Broncos Vs. Dragons - Match Thread

[ethos]

Very happy with the effort tonight. As Gould kept saying during the commentary, the Dragons beat us with experience and class in the backline. The forwards held their own - throw in Hodges, Folau etc and I honestly think we would have had them beaten.

Lui was our best prop I thought.

I'm still not sold on Norman at fullback. The good old second man play created some space tonight but when he got the ball he took the wrong option on a few occasions and the play died. He just lack a bit of intensity. And, to be honest, at the moment I'd rather have Hoffman at the back.

 

[Kimlo]

Is it just me or does Norman not pass enough?
So many there appears to be a chance for a try to get on but he holds the ball and gets tackled with it.

 

[lyn]

1. Corey Norman- Was solid overall and great in defence as usual. Needs to get more involved but I think that will improve with experience. I have plenty of time for Norman, we need to stick with him. He will be something special.
18. Hoffman- He was quiet.
3. Copley- Was fairly quiet but is a good prospect.
2. Beale- He was solid. Not too bad, not too great. Would like to see a bit more effort in D.
5. Rivett- Gives 100% and is a solid finisher.
6. Lockyer- Best game this season. Led the team well.
7. Wallace- Was solid. With a bit more time I think his combo with Locky will come back to life.
8. SIms- Solid but can do a lot better. Fire up and play like the crazy man we all saw late last year!
9. McCullough- Great defence and solid attack. Will just continue to improve. Don't forget he has only been playing hooker for like 1.5 years or so. He has a lot of improvement in him yet.
10. Anderson- Worked hard but was a bit quieter than in previous games. He has surprised me though and turned out to be a good buy.
11. Setu- Came out hard in attack but then does some stupid shit in defence. The past 2 weeks he has rushed out of the line when we were on our own line which resulted in a try. Forget shoulder charges mate.
12. Thaiday- He has really stepped it up a gear this year. He was amazing. Like everyone else said, he tends to do a bit much and get in the way sometimes. I think he just thinks he needs to be a leader and is trying to do too much IMO. Dominated Creagh and showed him who the better second rower is.
4. Glenn- Had an impressive game. I liked him more when he moved out to the centres than at lock today actually.

13- Gillet- Continues to impress. Over the first 5 games he has consistently been one of our best.
14- Hunt- I thought he actually added something from hooker tonight. I have been against having him on the bench for McCullough but I wouldn't mind them to continue it for a little while. Also the more game time Hunt gets the better.
15. Dodds- Finally manned up and hit the ball up. He is an amazing defender and hits extremely hard.
17- Lui - I have been calling for him to get a shot and I thought his debut was very impressive. Runs hard and hits harder.

 

[db1459]

4. Glenn- Had an impressive game. I liked him more when he moved out to the centres than at lock today actually.

I have a feeling that Glenn is going to develop into a centre rather than a backrower. He has good defence out wide, good speed and runs some good lines. Reminds me a little bit of Willie Tonga.

 

[Dexter]

Can't fault the effort tonight, big challenge for the young guys to go back to back mentally.
Agree with everyone re Thaiday.

Copley had his moments but first grade is no place to learn not to turn your back in defense, juvenile error.

Norman will be better for these 5 games but time to give Hoff a go.

Beale wing at best.

Hunt looked like he had an idea and time when he was on, but how do you get him field time?

Rivett, just not there yet.

Next week we look that little bit stronger with the return of Teo Winter Kenny Izzy and possibly Yow Yeh

 

[Big_Dave]

We call him Pop Rivet in QLD cup. He leaves holes!

 

[shadow]

most of their tries were scored on lockyer, beale and rivett's mistakes.

disappointed copley got taken off, or was he injured? beale and rivett have to go when we get players back

priddis was great tonight, made mccollough look bad in comparison...

 

[ethos]

I know stats don't tell the whole story but there are some interesting ones from last night.

Sims and Anderson both played 38 minutes, Lui played 35. Sims had 8 runs for 71m, Anderson 6 for 44m, while Lui managed 11 for 120m!! Highlights just how good Lui was on debut.

And off the bench Dodds managed the second highest amount of tackles (34) behind McCullough and he didn't miss a single one. He also made 8 runs for 51m which is on par with our two starting props.

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

Yeah, Lui's workrate was top notch. More efforts like that, no matter what grade he's playing, and he'll keep getting noticed.

 

[Je$ter]

Impressed with a few of the younger guys tonight. Especially Lui and I thought Ben Hunt brought a lot off the bench, has a kicking game that McCullogh doesn't have.

 

[Scorchie]

Was happy for about 60 minutes of the game, frustrated by the 20 minute period where we leaked some tries but wasn't the carve up the media was expecting.

Good effort, plenty of good things in this game.

 

[ddd]

Ben Hunt really blew me away last night, he came on and brought some spark and something different in attack, which is something we're really missing

Lets give Norman another go next week, good opportunity for him to try and put in some serious effort - also can we get a "bodyguard" for Wallace, he's being made to tackle his arms off so no wonder he's a bit off his game - everyone has been ignoring Lockyer as he's been a bit off and run at Wallace to negate his impact - maybe once injuries start getting overcome, slip Te'o into the back row next to Wallace to cover him (ala TBA and Locky)

 

[Bucking Beads]

Dodds IMO is the starting backrower type who could play the whole game. He doesn't strike me as a prop at all. He could possibly be a Luke Douglas type prop though. I agree on Ben Hunt he showed creativity and spark from hooker that we need.

 

[Mister Wright]

WoW! Last night's game was a big one in terms of the Broncos' season. There was a lot of effort and importantly our defense was much improved. We were in the game for a long time until that ridiculous marker penalty, and I thought we dominated the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, and in general were the better team in the 2nd half.

Really pleased with Ben Hunt, he showed why he should be coming off the bench and why he is our halfback of the future.

Also, Wallace was getting back to the inside passes which were so effective and made him our best player towards the end of last sesason. If we keep working on that it will create a lot more opportunities.

Lui was fantastic and showed more promise than McGuire tbh. Wouldn't mind him coming off the bench every week.

 

[Flutterby]

OK, I have read everyone else's comments (time constraints), but here's my thoughts:

Overall I feel positive about the game. As Gus said - we weren't beaten on skill but by experience. We made some pretty basic errors which made it much easier for the Dragons to get down the park. These kids will just continue to improve if we keep the faith (long term view people).

As I thought, with the weight of his rep decision off his mind, Lockyer showed much better form last night than he had so far this season.

Sammy T was on fire - had a great game.

Have to agree with Coxy that I young Rivett probably isn't up to NRL standard just yet.

We looked a whole lot better with Hunt on the field and McCullough on the bench then we did when it was the other way around.

 

[Kimlo]

We looked a whole lot better with Hunt on the field and McCullough on the bench then we did when it was the other way around.

Drop McCullough?

 

[dukey]

As much as I'm opposed to a bench utility, I think having Hunt at 14 is a good idea. A few times last night he managed to shake things up and keep the Dragons guessing. His different style of play to McCullough's might be a gamebreaker in tight matches in the future.

 

[Foordy]

As much as I'm opposed to a bench utility, I think having Hunt at 14 is a good idea. A few times last night he managed to shake things up and keep the Dragons guessing. His different style of play to McCullough's might be a gamebreaker in tight matches in the future.

plus having him on the bench gives him more experience in the top grade and continues his development