NEWS Andrew McCullough’s complicated contract a headache for Broncos

[broncos4life]

We played well more than we played poorly. Our poor matches against weak opposition were always preceded by dispatching top 4 teams.

That’s very debatable, and if so it was a narrow margin. In any case there were multiple games where we played poorly outside of the dragons game so why no changes there?

 

[broncsgoat]

That’s very debatable, and if so it was a narrow margin. In any case there were multiple games where we played poorly outside of the dragons game so why no changes there?

Because for every poor performance there were good performances keeping the team together. I know niko was the invisible man at times last year but from all reports we simply didn’t have anyone better. Is that Wayne’s fault? Maybe, but we’ve also stockpiled some great young halves talent. We’ll never know what Wayne intended to do this year with Dearden, he may still not have played a game, but I also expect we would have been better positioned than we were when Seibs’ hand was forced.

 

[broncos4life]

Because for every poor performance there were good performances keeping the team together. I know niko was the invisible man at times last year but from all reports we simply didn’t have anyone better. Is that Wayne’s fault? Maybe, but we’ve also stockpiled some great young halves talent. We’ll never know what Wayne intended to do this year with Dearden, he may still not have played a game, but I also expect we would have been better positioned than we were when Seibs’ hand was forced.

How was his hand forced? He came in and gave Kodi some time to see if he could be the halfback we need (I would assume he already knew the answer but it would be a terrible look to do it straight away) and after that period where it was more than obvious Kodi couldn’t do it he pulled the trigger and made the hard call. How is that having his hand forced?

We didn’t have a replacement last year for Bennett to go to and that is his fault. Bennett did a hell of a lot of great things for this club and we are in this position with the forwards because of him and he deserves all the praise for that. My issue is you want Bennett to have all of the praise and none of the criticism but Seibold gets all of the criticism and none of the praise and it is just bullshit.

 

[Super Freak]

The fact that we didn't have anyone better to replace Kodi and Macca is absolutely Wayne Bennett's fault.

It's his job to recognize weaknesses and address those weaknesses. If he just simply could not recognize that they were a weakness, then that's even worse for the supercoach.

 

[tommy]

Few rounds into last year he declared that Kodi and Thaiday would not be getting dropped that season no matter what. Thaiday had been pretty awful for at least a year. He played Boyd the whole year when blind Freddy could see he wasn't fit.

 

[Jedhead]

Few rounds into last year he declared that Kodi and Thaiday would not be getting dropped that season no matter what. Thaiday had been pretty awful for at least a year. He played Boyd the whole year when blind Freddy could see he wasn't fit.

Looks like you're wearing a Souffs hoody mate. Are you Benny in disguise taking the piss?

 

[tommy]

Looks like you're wearing a Souffs hoody mate. Are you Benny in disguise taking the piss?

Nope......what do you mean?
[automerge]1558907237[/automerge]
Oh the profile pic haha

 

[Kyall]

Really trying to put Turpin down rather then put Macca up and I really hate this.
Turpin has made a huge difference because of movement he makes from dummy half and his tackles. Macca might make twice as many but his are just like a prop makes just to stop them. Turpin really gets into them and makes great leg shots especially and that gives us an extra bit of time to set our defencive line. I’m happy to accept a few extra penalties, we give away least in the comp. I love Turpins speed and movement around dummy half. Players are getting drawn in a lot more worrying about quick show and go. This also draws players closer to the play the ball to open a few more meters at times.
Macca has been a great clubman but why does he get years and years when Nikorima didn’t even get 2.
Turps and Segeyaro all the way to grand final baby.

 

[Super Freak]

The one thing I don't like about Turpin is the kicking.

He needs to just not worry about kicking anymore.

 

[broncsgoat]

How was his hand forced? He came in and gave Kodi some time to see if he could be the halfback we need (I would assume he already knew the answer but it would be a terrible look to do it straight away) and after that period where it was more than obvious Kodi couldn’t do it he pulled the trigger and made the hard call. How is that having his hand forced?

We didn’t have a replacement last year for Bennett to go to and that is his fault. Bennett did a hell of a lot of great things for this club and we are in this position with the forwards because of him and he deserves all the praise for that. My issue is you want Bennett to have all of the praise and none of the criticism but Seibold gets all of the criticism and none of the praise and it is just bullshit.

I just meant his hand was forced because Kodi's performance was poor and we were 2-6. He did make the call and it was correct and I commend him for that. He cant get credit for Turpin though. McCullough would still be playing had he not been injured. It will be a real litmus test when we know McC is healthy.

Like I said we don't know what Bennett's plans were for this year, but if we're going to go into a holding pattern for a year last year, the Kiwi 7 is a decent player to do it with.

 

[pagey]

I still haven't quite figured out the reason he persisted with Nikorima for so long and didn't really make any attempts to replace him long-term, like, we had a cameo from Benji, a couple of young Halfback depth signings that left a lot to be desired (O'Sullivan, Scarlett, Murphy & Dargan), but there was really no genuine attempt from him to sign a sure thing at Halfback to partner Milford.

A part of me thinks it was pure stubbornness, he wanted to make the Milford & Nikorima combination work because otherwise he'd look the fool for letting Taylor and (to a much lesser extent) Hunt walk when they were both more than happy to stay.

I have no doubt he would've shown the same stubbornness when it came to McCullough & Boyd as well, we wouldn't even be having this discussion about McCullough if Bennett was coach, because we'd know Macca would be back in the second he was at 60% fitness. I think Seibold is different, he's already proven that by acknowledging that the Milforima experiment had run it's course.

Hard to bring in dearden when it was impossible to , seibold had that luxury. The reason why the Broncos didn't go to the market was because they were always going to promote from within, and they thought milf would step up ( which he didn't).
Knik was always a stop gap , this bullshit about Bennett being stubborn and not wanting to it to succeed is a joke and one eyed.

 

[1910]

I have enjoyed watching Turpin but I have to wonder why he doesn’t seem to play this well in ISC. It just seems odd.

He hasn't exactly had a decent crack at it. He has broken his leg twice the first time was a compound fracture and took three months to come back. It means 40 games in five years of ISC.

His impact was clear in the GF last year, he controlled the ruck and tackled Easts out of it and brought the Dolphins forwards time and space which allowed them to attack Easts. Don't think he ran once just tackled and controlled.

Again in the State Championship his calf injury and Dolphins went to hell with him off.

He has played well for Falcons and Dolphins and was captain of Melbourne 20's. He's done plenty in lower grades.

 

[broncsgoat]

He kinda can take credit for Turpin. What did WB do? Played two props at hooker rather than look to his depth. WB would likely have looked to Alex Glenn.

Turpin did play two games last year.

 

[M.B.88]

The one thing I don't like about Turpin is the kicking.

He needs to just not worry about kicking anymore.

At least he's trying though. I'd rather him give himself a licence and work on his kicking game rather than give it up altogether. At least he has the awareness and confidence to put them in. He's still young.. it'll improve.

 

[Cult]

That’s very debatable, and if so it was a narrow margin. In any case there were multiple games where we played poorly outside of the dragons game so why no changes there?

because the reserves weren't good enough. That's where Bennett should be criticised. Bellamy is going through the same thing now with his halfbacks. But Bennett rectified it by signing the best young halves in the game at the moment

 

[Cult]

Few rounds into last year he declared that Kodi and Thaiday would not be getting dropped that season no matter what. Thaiday had been pretty awful for at least a year. He played Boyd the whole year when blind Freddy could see he wasn't fit.

Those players were our senior players. Players our young players look up to. We were already losing games we shouldn't have because of inexperience, we couldn't have added more young players than we already had. And who would you have had replace them? I am seeing lots of criticism but not a lot of fixes.

 

[broncsgoat]

because the reserves weren't good enough. That's where Bennett should be criticised. Bellamy is going through the same thing now with his halfbacks. But Bennett rectified it by signing the best young halves in the game at the moment

Yes. It was awkward timing. We could have attempted to sign a mediocre stop gap, or just play with the mediocre player we already had on our books and stockpile the best young talent in the game.

 

[Cult]

Yes. It was awkward timing. We could have attempted to sign a mediocre stop gap, or just play with the mediocre player we already had on our books and stockpile the best young talent in the game.

Exactly, and who should he have signed? We probably would have targeted Cronk had he been an option. We tried to get Taylor but couldn't afford him. DCE was signed for ten years. Nathan Cleary wasn't leaving Penrith. And our reserves were not good enough at the time. Or old enough