Ben Hunt's field goal woes

[Alec]

Milf should have taken control of that last set.

He shouldnt have gotten tackled on the 4th. There was no organization in the side. Neither Hunt nor Milford are capable of it atm.

 

[bazza]

I'm giving Milford some latitude as he has some in the bank, Milford is down on form but he's had to carry Hunt for the first 10 rounds. He's also got less experience in 1st grade and is substantially younger.

Apologise and make excuses all you want for Hunt but the bloke hit his skill ceiling last year, best case scenario he gets back to his best and becomes a dangerous ball runner.

He's 26 and doesn't look like becoming the half we need to balance the team correctly. I'm sorry Griffin delayed his development, doesn't mean we punish ourselves by keeping him on the books for another 7 years.

Milford has not been carrying Hunt. No one is carrying anyone. If anything, Hunt has taken a bit of a back seat and given Milford the time and space for him to shine with his running game. Milford has been receiving plenty of good ball from Hunt from first receiver so far.

Hunt is doing alright for a bloke who is getting 'carried' by Milford, to be able to notch up 15 try assists for the season (most in the NRL), 9 linebreaks (equal with Milford), 10 linebreak assists (equal with Milford), doing about double the amount of kicks as Milford, making almost double the amount of tackles as Milford, as well as scoring 4 of his own tries for good measure. Most of his stats are in the top 3, or thereabouts in terms of play makers, so I'm not sure who's carrying who.

 

[bazza]

I'm giving Milford some latitude as he has some in the bank, Milford is down on form but he's had to carry Hunt for the first 10 rounds. He's also got less experience in 1st grade and is substantially younger.

Apologise and make excuses all you want for Hunt but the bloke hit his skill ceiling last year, best case scenario he gets back to his best and becomes a dangerous ball runner.

He's 26 and doesn't look like becoming the half we need to balance the team correctly. I'm sorry Griffin delayed his development, doesn't mean we punish ourselves by keeping him on the books for another 7 years.

As for Milford having less experience, well, there not too far off in terms of playing in the halves. Milford has shown he lacks the same skills Hunt does. They're both still pretty raw as playmakers, and are quite far off from being the final product, but the only way they learn is through playing, and experiencing certain situations. No player is born with game management, its just a matter of learning it. Cooper Cronk is the best example.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Milford has not been carrying Hunt. No one is carrying anyone. If anything, Hunt has taken a bit of a back seat and given Milford the time and space for him to shine with his running game. Milford has been receiving plenty of good ball from Hunt from first receiver so far.

Hunt is doing alright for a bloke who is getting 'carried' by Milford, to be able to notch up 15 try assists for the season (most in the NRL), 9 linebreaks (equal with Milford), 10 linebreak assists (equal with Milford), doing about double the amount of kicks as Milford, making almost double the amount of tackles as Milford, as well as scoring 4 of his own tries for good measure. Most of his stats are in the top 3, or thereabouts in terms of play makers, so I'm not sure who's carrying who.

Dayyyyyyyym

 

[Fernando]

Milford getting tackled on the fourth and Hunt running the ball to the sideline were equally bad (not to mention Blair, whatever the hell he was doing..). It was like neither wanted the responsibility of kicking the field goal which is a big worry.

Hunt flat out sucks at kicking so I kind of get it, even though it doesn't bode well for the team, but I thought Milford was the type of player that would be desperate to make up for the sitter he missed last week.

 

[gordjw]

Blair seemed to be expecting a runner up the middle. Which is where you'd go to setup the FG.

 

[Stix]

Milford getting tackled on the fourth and Hunt running the ball to the sideline were equally bad (not to mention Blair, whatever the hell he was doing..). It was like neither wanted the responsibility of kicking the field goal which is a big worry.

Hunt flat out sucks at kicking so I kind of get it, even though it doesn't bode well for the team, but I thought Milford was the type of player that would be desperate to make up for the sitter he missed last week.

It's been said plenty of times before, the good playmakers want the ball in those moments, they scream for it

 

[Maroon4life]

As for Milford having less experience, well, there not too far off in terms of playing in the halves. Milford has shown he lacks the same skills Hunt does. They're both still pretty raw as playmakers, and are quite far off from being the final product, but the only way they learn is through playing, and experiencing certain situations. No player is born with game management, its just a matter of learning it. Cooper Cronk is the best example.

You make some good points no doubt, however Hunt is 26 and the idea of us having to school a 26 year old in game management (which as you just stated, takes a while) is poor business. Lets be honest, Hunt's instinctive game play does not lean toward game management nor the conventional attributes that you see in a genuine well rounded half a la Thurston/Cronk/Johns/Lockyer.

Seeing as you also opened the book on Cronk (probably the gauge by which we measure contemporary halfback's) at age 22 he was already a decorated halfback, Hunt is 26, let's not forget that part of it all.

 

[bazza]

You make some good points no doubt, however Hunt is 26 and the idea of us having to school a 26 year old in game management (which as you just stated, takes a while) is poor business. Lets be honest, Hunt's instinctive game play does not lean toward game management nor the conventional attributes that you see in a genuine well rounded half a la Thurston/Cronk/Johns/Lockyer.

Seeing as you also opened the book on Cronk (probably the gauge by which we measure contemporary halfback's) at age 22 he was already a decorated halfback, Hunt is 26, let's not forget that part of it all.

Yes, its not ideal, but everyone develops at a different rate. He's made improvements in other areas within the last two seasons alone, which says to me he works hard, and he will get there in terms of game management.

I think the way to go is get some specialist one on one training/coaching/mentoring from Lockyer, I don't understand why we don't use his tremendous knowledge and wealth of experience in some sort of coaching capacity. I know Lockyer would not turn down helping out the halves, but it's almost as if he's never really been approached about it. He's too polite to just waltz in and start working with them, but with the loss of Walter's tactical nous, it baffles me why we haven't replaced him with anyone of equal or better football smarts.

Just a few sessions working with Lockyer, specifically on fifth tackle options in various different scenarios, such as in different parts of the field, what to do at different stages of a game, as well as other minor things he is currently getting wrong, will make the world of difference.

 

[Sproj]

Hunt is actually having a good season, just not quite as dominant as last year, not far off though either. We've lost a few games by a combined 5 points despite spluttering. The origin period will be unsettling but if we get through with few to no injuries, this team will be smoking come finals time. The next 8 weeks though will be tough and everyone has to kind of expect that.

 

[Browny]

The biggest issue is the headless chooks approach in these situations.

Hunt or Milf needs to take charge and position the play

 

[Foordy]

Milf was tackled on the 4th and then they spread it out to the right on the last. Not really fair to blame Milf for that IMO.

We shouldn't have waited for the last tackle to have a shot ...

We were in a decent position for an attempt on the 3rd tackle ... thats when Milf should have dropped back and had a shot at field goal.

but instead, we run the ball and then give it to Hunt on the last, and he was never in a position to attempt it.


From where I was sitting at the ground, it appeared as if the Tigers had plenty of offside players throughout that last set, yet no penalty was forthcoming

 

[I bleed Maroon]

It may just sound like sour grapes, but it seems to me like there is a distinct effort by the NRL to even out the competition going on at the moment. The Broncos and Cowboys have gone from being 1st and 2nd by a long way to 3rd and 4th and 4 points away from the top 2 even before Origin truly arrives. All Brisbane's losses have been from extremely tight scorelines, and as Foordy said above, some of those involved situations where we should have gotten a penalty and didn't. The two points would have been the difference every time. The Cows losses have been equally tight or pretty comprehensive once in the case of the Storm but that's it. Otherwise they just seemed to have slipped as much as we have. So Brisbane and Nth QLD began burning/flattening out at exactly the same time? Really?

 

[LittleDavey]

**** me you lot are quick to write off a bloke who had to benchwarm and play second-string hooker for fucking years. A bloke who repeatedly signed with us to come off the bench for 20mins a game, stuck behind Prince/Wallace/Norman, despite being Aust schoolboys halfback. How was he meant to work on his game management during those years?? It's essentially his 3rd year at NRL-level halfback FFS, and he's clearly still coming to terms with having the amazing Milf around and not having to do everything himself a-la 2014.

You're also quick to jump on a bloke with some of the best stats in the game for some of the key halfback skills (TA's etc). He's right up there with the best in the business so far this year despite his somewhat indifferent form.

Having said that, he's definitely for mine an instinctive player and kicking has never been his strong point. I think Milf *can* become the organiser a-la Thurston, Cronk, etc, and have a great kicking game to boot (geddit?!?!) Hunt is at his best running strongly, taking advantage of what he sees (be it short blind sides, a tired defender etc) and putting his runners through holes (Gillett). We need to work on combos with Roberts too as constantly mentioned in here..

He tried real hard the other night, he was visibly frustrated. I think some of our key players need a bit of mental work atm, with Hunt looking so frustrated and Milf looking a bit....I dunno, unhappy? In any case, I don't think the pile-on on Hunt is warranted IMO. Yes it's a bit of a concern, but I feel he can be back to his best with a confidence boost. Are there better halves out there? Of course. Is he one of the top 8? Probably, despite his shortcomings. We can't have the best players in the comp in every position.

 

[Super Freak]

Look at Hunt's stats considering his form.

Imagine what he'll be like when he finally reaches top form..

 

[Nashy]

It may just sound like sour grapes, but it seems to me like there is a distinct effort by the NRL to even out the competition going on at the moment. The Broncos and Cowboys have gone from being 1st and 2nd by a long way to 3rd and 4th and 4 points away from the top 2 even before Origin truly arrives. All Brisbane's losses have been from extremely tight scorelines, and as Foordy said above, some of those involved situations where we should have gotten a penalty and didn't. The two points would have been the difference every time. The Cows losses have been equally tight or pretty comprehensive once in the case of the Storm but that's it. Otherwise they just seemed to have slipped as much as we have. So Brisbane and Nth QLD began burning/flattening out at exactly the same time? Really?

You wouldn't be the first person to believe the NRL/NSWRL aren't absolutely loving the two QLD teams that ruined their GF last year are being fucked over in Origin.

 

[mitch222]

Positioning of team mates in the set up to a field goal is crucial and sometimes we lack it.
The milf fg in the rnd 4 cowboys game was a perfect setup and he nailed it however, hunts one against the tigers was kind of on the fly.

 

[mitch222]

Look at Hunt's stats considering his form.

Imagine what he'll be like when he finally reaches top form..

If he lived up to the extremely high expectations some people have on here with his form, we wont get beaten what so ever by any team.