nd row. With fresh legs McGuire can be a line buster.

I wish that Maccas game would evolve, half the time his half service is slow and lacks the cracking speed or direct passes. This along with Kodi is our weak point in middle. In a tough game, they just don't have the coconuts to take the game and make it theirs - this is between them!

Yep, but i feel that macca is closer to extinction than evolution... a career of solid first grade hovering on mediocre but thats it imo. We need something fresh to come through, but don't know who or where that comes from.

 

[Renegade]

I predicted we'd be making up numbers this year and sadly that's been proven to be true.

We've had a pretty disruptive season with injury and form, but we've unearthed a bunch of players who will hopefully become mainstays of the side for the better part of the next decade. All is not lost. It will be good experience for the young guys.

Thanks for your service thaiday, don't make too many deadly choices in your retirement.

 

[Battler]

Then why can the Rabbitohs? Apart from that rough patch they hit, they have been pretty consistent all season and have been playing at a high level for a very large chunk of it.

We have more experience than them. I really don't think we can use the lack of experience excuse. We have plenty of it.

Souths' experienced players are still in their pomp, whereas ours would be concentrated into blokes that probably won't even be in our squad next season like Thaiday, Kahu, and possibly Glenn. We also had far more rookies and had to restructure our side several times over the season. So saying we have more experience, whilst technically true, is a bit of a red herring. Also, would they be as good if they lost the following players for the season: Crichton (Gillet), Sutton (Su'a. Su'a was playing better than Sutton when he got injured), Murray (Haas. Both young guns off the bench), Gagai (Bird)? Even the storm would have struggled with comparable losses to what we had (say, Chambers, Felise, NAS, Glasby).

Reflecting on the season, the more injuries we acquired the less chance we had of winning the comp until that chance was reduced to miracle territory. Our young forwards were winning big games off pure talent, which is an amazing sign for the future.

For the record, I hope Souths dominate the drags next week. Playing an injured Widdop and JDB was pretty dumb if the whole point of the finals is to win the GF. Now they have close to zero percent chance, and may lose Widdop for early next season. Just stupidity.

 

[Wolfie]

Based on current crop of forwards for next year - how do you think this will fit now?

Honestly, i'm not sure. Not convinced with the emergence of some of these forwards we have we will go that way now. Depends on if we really want to play with that ball playing lock, which is different from say TPJ who plays lock but has an offload in him. I certainly think it would help our creativity if it works.

I'd personally set up with something like this for the start of next season if we are using the players we have right now.

1 Boyd
2 Issako
3 Roberts
4 Staggs
5 Oates
6 Milford
7 Nikorima
8 Lodge
9 Macca
10 McGuire
11 Glenn
12 Gillett
13 Bird

14 Turpin ( Nikorima though if Sullivan performs or we get another half back )
15 TPJ ( think we need him or Lodge from the bench to keep impact )
16 Sua
17 Carrigan

What i do think is we need to manage blokes like Gillo, Moose and Glenn a lot better. Resting them for a game here and there when you can bring in the likes of Fifita, Haas, Carrigan and give them game time is only going to help keep them fresh, and they are pretty good options.

 

[The True King]

I'm not in the camp that believes injuries were the reason we didn't win the prem this year. Can sit here all day comparing and contrasting injury lists and how other teams would have done if this or that happened but at the end of the day our roster had glaring weaknesses at the start of the season and they were never addressed.

For me our biggest issue is the spine. Milford had a great season and I reckon the development of his kicking game will be hugely beneficial for us in coming years. I'm not convinced Macca has improved since 2015 and while I think he's still good enough to be our hooker, he's too one dimensional to be an 80min hooker. I don't want to criticise Boyd because there are alot of people on here who will jump to his defence but I am hard pressed to remember more than three games that he played well in this year. Finally, the Kodi experiment at halfback clearly failed, despite some decent performances towards the end of the season I think we can put a line through him in that role.

On the positive side we unearthed some real promising forwards, TPJ had a breakout year, and the emergence of Isaako is bloody exciting.

 

[Wolfie]

I think we also need to remember, Wayne only said Nikorima was our halfback for this year. Next year it might not be the case.

 

[The True King]

Also, would they be as good if they lost the following players for the season: Crichton (Gillet), Sutton (Su'a. Su'a was playing better than Sutton when he got injured), Murray (Haas. Both young guns off the bench), Gagai (Bird)? Even the storm would have struggled with comparable losses to what we had (say, Chambers, Felise, NAS, Glasby).

It was going okay until you compared a 20 year old kid with 23 FG games to the most capped player in Souths history who is 33 years old, played over 300 FG games and won a premiership. Suggesting Bird and Chambers/Gagai are on similar levels in the past 18 months is also a pretty big stretch. Also you've then gone and compared Haas to NAS? Again, one is a rookie with barely any experience and the other is a international representative with a premiership ring.

One of your weaker arguments TBH.