2024 pre-season discussion: Pre-season Premiers

[Scorchie]

Corey for PM. Tear to my eye, go big unit.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

It's a testament to his character, that's for damn sure. He could have taken a healthy payday at some shit kicker outfit like the Tiggers or Dogs with a guaranteed starting spot, but he held his ground and told the Broncos "No, I'm earning my way back in."

It's a tough ask, but all the best to him. If he can play to that level again where he can't be ignored, I will be over the moon for him.

 

[Scorchie]

Remember though, he was on fire last year and this year until Drinkwater decided to smash his face.

 

[BroncsFan]

Since we're in the off season, but also not far off the start of preseason training. It seems as good a time as any to revisit an obsession that was awakened by @Big Pete regarding composition of the squad and breaking it down to Veterans, Seasoned and Rookies based on Trent Robinson's thoughts.

The original link to BP's post and description of each band is provided at the bottom, but the table below tracks how the squad has been progressing through these bands since 2020.

I've kept Herbie, Flegler and Palasia in the table, because it shows where the squad would've been if they stayed but also the risks of being a development club. They would've been part of the core group ready to jump up to seasoned players in 2024, but with them gone we don't have an immediate replacement and because we don't necessarily buy players it sets the squad composition back and will take a couple years for the 'replacements' to come through (Mariner, Willison, etc.).

What I did find interesting was Fletcher Baker comes into the squad with 46 games under his belt already, so he's sitting there as a Palasia replacement straight off the bat.

	2024 Squad	2023 Squad	2022 Squad	2020 Squad
Player Count	31	28	31	29
200 Games+	Adam Reynolds	Adam Reynolds	Adam Reynolds	Darius Boyd
	Martin Taupau		David Mead	Alex Glenn
	Corey Oates			Andrew McCullough*
100-199 Games	Kurt Capewell	Corey Oates	Corey Oates	Anthony Milford
	Payne Haas	Kurt Capewell	Ryan James	Corey Oates
	Kotoni Staggs			Jordan Kahu
60-99 Games	Corey Jensen	Payne Haas	Kurt Capewell	Joe Ofahengaue
	Patrick Carrigan	Corey Jensen	Jamayne Isaako	Jack Bird
	Jordan Riki	Thomas Flegler	Brenko Lee	Tevita Pangai Jr
	Jesse Arthars	Kotoni Staggs	Payne Haas
	Billy Walters	Patrick Carrigan
	Reece Walsh
	* Thomas Flegler (96 games)
	* Herbie Farnworth (79 games)
20-59 Games	Kobe Hetherington	Herbie Farnworth	Corey Jensen	Matt Lodge
	Selwyn Cobbo	Jordan Riki	Thomas Flegler	Jamayne Isaako
	Fletcher Baker	Jordan Pereira	Albert Kelly	Brodie Croft
	Jordan Pereira	Jesse Arthars	Te Maire Martin	David Fifita
	Cory Paix	Reece Walsh	Kotoni Staggs	Kotoni Staggs
	Ezra Mam	Kobe Hetherington	Patrick Carrigan	Payne Haas
	Jock Madden	Billy Walters	Jake Turpin	Thomas Flegler
	* Keenan Palasia (53 games)	Tesi Niu	Herbie Farnworth
		Keenan Palasia	Jordan Pereira
		Cory Paix	Rhys Kennedy
		Selwyn Cobbo	Jordan Riki
		Tyson Gamble*	Tesi Niu
5-19 Games	Tyson Smoothy	TC Robati	Cory Paix	Richie Kennar
	Delouise Hoeter	Ezra Mam	Tyson Gamble	Patrick Carrigan
	Brendan Piakura		Kobe Hetherington	Jake Turpin
	Xavier Willison		Billy Walters	Jesse Arthars
	Tristan Sailor		Keenan Palasia	Rhys Kennedy
	Deine Mariner		TC Robati	Sean O'Sullivan
			Selwyn Cobbo
0-5 Games	Blake Mozer	Xavier Willison	Delouise Hoeter	Tommy Dearden
	Josh Rogers	Deine Mariner	Xavier Willison	Xavier Coates
	Ben Te Kura	Brendan Piakura	Brendan Piakura	Herbie Farnworth
		Blake Mozer	Ezra Mam	Keenan Palasia
		Ethan Quai-Ward		Ilikena Vudogo
		Ben Te Kura		Cory Paix
				Jamil Hopoate

Broncos Roster, Signings and Rumours Discussion 2022

Mariner, Mozer, Quai-Ward & Willison have all been upgraded to NRL deals. If we take out all the players who have yet to officially re-sign the Broncos are at 23 players including Arthars who is still contracted to the club for '23. Walters and Oates will re-sign so that's 25. Haas is really...

broncoshq.com

200 Games​

Your veterans who maybe past their physical peaks but have a great understanding of the game and can problem solve with the best of them.​

​

100-199 Games​

Typically an experienced player who has made a career out of the sport. Ideally these are players entering their peak years but can often be filled with veterans who had their share of disruptions whether it be code changes​

​

60-99 Games​

A player who has broken out of the 3 season average and they're important parts of the team but they may lack experience in the bigger games.​

​

20-59 Games​

Most NRL careers only last three seasons, so this is your regular category where you expect the most amount of movement. You also see tend to see a mixture of depth players and developing players.​

​

6-19 Games​

These are the players who have played enough games to earn more responsibility but they're still essentially rookies and have to be shown some level of patience.​

​

0-5 Games​

These are your rookies and typically you've promoted them to the NRL squad because they're supremely talented but you know that you've really got to simplify their role and give them room to make mistakes.​

 

[Chewed]

Kobe's brother, Zac, has signed with Wynnum. He was with the Dogs for a few years in reserve grade.

 

[TimWhatley]

Kobe's brother, Zac, has signed with Wynnum. He was with the Dogs for a few years in reserve grade.

Is he anything like Kobe?

 

[1910]

Kobe's brother, Zac, has signed with Wynnum. He was with the Dogs for a few years in reserve grade.

He was at the Jets in 2021. Had a great year. I wanted the Broncos to give him a crack then, but he went to the Dogs.

 

[1910]

Is he anything like Kobe?

Identical.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner

 

[Big Del]

Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner
View attachment 25221

Willison to do damage next year .
You heard here 1st .

 

[BroncsFan]

Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner
View attachment 25221

Willison rocking the vintage jersey like an actual fan... you love to see it!!

 

[Fitzy]

Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner
View attachment 25221

Am I the only one thinking he looks like Maradona in that jersey.

 

[ZTop]

Am I the only one thinking he looks like Maradona in that jersey.

Mariner looks alive in this picture, so not really

 

[KateBroncos1812]

Bring on Friday I get see Adam Reynolds talk in Toowoomba and if I get the chance to talk to Corey Parker I will ask him why he is so salty

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Was in the same elevator as Tevita Pangai Jr and his wife at work today.

Just throwing it out there.

 

[Sproj]

Was in the same elevator as Tevita Pangai Jr and his wife at work today.

Just throwing it out there.

Did he decide just to not listen to what the elevator was saying and get off between floors?

 

[Culhwch]

Xavier Willison and Deine Mariner
View attachment 25221

Gonna bring our good to bad haircut ratio down, unfortunately. Barely a mullet or rat's tail amongst the boys last year...

 

[BRC088]

Bring on Friday I get see Adam Reynolds talk in Toowoomba and if I get the chance to talk to Corey Parker I will ask him why he is so salty

Good luck getting him while he's not on or checking his phone.