Total Metres Gained
Brisbane: 1225m
Wynnum: 1220m
I pretty much drew the same conclusions as you guys. Lodge was very good and if anything the stats didn't do his game justice, a lot of his runs were close to the line where you're making minimal gains. The same can be said of Pangai who's stats look really ordinary but he was one of the better players on the field.
I was really shocked at how critical fans were of Niu, I thought he had some really strong carries and he produced the best run of the night to go extremely close. In fairness, the stats didn't pick him his mistake off the short goal-line restart which is a huge mistake to make.
The stats won't show it, but Kelly's kicking game was actually really good. Most of his kicks were caught inside the Seagulls 10m zone and two of them produced turn-overs. I was disappointed in his game and thought as captain he really let the team down but it wasn't a total wash. Meanwhile, outside of one goal line restart, I thought Gamble was very ordinary with the boot. He failed to get a kick away which led to the Seagulls opening try and then one of his others was an unnecessary early tackle kick when Brisbane had momentum. That's one of my biggest pet peeves with the Broncos, they never get the early tackle kick right.
The one that always comes to mind is when the 'Baby' Broncos played New Zealand in 2016. The opening was all the Warriors but Brisbane did really well to hold on and got a seven tackle restart. Play 3 they're just inside the Warriors half when Hunt kicks the ball straight to the fullback and they go on to score that set.
Back to the game, I thought the Broncos missed having proper edge forwards. Palasia had a shocker first game back from a knee reconstruction and while Pulu was one of the Broncos better players he looked more like a lock forward than a bullocking second-row type. I think that role is so important in the modern game since it initiates a lot of attacking plays.
It was a very scrappy game in general, but I thought the Broncos caused a lot of turn-overs. Josh James is somebody who may have to re-apply for his kicking license (he had a shocker with the boot) but his first involvement was a great 1-1 tackle that caused a drop. I still think they need to work on their group tackling, but some of the first contact was a lot better than it was before. Also some fantastic try-savers, Willison was a beauty covering the corner and Arthars came up with a great save which saw Walsh break-free down the sideline.
I agree with the majority of fans that Walsh was the biggest takeaway from the game. I liked how confident he was on the field and while there were bigger moments, I thought the run on second tackle of the game summed that up to me. A lot of young players don't go searching for the ball because they don't want to get into the thick of the action. I thought it was a good sign from Walsh and showed he had the mentality required of a modern-day fullback.
I'm glad fans aren't going too overboard either. Usually with a player like him just about everybody would be calling for him to be in the Round 1 team. I don't think he had that type of game but he certainly showed me he's an NRL calibre prospect. I think Queensland Cup is going to be a nice challenge for him and depending on how well he handles it he could find himself in the NRL sooner rather than later. If he absolutely kills it in the first two rounds of QCup (which is Round 3 of the NRL) than I wouldn't be against getting him in there.
I liked what I saw of Cobbo and Robati. Cobbo in particular since he's on that NRL Development Deal is somebody who could come into play later on in the season. I thought he'd largely be playing Colts, but if he can get some reps in at the Seagulls then that's a nice bonus for the Broncos.
I think Kennar and Hetherington both pushed their cases. I haven't come around on Richie yet, but his carries coming out of trouble were good and certainly puts him in the conversation as far as depth options. Similarly, I think Hetherington showed he could be a really handy loose forward and could be an option at 14.
