NEWS Andrew McCullough’s complicated contract a headache for Broncos

[McHunt]

The post was clearly about Turpin and he is relevant to any discussion about Macca. It wasn’t even particularly critical of Turpin but brought up something different about him. Every week in threads about games that weekend you bring up Macca despite him not playing at the moment so maybe you should pull your head in. I really hope Seibs picks Macca as soon as he’s fit just to make you cry.

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind next time I post about Macca in a Macca thread.
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Some people are like that. They thrive under pressure or the big stage. Anyone who’s played sport knows of a time they lifted their performance if they get moved up to A grade. Same thing happens in Origin. Gagai is a prime example

Turps obviously is excited to get his shot, and playing around better players lifts people almost by default

Turpin lifts the rest of the team. If you only looked at his stats you wouldn't realize what a great team player he is. If you look at Macca's stats alone, you might think he's the team MVP.

 

[broncsgoat]

Rubbish, yes Dearden was 17, but he had other halfbacks in the club. He COULD have played Turpin, never did. He could have dropped Roberts etc, but never did.

It’s not ‘dishonest’ it’s the furtherest thing from it. It is straight up fact. Wayne didn’t try anything when his team kept performing poorly, he doubled-down on his way.

We played well more than we did poorly last year.

 

[Big Pete]

The truth with Bennett is somewhere in the middle.

I thought Bennett's recruiment in 2015-16 was quite strong, making the necessary changes while bringing through a slew of young players. Signings such as Roberts, Pangai Jr, Isaako, Ese'ese, Haas etc. boded well for Wayne. The only black mark was letting Taylor skip out a year early, a decision I didn't like at the time and despite Taylor's poor form I still don't like.

Then 2017 happened and the Broncos lost their way. It seemed like the club stopped recruiting any worthwhile blue chip prospects and just started signing a bunch of stop-gap players to try and win a premiership then and there. The Broncos also had half their roster off contract and they didn't navigate those negotiations well. I could understand re-signing McCullough and Boyd just to give other players some clarity and take a better look at the market without so many players off contract, but offering them four year deals was ridiculous. Re-signing Matt Gillett on a four year deal a year after was also ridiculous, especially when he was coming off a fractured neck and a major surgery for his shoulder.

It just seemed like Bennett took his foot off the accelerator and it was just enough time to let clubs like Melbourne, Sydney, Cronulla and Souths to swoop in and take their spot as a marquee club. The less said about signing Jack Bird on marquee money the better.

While mistakes were made, it would be disingenous to suggest he wasn't planning for the future. The Broncos blooded five players last year and even more were making names for themselves in the lower grades. The future is looking bright at the club and the players who have shined at the club have been Bennett signings.

Again, Bennett is history, but I think he left Brisbane in a good place and had a plan for the future.

As far as McCullough is concerned, I hope Jake Turpin and James Segeyaro make it difficult for him to return to the side. Dummy Half is one of the toughest positions to play and a few good games doesn't make a career, so I hope those two don't give the coach any reason for them to be dropped. So far, they're doing great.

 

[Jason Simmons]

We played well more than we did poorly last year.

Except when it actually mattered...

 

[Accept]

Rubbish, yes Dearden was 17, but he had other halfbacks in the club. He COULD have played Turpin, never did. He could have dropped Roberts etc, but never did.

It’s not ‘dishonest’ it’s the furtherest thing from it. It is straight up fact. Wayne didn’t try anything when his team kept performing poorly, he doubled-down on his way.

What other half backs? Murphy, Scarlett, Dargan? Hardly sound options there. Turpin hardly set the ISC alight last year (nor has he ever) and gets way too much press on here. If you rate a 15-9 record as performing poorly then I eagerly await your description when they don't get close to that this year.

These Bennett/Seibold comparisons have got to cease. It's like comparing Wendell Sailor to Jonus Pearson. I know we are all hoping that Seibs will create a dynasty similar to the 90's and if he does succeed then the comparisons will then be valid. This "Bennett reaping the rewards of what Seibs created at Souths" talk is in the extreme and it is extremely disrespectful to WB not to mention embarrassing to read on what is a reputable chat forum.

 

[Cult]

Rubbish, yes Dearden was 17, but he had other halfbacks in the club. He COULD have played Turpin, never did. He could have dropped Roberts etc, but never did.

It’s not ‘dishonest’ it’s the furtherest thing from it. It is straight up fact. Wayne didn’t try anything when his team kept performing poorly, he doubled-down on his way.

Probably because we weren’t performing badly for weeks on end. He did pick Turpin, when McCullough was out. Just like Seibold has. Probably because until recently, Turpin hasn’t been up to standard. Who were the halfbacks he could have selected and how many games have you or most of the other people on here calling for their selection seen?

 

[M.B.88]

I think Macca is the one player that would lift most of the clubs he would go to. He has been average playing 80 minutes, giving us an extra slot on the bench to use in whatever way we see fit.
We blame him for that. The truth is that not one more line break from dummy half or magical pass has been done by Turpin than has been done by Macca. Macca has played through injury when we had no one and turpin had been aweful in Q cup.
Turpin has had an extended run and is playing good now. He is given the chance to play 60 minutes of good football. Remember the last time we did that. It was when macca was coming back from injury. When we did it with knik off the bench it worked so well, people were saying he should be the hooker, then the half.
Before too long these stints from Saguaro will have people asking why we play Turpin at all, and not just play Saguaro from the start. The point is if you play a utility off the bench the options open up from dummy half. It has very little to do with who plays there.
What should really concern people is that we look better in attack because our halves are not offering enough to be a threat by themselves. That run by Milford was good show-and-go against a couple of tired forwards but we shouldn't kid ourselves that our halves are performing any better than when Knik was there.
Dearden is too early to judge at this stage and will need the off-season to embed himself into this more structured style of play, but Milford hasn't improved in 4 years, with one exception: his kicking. Even that is up and down, and although I couldn't see the game, was described as woeful by the radio commentators.
We need to address that.

Yeah.
You didn't see the game.
Nuff said
Gtfooh with your analysis if you didn't see shit for yourself

 

[broncsgoat]

Except when it actually mattered...

Yeah Wayne really should have made changes to the team after the finals match against st George

 

[Jason Simmons]

Probably because we weren’t performing badly for weeks on end. He did pick Turpin, when McCullough was out. Just like Seibold has. Probably because until recently, Turpin hasn’t been up to standard. Who were the halfbacks he could have selected and how many games have you or most of the other people on here calling for their selection seen?

Todd Murphy, Sam Scarlett or Troy Dargan, our depth in 2018... Move Knick to hooker or to the bench, just as he did with Hunt a year or two earlier. Give Milf more responsibility as the playmaker Bennett wanted him to be and so on...

In other words, pretty much what we have done this year, except obviously with someone other than Dearden.

But nope, Wayne the almighty knew better. Until it was shown publicly that in fact he didn’t.

 

[Cult]

Todd Murphy, Sam Scarlett or Troy Dargan, our depth in 2018... Move Knick to hooker or to the bench, just as he did with Hunt a year or two earlier. Give Milf more responsibility as the playmaker Bennett wanted him to be and so on...

In other words, pretty much what we have done this year, except obviously with someone other than Dearden.

But nope, Wayne the almighty knew better. Until it was shown publicly that in fact he didn’t.

So how many games did you see Murphy, Scarlett or Dargan play last year? It's a simple question

 

[Big Pete]

The issue with Jake last year is that he broke his ankle early on and missed three months of footy. When Wayne picked him for the Gold Coast game, it was on a wing and a prayer.

Similarly, Dargan missed the opening of the season and played second fiddle to Ahearn at the Devils.

Murphy wasn't the style of halfback the Broncos wanted and really needed him to develop as a 9 but Smith had different plans. Scarlett was the other alternative and while I would have been keen to see him play a game, he wasn't exactly playing as well as he is for the Seagulls.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Yeah Wayne really should have made changes to the team after the finals match against st George

The signs have been there for years mate. There have been two years worth of articles and countless television episodes of NRL talk about how Milf and Kodi were far too similar. Everyone could see it except Wayne apparently when he obstinately refused to change anything.

Some weeks he could get us up, many he couldn’t and as a team we were going backwards. We did worse in 2018 than we did in 2017. We did worse in 2016 than we did in 2015 and so on...

 

[Big Pete]

The truth with Bennett is somewhere in the middle.

I thought Bennett's recruiment in 2015-16 was quite strong, making the necessary changes while bringing through a slew of young players. Signings such as Roberts, Pangai Jr, Isaako, Ese'ese, Haas etc. boded well for Wayne. The only black mark was letting Taylor skip out a year early, a decision I didn't like at the time and despite Taylor's poor form I still don't like.

Then 2017 happened and the Broncos lost their way. It seemed like the club stopped recruiting any worthwhile blue chip prospects and just started signing a bunch of stop-gap players to try and win a premiership then and there. The Broncos also had half their roster off contract and they didn't navigate those negotiations well. I could understand re-signing McCullough and Boyd just to give other players some clarity and take a better look at the market without so many players off contract, but offering them four year deals was ridiculous. Re-signing Matt Gillett on a four year deal a year after was also ridiculous, especially when he was coming off a fractured neck and a major surgery for his shoulder.

It just seemed like Bennett took his foot off the accelerator and it was just enough time to let clubs like Melbourne, Sydney, Cronulla and Souths to swoop in and take their spot as a marquee club. The less said about signing Jack Bird on marquee money the better.

While mistakes were made, it would be disingenous to suggest he wasn't planning for the future. The Broncos blooded five players last year and even more were making names for themselves in the lower grades. The future is looking bright at the club and the players who have shined at the club have been Bennett signings.

Again, Bennett is history, but I think he left Brisbane in a good place and had a plan for the future.

As far as McCullough is concerned, I hope Jake Turpin and James Segeyaro make it difficult for him to return to the side. Dummy Half is one of the toughest positions to play and a few good games doesn't make a career, so I hope those two don't give the coach any reason for them to be dropped. So far, they're doing great.

I found it difficult to work in, but I did want to give Bennett credit for Lodge. If Lodge had have failed last year, he would have been made to never live that down by the media and the fanbase alike. The fact Lodge is now in the discussion for a potential Origin spot is a credit to Bennett and his belief in rehabilitation.

 

[Jason Simmons]

So how many games did you see Murphy, Scarlett or Dargan play last year? It's a simple question

In QRL, a few but couldn’t say exactly how many. The point is not what I would have done, but rather the actual coach who changed nothing, let the team slide backwards relative to the rest of the comp, recruited no-one to fix our clearly deficient spine and then had the nerve to suggest he was hard done by... Ironically enough virtually the same thing Griffin did that warranted his sacking, albeit Griffin handled it with far more decency and class than Wayne has...

Now that he is at Souths I don’t see him rushing to change what is actually a well balanced spine for something resembling what he left us with, but at the time tried to convince everyone it was the ‘best’ option...
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I found it difficult to work in, but I did want to give Bennett credit for Lodge. If Lodge had have failed last year, he would have been made to never live that down by the media and the fanbase alike. The fact Lodge is now in the discussion for a potential Origin spot is a credit to Bennett and his belief in rehabilitation.

Yep me too. Not against everything Bennett did obviously, but our team’s overall performance went backwards and if that is not on the coach, then who?

 

[Cult]

In QRL, a few but couldn’t say exactly how many. The point is not what I would have done, but rather the actual coach who changed nothing, let the team slide backwards relative to the rest of the comp, recruited no-one to fix our clearly deficient spine and then had the nerve to suggest he was hard done by... Ironically enough virtually the same thing Griffin did that warranted his sacking, albeit Griffin handled it with far more decency and class than Wayne has...

Now that he is at Souths I don’t see him rushing to change what is actually a well balanced spine for something resembling what he left us with, but at the time tried to convince everyone it was the ‘best’ option...

Obviously not enough to know that they were also performing worse than Nikorima was in first grade. Maybe criticize him for signing those halves or whatever, but they simply weren't good enough to overthrow Kodi Nikorima. That's saying a lot. Bennett actively searched for another half in O'Sullivan for the 2019 season that he was signed to coach during. We went backwards due to many reasons, bringing in a bunch of young players who couldn't perform week in, week out was one of the main reasons and you wanted more of them? Underperforming young players at that?

 

[Jason Simmons]

The issue with Jake last year is that he broke his ankle early on and missed three months of footy. When Wayne picked him for the Gold Coast game, it was on a wing and a prayer.

Similarly, Dargan missed the opening of the season and played second fiddle to Ahearn at the Devils.

Murphy wasn't the style of halfback the Broncos wanted and really needed him to develop as a 9 but Smith had different plans. Scarlett was the other alternative and while I would have been keen to see him play a game, he wasn't exactly playing as well as he is for the Seagulls.

And that is fair enough, but again, the buck stops with Wayne, just as it does with Seibold and did with Griffin.

If the performance isn’t up to scratch and is getting worse relative to the top teams, then something has to change. Either our expectations or the roster or the coach. None of the above changed after we were smashed 30 nil by Melbourne in 2017.

Should we accept the likes of Cult3 who appears to think nothing should have changed after we were smashed by the Dragons in 2018, either?

Just keep going on this path of getting smashed by whoever we happen to play in the finals and all is well?

 

[Cult]

In QRL, a few but couldn’t say exactly how many. The point is not what I would have done, but rather the actual coach who changed nothing, let the team slide backwards relative to the rest of the comp, recruited no-one to fix our clearly deficient spine and then had the nerve to suggest he was hard done by... Ironically enough virtually the same thing Griffin did that warranted his sacking, albeit Griffin handled it with far more decency and class than Wayne has...

Now that he is at Souths I don’t see him rushing to change what is actually a well balanced spine for something resembling what he left us with, but at the time tried to convince everyone it was the ‘best’ option...
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Yep me too. Not against everything Bennett did obviously, but our team’s overall performance went backwards and if that is not on the coach, then who?

He did nothing? Our current forward pack is one of the best groups of young forwards I've ever seen. He got rid of plenty of undeserving players to make this team. You can't just drop half of your team when they're not even performing that badly. The last game of the season was not indicative of our season, no matter how hard you want to push it.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Obviously not enough to know that they were also performing worse than Nikorima was in first grade. Maybe criticize him for signing those halves or whatever, but they simply weren't good enough to overthrow Kodi Nikorima. That's saying a lot. Bennett actively searched for another half in O'Sullivan for the 2019 season that he was signed to coach during. We went backwards due to many reasons, bringing in a bunch of young players who couldn't perform week in, week out was one of the main reasons and you wanted more of them? Underperforming young players at that?

No, what I’m saying is I wanted an improved performance from the team. If Wayne couldn’t find a better halfback than Kodi in the entire NRL, just as he apparently couldn’t find a better hooker than McCullough, then perhaps he should have been sacked before last year...