NEWS Brisbane's tough finals reality a learning curve for Mariner

Broncos centre Deine Mariner said he would not view this season as a failure, even if his side do fall short of making the eight after featuring in last year’s grand final.

Their season started with so much promise after they had one hand on the trophy last year before a Nathan Cleary masterclass guided the Panthers to their third straight title, but Brisbane's finals hopes – while still intact – realistically hang by a thread, but Mariner said the belief was still in the squad they could return to the same heights as last season.

“Obviously, that was our goal from the beginning of the year just to make finals," Mariner said.

“It's been an up-and-down season, but we definitely still have got a chance and just try to build it off week-by-week for a finals appearance.

“(Getting the win in Round 23 against the Cowboys) finally (we) got some momentum.

“Hopefully we can just build off of that and get better, week by week as well.”

Now in his third season in the NRL, Mariner has been one of the shining lights for the Broncos with his attack and sits in the top three for tries scored having crossed for 17 so far.

He has also enjoyed his mid-season switch to centre, saying it is his preferred position – but one he was still learning how to master at the NRL level.

“Obviously NRL is hard and it's hard to be consistent, but that's something I'm working on and I'm always going to be confident to play centre because that's a preferred position for me,” Mariner said.

“Definitely happy with where I am at … that's a position I love playing, but at the end of the day, wherever the coaches think is best for the team, that’s where I am going to play.

“I played centre through pretty much my whole junior league, all the way to now.

“Wing was just a position to get some reps, I kind of had to build into centre (in the NRL) because it is a more defensive position more than wing, it's been a good transition and I'm still learning every week.”

Coming into this week’s game against the Eels having halted their slide of five losses in their past six games, but still needing to win all their remaining matches as well as hope results go their way, Mariner said the side were focussed on building from their big 42-18 upset win over the Cowboys in their last match before the bye.

However, even if they win all their remaining three matches, they could still miss out of a chance to avenge their grand final loss, but Mariner said he would not label his side’s performance this season as a failure.

“I wouldn't say (a) failed (season); more so kind of a learning curve,” Mariner said.

“There were some things this year that didn't go our way and it's just something we can build for next year if it comes to that.

“But as a team, we’re just taking it week-by-week, and obviously our goal is to make the grand final.

“Not having the same team week-to-week (has hurt the side), a lot of things changing and a lot of players play out of position can take a toll on the team.

“(It’s about) trying to find those right combinations.

“That's probably the only thing that's kind of let us down this year.”

NRL.com

 

[Renegade]

Deine please learn to concentrate for 80mins, the amount of times you switch off and lose your man in d is unacceptable.

 

[Trill Harrigan]

hey dean, get a heavy ritalin script and give one to piakura as well please

 

[wanis kawa]

I hope we will still gonna make the top 8.And i have faith the the remaining game all the result will be on our side.

 

[ningnangnong]

He even looks like he's switched off in the pic.

 

[Super Freak]

However, even if they win all their remaining three matches, they could still miss out of a chance to avenge their grand final loss, but Mariner said he would not label his side’s performance this season as a failure.

“I wouldn't say (a) failed (season); more so kind of a learning curve,” Mariner said.

That's concerning.

 

[Super Freak]

I hope we will still gonna make the top 8.And i have faith the the remaining game all the result will be on our side.

Pray for the Sharks to beat the Dragons and one of Eels or Raiders to beat them, as well.

 

[LittleDavey]

That's concerning.

Yup. So's this:

“Not having the same team week-to-week (has hurt the side), a lot of things changing and a lot of players play out of position can take a toll on the team. (It’s about) trying to find those right combinations. That's probably the only thing that's kind of let us down this year.”

Right, so you lot have played like turds all year because you've been missing players, that's the only reason? **** me this lot need to toughen up. Missing a few players is NO excuse for some of the dogshit served up by this team this year and I'd be fucking embarrassed if that came out of my mouth. Can you imagine Bellyache allowing that sort of attitude? "Oh we're missing a couple players so we played like U8's." GTFO.

This is another strike against Kev too though. No systems to fall back on = players coming in not knowing their job = everything falls to bits. Structure and systems = coaching job.

Player's headspace and mentally preparing them for games = coaching job also.

There's some really concerning things coming out of the club right now IMO.

 

[MrTickyMcG]

I’m curious to know what you think they should be saying. If you wanted them to be honest and say, “we have been shit for a large part of the season because we don’t want to work hard. I also switch off for big parts of the game so I need to improve on that.”

Would you be happy with that?

 

[Jedhead]

I’m curious to know what you think they should be saying. If you wanted them to be honest and say, “we have been shit for a large part of the season because we don’t want to work hard. I also switch off for big parts of the game so I need to improve on that.”

Would you be happy with that?

The self-awareness and candid honesty would quite a revelation, but I'm not sure many of them are capable. I have seen other players name team mates as being "space pilots" and simply incapable of focusing for longer than two minutes.

 

[Sproj]

Which press conference / interview from a coach not on his way out has ever said what they really think? Press conferences are full of cliches and hand waiving.

And honestly, even as bad as we've been, if we had anyone other than Sailor at fullback for three of our losses, we probably still win and are sitting 6th or 7th on the cusp of top four. That guy has been absolute trash this year.

 

[BroncsFan]

Which press conference / interview from a coach not on his way out has ever said what they really think? Press conferences are full of cliches and hand waiving.

And honestly, even as bad as we've been, if we had anyone other than Sailor at fullback for three of our losses, we probably still win and are sitting 6th or 7th on the cusp of top four. That guy has been absolute trash this year.

And we've literally had no one else in our depth that we can turn to other than Sailor.

Cobbo is next inline, but he's a starter... so more depth is needed... or hopefully we have a fullback coming through the grades that can be a stopgap until he ups and leaves Hoffman style

 

[Big Pete]

Which press conference / interview from a coach not on his way out has ever said what they really think? Press conferences are full of cliches and hand waiving.

And honestly, even as bad as we've been, if we had anyone other than Sailor at fullback for three of our losses, we probably still win and are sitting 6th or 7th on the cusp of top four. That guy has been absolute trash this year.

I don't think it's fair or accurate to scapegoat Sailor. He was poor, but he certainly wasn't alone and there were other contributing factors. Fans seem to forget that against the Warriors both Gosiewski and Baker suffered injuries early on. Baker tried to play through it but clearly wasn't 100% and became too much of a liability they had to bring him from the field. He hasn't played a game since despite being a stand-out in QCup.

It was a challenging period and I think even the best coaches would have struggled. However it also exposed a short-coming in Kevie's coaching and his preparation wasn't good enough. If you had any confidence in the team, you'd go into the Origin period expecting to lose Walsh, Cobbo, Staggs, Mam, Haas, Carrigan and Piakura. Kevie hardly did anything to address this and now he's seeing the results.

 

[Sproj]

I don't think it's fair or accurate to scapegoat Sailor. He was poor, but he certainly wasn't alone and there were other contributing factors. Fans seem to forget that against the Warriors both Gosiewski and Baker suffered injuries early on. Baker tried to play through it but clearly wasn't 100% and became too much of a liability they had to bring him from the field. He hasn't played a game since despite being a stand-out in QCup.

It was a challenging period and I think even the best coaches would have struggled. However it also exposed a short-coming in Kevie's coaching and his preparation wasn't good enough. If you had any confidence in the team, you'd go into the Origin period expecting to lose Walsh, Cobbo, Staggs, Mam, Haas, Carrigan and Piakura. Kevie hardly did anything to address this and now he's seeing the results.

What were you expecting him to do? I doubt Kevvie wanted to lose Capewell this season but he got an offer the club couldn't stand in the way of. They recruited Hunt and later Gosiewski which seemed pretty shrewd. Baker also should have been able to play a bit of backrow at a pinch.

We already had Hoeter and Pereira sitting there as back depth and also Oates plus Leota coming through. Unfortunately Leota is proving to be a bit of a spud unfortunately but who knows, maybe he will prove us all wrong. Hetherington should have been able to fill in for Carrigan but he's proven to really have regressed this year.

I don't think anyone expected Mam to really regress either but unfortunately he did. The question for me is why have so many regressed this year when they made fantastic progress last year? I think a longer preseason will help fix a lot of the issues and hopefully the Broncs' recruitment team actually does their jobs.

 

[BroncsFan]

I don't think it's fair or accurate to scapegoat Sailor. He was poor, but he certainly wasn't alone and there were other contributing factors. Fans seem to forget that against the Warriors both Gosiewski and Baker suffered injuries early on. Baker tried to play through it but clearly wasn't 100% and became too much of a liability they had to bring him from the field. He hasn't played a game since despite being a stand-out in QCup.

It was a challenging period and I think even the best coaches would have struggled. However it also exposed a short-coming in Kevie's coaching and his preparation wasn't good enough. If you had any confidence in the team, you'd go into the Origin period expecting to lose Walsh, Cobbo, Staggs, Mam, Haas, Carrigan and Piakura. Kevie hardly did anything to address this and now he's seeing the results.

I feel like he doesnt trust his depth to do the job he wants from them... mainly Baker and Hunt.

He seems to have more trust in Karapani off the bench than ever giving Hunt another go.

But beyond that he refuses to bring Patty off the field and always seems to have someone in the forwards that plays 15-20mins.

How does Kobe go from starting 13 and playing 80mins a couple years back, to 30mins off the bench.

It puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the pack to step up if you're going into a game and playing with 15-16 instead of a well balanced 17.

 

[Super Freak]

I don't expect Kevvie to say anything in an interview that's being done with Mariner.

Considering a couple of years ago they were happy to say not making finals was a failure, when you hear them trying to make excuses for why they haven't made it this year and trying to pass it off as not a failure, not something you want to hear.

 

[Big Pete]

What were you expecting him to do? I doubt Kevvie wanted to lose Capewell this season but he got an offer the club couldn't stand in the way of. They recruited Hunt and later Gosiewski which seemed pretty shrewd. Baker also should have been able to play a bit of backrow at a pinch.

This played out exactly as expected.

I would have expected a more seasoned coach to be more active in recruitment following the departure of Flegler and Farnworth. I also would have expected them to have their bases covered when Capewell asked for his release. To pretend that a prop forward like Jaiyden Hunt was adequate cover was delusional and Gosiewski was a panic buy.

Even with Capewell, to think a player like Brendan Piakura with his injury history could get through 24 games at 80 minutes was absurd.

Clearly, Kevie didn't cover all his bases and he paid for it.

We already had Hoeter and Pereira sitting there as back depth and also Oates plus Leota coming through.

With all due respect, all three guys are in the twilight of their careers. The word coming out of Red Hill is that Oates has been struggling with injuries since 2023 so the writing had to be on the wall. We've all seen Leota, the coach's should have known ahead of time that he has a long way to go and should have been looking elsewhere.

Sometimes you just have those seasons where the stars don't align and the roster is out of whack. Even the good coach's have seasons where they don't have the stocks they would like. Unfortunately for Kevie, it's not just one position, it's several and the lack of response has been concerning.

In 2022 I think there was reason to be optimistic for 2023 as the Broncos had Reece Walsh coming back and Farnworth was sorely missed in the back-half of '22. You could even consider the Origin campaign a learning experience and everyone would be better for it.

Fast forward and we're still waiting to see how Kevie plans to address this. It's going to take more than just an improved pre-season - every club is going to have a better pre-season, we still need to see some changes from the Broncos.

 

[Big Pete]

I feel like he doesnt trust his depth to do the job he wants from them... mainly Baker and Hunt.

He seems to have more trust in Karapani off the bench than ever giving Hunt another go.

But beyond that he refuses to bring Patty off the field and always seems to have someone in the forwards that plays 15-20mins.

How does Kobe go from starting 13 and playing 80mins a couple years back, to 30mins off the bench.

It puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the pack to step up if you're going into a game and playing with 15-16 instead of a well balanced 17.

I think it's because Patty is a key part of the attack. He's playing a more traditional lock role and works together with the halves to determine when it's time to play direct or expansive. Kobe only has one mode and that's shape one way before stepping in and finding his front.

Then again, I don't recall Kobe ever being an 80 minute player. I always thought he was more around 30-40ish minutes. That's going to be the challenge for him moving forward, improving his minutes and making himself a viable starter