NEWS 'Abysmal, unacceptable': Legends unload on Broncos

[PNG Broncos fan88]

I just watched something that just highlights the effort a good fullback should put in.

On Kayo they have something called Final 5 where they show the final 5 minutes of a classic match. This particular one was the final game in the Test series between Australia and Great Britain. Lockyer was playing fullback and had just thrown a beautiful cut out pass to De Vere to level the scores.

Then a couple of sets later, he was trying to keep the ball alive so he threw an offload which went to ground and he was tackled, but the ball was picked up by an Aussie player and they made a break and a couple of passes later, there was Lockyer screaming up in support waiting for an offload which he got and then threw the final pass to Ricketson to win the game for the Aussies.

He was tackled just a couple of passes earlier but still managed to get up, run about 30+ metres and still pop up in support and won the game for the Aussies. It just highlights the effort he put in.

Something Boyd lacks.

Darren Lockyer, the greatest player of all!

Can we break the bank to lure Ponga up, he is Lockyer incarnate...this boy will deliver us premierships no doubt.

 

[Porthoz]

The Cows have blown their load early. They’re number one issue is they rely on Taumalolo, with him out they are a shadow of themselves. Their response was a pretty major backline re-shuffle - half to fullback, fullback to outside backs, rookie half brought in. How is that working for them? Very similar changes to what a lot are proposing, I don’t think it will make any difference if we are still completing sets at ~60%.

Wow, after one whole game, the jury is out on the Cowboys reshuffle.
You're absolutely right, we should keep doing what we've been doing for the past 2,5 years. How's that going for us?
No matter what I think about Green or Brown, at least they won't die wondering what could've been, and I hope Seibold will deliver us from the tired Bennett definition of insanity.

More importantly, it doesn't have to be one thing or the other, like people seem to want to make out. Our problem is not just Boyd's shocking poisonous attitude, lack of organisation and leadership in the halves, creativity from the dummy half, defensive starch or set completion. It's all of it together!

Every NRL team works on the basics and fundamentals: Completion rate, attitude, effort. Seibold has made it very clear it is one of his focus areas.
Like you illustrated, completing better and less errors will make us competitive and make us win more than we lose, but it won't be enough to make real contenders out of us. It will just make us mere inconveniences for the top teams come finals.

How about we also work on improving the aspects that should separate us from the middle of the pack, and take us to the apex of the NRL?
We could do revolutionary things like cutting the dead wood, adding someone with a clue to organise the team and control the game, put someone in the custodian role who is a good support player and actually has a dig, WHILE we keep working to improve our completion rate, defense and effort.
Shocking idea, I know...

 

[Morkel]

Wow, after one whole game, the jury is out on the Cowboys reshuffle.
You're absolutely right, we should keep doing what we've been doing for the past 2,5 years. How's that going for us?
No matter what I think about Green or Brown, at least they won't die wondering what could've been, and I hope Seibold will deliver us from the tired Bennett definition of insanity.

More importantly, it doesn't have to be one thing or the other, like people seem to want to make out. Our problem is not just Boyd's shocking poisonous attitude, lack of organisation and leadership in the halves, creativity from the dummy half, defensive starch or set completion. It's all of it together!

Every NRL team works on the basics and fundamentals: Completion rate, attitude, effort. Seibold has made it very clear it is one of his focus areas.
Like you illustrated, completing better and less errors will make us competitive and make us win more than we lose, but it won't be enough to make real contenders out of us. It will just make us mere inconveniences for the top teams come finals.

How about we also work on improving the aspects that should separate us from the middle of the pack, and take us to the apex of the NRL?
We could do revolutionary things like cutting the dead wood, adding someone with a clue to organise the team and control the game, put someone in the custodian role who is a good support player and actually has a dig, WHILE we keep working to improve our completion rate, defense and effort.
Shocking idea, I know...

All of those problems keep getting repeated, and yet, when we hold the ball, we win. Last year we beat all the top teams except the Storm. So it’s not like we can’t compete against the best teams.

Why did we struggle against the shit teams? Complacency. Look at that spreadsheet I posted and look at our completion rate against the poor teams. Notice something? Now look at it against the Roosters, Rabbitohs, etc.

 

[Nashy]

When talking about the Broncos worst recruiting blunders, it amazes me they don’t bring up keeping Michaels over Boyd.

I saw a few “isaako is the worst winger in Broncos colours”, and I’m like over here screaming STEVE MICHAELS fools.

I raise you. Stu Kelly.

 

[Huge]

Good post, good points.

It would be even better if you split it up into "bite site" paragraphs to make it easy to read :)

This. I've just showed my workmates that wall of text and to a man they said, too long, too hard to read with that structure . Just break it up into 5 maybe 6 paragraphs.

 

[Huge]

Haha yeah sorry guys, new to "forums" as of last night. Duly noted for future reference.

Sorry, missed this post. Disregard mine, carry on.

 

[Huge]

Apologies for your rant are accepted, fella.

As I have posted in the Tigers thread my issues are the same as all we all have at this point in time: the lack of energy, commitment and direction in defence, and as Seibold said, not doing the little things properly, say, like maintaining possession.

I also said after the Roosters debacle, what I want to see is improved execution of the good attacking plays we put in last night, and there were quite a few, immediate addressing of the lazy and poor defensive reads which led to ALL their tries, COMMUNICATION in the middle where our defence is organized and no damn missed tackles, Isaako regaining his football brain which seems to have disengaged and wingers not coming in off their wings = having the defence cover the attacking numbers out wide, not the 4 on 3 which led to the Roosters 1st try.

What I DON"T want to see are old farts unloading anti-Seibold agendas driven by their pro-Bennett positions. Simple as that.

The only problem I have with this post is the unsubstantiated claim that the reason for unloading on Seibold is a pro-Bennett position. It's not something you know to be factual and because it's not certain it's an unfair accusation. I've read a lot of things written about Seibold and not all of them are supportive but there's no evidence that all of them are Bennett supporters. I think I remember Dowling absolutely dishing up WB last year, in fact plenty of old boys have given it to WB. Perhaps at the heart of it they're just hurting like the rest of us?

 

[Porthoz]

All of those problems keep getting repeated, and yet, when we hold the ball, we win. Last year we beat all the top teams except the Storm. So it’s not like we can’t compete against the best teams.

Why did we struggle against the shit teams? Complacency. Look at that spreadsheet I posted and look at our completion rate against the poor teams. Notice something? Now look at it against the Roosters, Rabbitohs, etc.

My bad, you're absolutely right again. Our finals record against the top teams is absolutely amazing...

And we definitely shouldn't strive for continuous improvement either. Leave that shit to those idiot progressives. Just keep the status quo and don't make waves. We'll eventually win a premiership... if not this century, this millennium for sure!

 

[FaithinHook]

I quote Paul Green after the Cowboys loss last night - "Now is not the time to be commenting on selections, I need to digest the game but I will say you can't keep tossing up performances like that and expect to keep your position,".

We have been just as pathetic as NQ. What will Seibold's response be I wonder? Does he have the courage to start making the big decisions about players' performances?

 

[rnabokov]

The only problem I have with this post is the unsubstantiated claim that the reason for unloading on Seibold is a pro-Bennett position. It's not something you know to be factual and because it's not certain it's an unfair accusation. I've read a lot of things written about Seibold and not all of them are supportive but there's no evidence that all of them are Bennett supporters. I think I remember Dowling absolutely dishing up WB last year, in fact plenty of old boys have given it to WB. Perhaps at the heart of it they're just hurting like the rest of us?

Reading the lines and between the lines about Dowling's comments on Seibold and "Wayne", I think that .... nah, I am not going there, **** it.

The issue is for me that when the going gets tough, you don't make it tougher, you offer support to your beloved team and its new coach who inherited the roster he has, or, you STFU. End of story.

 

[rogerwilco]

There is an attitude problem at the moment. But if you think the coach doesn't know that and that he doesn't see the other problems you are wrong. He can't just come in and start dropping people and changing key positions. Nearly the whole team would be dropped/changed. He needs time to fix the problems.

Fixing a wrong attitude/culture is difficult and you have to be careful. He knows about the 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 and all the others that are not performing. But unless the attitude is fixed nothing will change. If you bring in new players pretty soon they will adopt the same poor attitude. I know there's more to it than that and so does the coach. He knows things need to change. There has been four games played, we still have a while left in the season.

Let's be patient while the correct changes are made without disrupting the whole team and causing further problems. Do you think it's possible that if the coach makes so many changes the whole playing squad starts to lose faith in the coach. Maybe they start playing worse from the pressure of being dropped. I get it that changes need to be made, so does the coach.

He will make them carefully while trying to improve the attitude. Men, especially football players, are a sensitive bunch. And some of these "men" are still just kids. All the arguments for dropping them like "they get paid a bunch" , "they need to harden up", "they need to respect the Broncos Jersey" etc. are valid but other things need to be considered as well.

 

[FaithinHook]

There is an attitude problem at the moment. But if you think the coach doesn't know that and that he doesn't see the other problems you are wrong. He can't just come in and start dropping people and changing key positions. Nearly the whole team would be dropped/changed. He needs time to fix the problems.

Fixing a wrong attitude/culture is difficult and you have to be careful. He knows about the 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 and all the others that are not performing. But unless the attitude is fixed nothing will change. If you bring in new players pretty soon they will adopt the same poor attitude. I know there's more to it than that and so does the coach. He knows things need to change. There has been four games played, we still have a while left in the season.

Let's be patient while the correct changes are made without disrupting the whole team and causing further problems. Do you think it's possible that if the coach makes so many changes the whole playing squad starts to lose faith in the coach. Maybe they start playing worse from the pressure of being dropped. I get it that changes need to be made, so does the coach.

He will make them carefully while trying to improve the attitude. Men, especially football players, are a sensitive bunch. And some of these "men" are still just kids. All the arguments for dropping them like "they get paid a bunch" , "they need to harden up", "they need to respect the Broncos Jersey" etc. are valid but other things need to be considered as well.

Thanks for the insights Roger. I am just intrigued though, I mean where does this attitude problem stem from? Is it particular players dragging the team down, or more of a collective spoilt brat type attitude amongst the whole team? Appreciate you can't name actual players but I just scratch my head at what they are having a sook about. Shouldn't they all be trying to impress their new boss/coach? None of them have even been dropped previously so it can't be that. They have the best facilities in the world. They make mega bucks. They are fawned over by their fans. Kings of Brisbane. What the **** is their problem?!

You say Seibold can't be making waves too early, but the question is, how long does he give them to snap the hell out of whatever comatose they are in ?

 

[lynx000]

There is an attitude problem at the moment. But if you think the coach doesn't know that and that he doesn't see the other problems you are wrong. He can't just come in and start dropping people and changing key positions. Nearly the whole team would be dropped/changed. He needs time to fix the problems.

Fixing a wrong attitude/culture is difficult and you have to be careful. He knows about the 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 and all the others that are not performing. But unless the attitude is fixed nothing will change. If you bring in new players pretty soon they will adopt the same poor attitude. I know there's more to it than that and so does the coach. He knows things need to change. There has been four games played, we still have a while left in the season.

Let's be patient while the correct changes are made without disrupting the whole team and causing further problems. Do you think it's possible that if the coach makes so many changes the whole playing squad starts to lose faith in the coach. Maybe they start playing worse from the pressure of being dropped. I get it that changes need to be made, so does the coach.

He will make them carefully while trying to improve the attitude. Men, especially football players, are a sensitive bunch. And some of these "men" are still just kids. All the arguments for dropping them like "they get paid a bunch" , "they need to harden up", "they need to respect the Broncos Jersey" etc. are valid but other things need to be considered as well.

One of the most sensible things I have read on this site in the last few weeks. Thank you.

 

[Kimlo]

I think it's absolute horse shit to somehow blame all our problems on Wayne. We looked like premiership contenders every single year Wayne has ever coached us and also averaged the 2nd highest win rate competition wide under his last tenure. He also transformed our squad from a bunch of plodders to having the best young forwards in the game with depth. The only thing he failed to do is get us a decent half back but that's more of a lack of supply than a demand issue. Boyd was signed for too long but that's equal fault of the the rest of the administration, Bennett does not hand out contracts or sign them off. Stop being delusional, obviously Paul White and the rest thought it was a worthwhile deal too.

It's all good to like Seibold and want him to do well, I like the guy and can't wait to see how he transforms our squad and playing culture, he's been crap so far but I totally understand the type of changes he wants is not something you can do in a month, he needs time to push his message consistently, do video reviews, explain to the same players over and over what he wants and how he wants it done. This all takes time and I'll only really be worried if come mid season we haven't shown significant improvements.

Right now a bunch of posters on this forum just sound like they're rooting for a political party, every problem is the old guys fault and every good thing is because of the new guy.

Honestly drop the bullshit, it's tiring to read that Bennett is the cause of every problem, he was a fucking excellent coach, the best coach to ever be in our game, our only premiership winning coach and he left us in great shape while being booted out the door by the club. It's now up to the current administration and coach to mould this team for the vision they see and I have great faith that they can do that given enough time. I also don't think any other coach aside from Bellamy would have been a better choice to replace Bennett.

 

[rogerwilco]

Where does the attitude problem stem from? Left over from previous years, old players not leading by example, new players trying to fit in, young players being too arrogant, a half that's not a leader trying to lead, a captain who gives up too easily etc. Consequences for these attitudes will help but it won't fix everything. Each player responds differently and subsequently the whole team will react differently. What you don't want is players losing faith in the coach. That will rot the whole team.

I will say one thing. I am absolutely shattered that we had one of the best fullbacks in the competition, that could have possibly ended up being better than Slater, thrown into the halves. For me it's not too late to move Milford back there. What's wrong with having a genuine fullback stay there for his entire career? Milford single handedly won games playing from fullback. If I was the coach it is a change I would make immediately. But I am not the coach and never will be. It's easy to say these things when you are not in the hot seat.

 

[broncsgoat]

I think it's absolute horse shit to somehow blame all our problems on Wayne. We looked like premiership contenders every single year Wayne has ever coached us and also averaged the 2nd highest win rate competition wide under his last tenure. He also transformed our squad from a bunch of plodders to having the best young forwards in the game with depth. The only thing he failed to do is get us a decent half back but that's more of a lack of supply than a demand issue. Boyd was signed for too long but that's equal fault of the the rest of the administration, Bennett does not hand out contracts or sign them off. Stop being delusional, obviously Paul White and the rest thought it was a worthwhile deal too.

It's all good to like Seibold and want him to do well, I like the guy and can't wait to see how he transforms our squad and playing culture, he's been crap so far but I totally understand the type of changes he wants is not something you can do in a month, he needs time to push his message consistently, do video reviews, explain to the same players over and over what he wants and how he wants it done. This all takes time and I'll only really be worried if come mid season we haven't shown significant improvements.

Right now a bunch of posters on this forum just sound like they're rooting for a political party, every problem is the old guys fault and every good thing is because of the new guy.

Honestly drop the bullshit, it's tiring to read that Bennett is the cause of every problem, he was a fucking excellent coach, the best coach to ever be in our game, our only premiership winning coach and he left us in great shape while being booted out the door by the club. It's now up to the current administration and coach to mould this team for the vision they see and I have great faith that they can do that given enough time. I also don't think any other coach aside from Bellamy would have been a better choice to replace Bennett.

I like this post a lot.

 

[FaithinHook]

Where does the attitude problem stem from? Left over from previous years, old players not leading by example, new players trying to fit in, young players being too arrogant, a half that's not a leader trying to lead, a captain who gives up too easily etc. Consequences for these attitudes will help but it won't fix everything. Each player responds differently and subsequently the whole team will react differently. What you don't want is players losing faith in the coach. That will rot the whole team.

I will say one thing. I am absolutely shattered that we had one of the best fullbacks in the competition, that could have possibly ended up being better than Slater, thrown into the halves. For me it's not too late to move Milford back there. What's wrong with having a genuine fullback stay there for his entire career? Milford single handedly won games playing from fullback. If I was the coach it is a change I would make immediately. But I am not the coach and never will be. It's easy to say these things when you are not in the hot seat.

Thanks for the reply Wilco. It really sounds worse than I had imagined. I thought the players would respond to a new coach, new ideas, new tactics etc. But sadly it seems many of these 'man-children' just do not have any emotional maturity whatsoever and instead choose to drop their bundle rather than respond in a positive manner and play to the best of their ability. What wasted years many of them will look back on with regret in the years to come for opportunities missed; i.e. premierships.

When does Seibold assert his authority and stop pandering to these players. Do they need their own 'safe spaces', the poor delicate flowers.

 

[broncsgoat]

Where does the attitude problem stem from? Left over from previous years, old players not leading by example, new players trying to fit in, young players being too arrogant, a half that's not a leader trying to lead, a captain who gives up too easily etc. Consequences for these attitudes will help but it won't fix everything. Each player responds differently and subsequently the whole team will react differently. What you don't want is players losing faith in the coach. That will rot the whole team.

I will say one thing. I am absolutely shattered that we had one of the best fullbacks in the competition, that could have possibly ended up being better than Slater, thrown into the halves. For me it's not too late to move Milford back there. What's wrong with having a genuine fullback stay there for his entire career? Milford single handedly won games playing from fullback. If I was the coach it is a change I would make immediately. But I am not the coach and never will be. It's easy to say these things when you are not in the hot seat.

He has singlehandedly won games from 6 as well.