Broncos Roster, Signings and Rumours Discussion 2023

[Wolfie]

I was trying to throw the kid a bone. I don’t think he is an NRL player period tbh. He’d get a start as a SL fullback if he keeps improving his catching. That’s about it unfortunately.

I think Superleague is beyond him right now. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

 

[007]

I am waiting to see him with a full preseason .
Full backs need cardio .

Wanna put 100k on it?

 

[NSW stables]

Which is why getting out 9 right is so important. Both Walsh and Mam tend to go for the glory play and Reynolds is targeted relentlessly by the opposition because he is the only mature head out there in the spine. I really hope Smoothy hits the ground running here but while he has experience at Q Cup, he also is a rookie at NRL level. I reckon this is why Kevvie keeps going back to Walters (and Turpin this year), he's trying to balance the age / experience level of the spine, albeit with mediocre players.

Walsh is coming into his third season of first grade now though effectively, so hopefully he is starting to get into his stride.

I watched a few falcon games and one thing I noticed that smoothy does (particularly in the oppositions half) is that he looks at the defensive line when he is awaiting the play the ball. It is good to see that he is reading the defence and looking for attacking opportunities.

He doesnt seem to have that long pass out of dummy half, and he won't be busting the line with speed out of dummy half but he looks to be a mature (even though he is quite young himself), high percentage no frills player which you need in a young team with consistency issues.

 

[Sproj]

I watched a few falcon games and one thing I noticed that smoothy does (particularly in the oppositions half) is that he looks at the defensive line when he is awaiting the play the ball. It is good to see that he is reading the defence and looking for attacking opportunities.

He doesnt seem to have that long pass out of dummy half, and he won't be busting the line with speed out of dummy half but he looks to be a mature (even though he is quite young himself), high percentage no frills player which you need in a young team with consistency issues.

I've watched him a bit and I've been very impressed, however the point still stands, he is another inexperienced spine member.

 

[Swordfish]

Which is why getting out 9 right is so important. Both Walsh and Mam tend to go for the glory play and Reynolds is targeted relentlessly by the opposition because he is the only mature head out there in the spine. I really hope Smoothy hits the ground running here but while he has experience at Q Cup, he also is a rookie at NRL level. I reckon this is why Kevvie keeps going back to Walters (and Turpin this year), he's trying to balance the age / experience level of the spine, albeit with mediocre players.

Walsh is coming into his third season of first grade now though effectively, so hopefully he is starting to get into his stride.

I reckon coming back to Brisse & being surrounded by blokes he’s close with should do a world of good for his wellbeing. He would definitely have change of attitude to life and footy given his circumstances in the past 2 years.
All in all, I am expecting a slow BUT steady start from him until mid season to find his feet here. It would be after that he would start to hit big strides with us and by season end, he would surely be in the top 3 players for us.

 

[Fitzy]

I reckon offensively he will thrive with us. Hopefully he can drop 10-15 errors over the course of the season just from natural development. Might even drop some more coming into a slightly better environment in terms of high risk situations will be decreasing. Defensively as well if we can teach him to be loud and have good defensive communications and be able to set a defensive line, we will be able to hide his deficiencies in that area as well as possible. I think he could be very good for us.

 

[Jedhead]

It's a well worn statement, and it is uttered repeatedly by wise old coaches, players who could play a bit and people who have a good understanding of our game.

Get your defence right and the rest of your game will follow.

Reece needs to spend a few months in the gym and the sand pit with someone like Gilly and concentrate fully on improving his tackling technique. The rest will take care of itself as his number of games increase.

 

[McHunt]

You can't get past the nepotism aspect of it, anything he does on the field is completely irrelevant to you based on his last name. Having a discussion with you about Billy Walters in any football sense is a complete waste of time. The issues you have aren't football related.

I never mentioned it. You did.

My opinion is the bloke isn't good enough. Your opinion is I think that because his father is the coach. No amount of repeating the same shit to you makes the slightest difference.

Let's hope his dad picks someone else for a change and then you can quit dribbling piss all over your pyjama pants every time his name is mentioned.

 

[McHunt]

So to sort of go back to the topic of Walsh (sort of spoken about sort of earlier sort of), how do we think he will go back at the Broncs next year?

A lot of us will fixate on some one-on-one tackles he missed - the lot of every fullback - while others will point out he ran halfway across the field to be there, above and beyond his job description. But mostly, he will bring security under the high ball, and his continuous roving will result in more tries. He will own the position and we'll mostly be bellyaching about someone else.

 

[McHunt]

It's a well worn statement, and it is uttered repeatedly by wise old coaches, players who could play a bit and people who have a good understanding of our game.

Get your defence right and the rest of your game will follow.

To a point. Floundering aimlessly ten metres out also cost us a top eight position. Other than some nice combinations between Reynolds, Staggs and the wingers, our tries mostly came from solo plays. We don't pose much threat up the middle with the ball. Or as much as we should.

 

[McHunt]

I dont see an NRL player in him at all anywhere at the moment. He lacks the basics for fullback, he lacks the defence and physicality that a modern day center needs and i dont see him as a To'o style winger as again, he lacks the physicality. He's a fullback or nothing imo. Needs to get the basics down pat for fullback and go from there.

The basics he lacks at fullback repeat themselves on the wing, and he's back of the queue in the centres for most of the same reasons.

That's why I see the only position left for him is 14. If you protest he lacks the brain capacity to learn how to run up from dummy half and be third in a tackle, try learning to be cool under the high ball and defend at fullback. If he can't figure out that's the position he needs to master in the off season, and he clings to the fantasi he can become an elite fullback, then he's gone from the club. He won't play a game in 2023.

What limited skills he has are infinitely more threatening than Walters and Paix. The question is slow moving defence. Really not the hardest skill to learn, especially for someone with his build.

 

[McHunt]

I've watched him a bit and I've been very impressed, however the point still stands, he is another inexperienced spine member.

I like that he keeps the momentum moving. That, some grubbers, and the odd 40-20, might be all we need.

 

[Foordy]

so with George Burgess being granted his release from the Dragons, what would people think about us possibly offering him a minimum wage lifeline to take the role vacated by James.

 

[Bongo]

so with George Burgess being granted his release from the Dragons, what would people think about us possibly offering him a minimum wage lifeline to take the role vacated by James.

No thanks. Certainly not until the legal matter is resolved.

 

[BooKhaki]

so with George Burgess being granted his release from the Dragons, what would people think about us possibly offering him a minimum wage lifeline to take the role vacated by James.

He will be offered more than min wage by several clubs. I'd have no issue signing him.

 

[Kimlo]

so with George Burgess being granted his release from the Dragons, what would people think about us possibly offering him a minimum wage lifeline to take the role vacated by James.

I thought his hip was gone and couldn't get to peak fitness or something. If he's fit/healthy, I'd gladly give him 250k for a 12 month deal to prove himself.

 

[GCBRONCO]

 

[Sproj]

Well, I guess we see if coaching has been his problem all along, he has one of the very best now.