BroncsFan
International Captain
Contributor
- Jul 28, 2016
- 22,850
- 33,791
I think it's been a struggle since the raiders game in Rd 14.For a little perspective... if someone had told us before the year started that we'd go from wooden spoon contenders to top 8 then I think we'd have been pleased and consider the season a success. (I certainly would have)
I think the team over-achieving and getting hot in the middle of the year and looking like a Top 4 side for a few weeks is probably the only thing that is now making a top 8 finish seem like a disappointment and failure.
I don't think we were as good as we looked during that period, but I do think that we're heading in that direction and next year we should be targetting a top 4 finish. I think we're all so used to Broncos being a top 4 side that when we slipped back in we all felt like everything was right again and the last few years were just a horrible nightmare and things are now back to normal - the reality is a little more sobering and it's going to take some more time before we're back where we should be... but we've come a LONG way already and showed some very positive signs for the future.
I'm not excusing the late season form / effort of this team over the last few weeks, which has been shocking and disgraceful and has left a bitter taste in all our mouths about this season... but we knew that this was a young team starting a rebuild and there would be inconsistency and ups / downs. Getting back into the finals and laying the foundation for a proper shot at the title next year may not be the miraculous turnaround we all thought we were witnessing after the Parra game, but it's still a big improvement from last year and holds us in good stead moving forward, even if there have been some very disappointing elements to the year.
Prior to that game we were pretty well flying being only a few weeks after destroying Manly, but in that game Reynolds, Herbie and Paix all got injured and we had a large contingent of guys just starting the origin series and having to start getting used to extra loading.
We then went on to play storm and cows, both away and both convincing losses... before getting 3 wins in a row vs dragons (who were self inflicted from Tariq), titans away and then parra away.
That brings us to the tigers game which it looks like they took basically as a 2nd bye and not show up... a loss can be ok, but it was compounded by losing Patty to suspension. Our middle has looked lost ever since Patty was suspended.