NEWS Darius Boyd: Why I won’t be surrendering Broncos captaincy or No.1 jersey

[Broncos Maestro]

I’m starting to think Boyd is slipping on purpose to cover up the fact that he read the play wrong and make it look like an attempt to tackle the player.

Better looking incompetent than too scared to put his body in the line. If that’s the case he can piss off!

 

[Unbreakable]

I’m starting to think Boyd is slipping on purpose to cover up the fact that he read the play wrong and make it look like an attempt to tackle the player.

Better looking incompetent than too scared to put his body in the line. If that’s the case he can piss off!

I've been calling it since Round 1.

He has routinely pretended to slip over or fall for dummies from forwards in 1 on 1 situations, he might be fooling others, but certainly not me, I've watched enough of him during his career to know he's smart enough and good enough to get in position to make these tackles 99 times out of 100, he's just unwilling to put his body on the line at the moment, he probably knows he's only 1 injury away from getting the tap from Seibold and wants to preserve his body, unfortunately for us, it's currently costing us games, and unfortunately for Seibold, he's probably the hardest player to drop given that he's currently the captain and we currently have quite literally zero Fullback depth.

 

[Renegade]

geez I'm hating on Boyd as much as the rest of you but I don't think he's purposely slipping over.

What you could suggest is that he's slipping over because he's getting his position wrong and overdoing it to get back into position, that is certainly feasible, but I don't think he's going yeah this dude has me beat so I'm just gonna fall over to absolve myself of responsibility lol

 

[Eta Carinae]

geez I'm hating on Boyd as much as the rest of you but I don't think he's purposely slipping over.

What you could suggest is that he's slipping over because he's getting his position wrong and overdoing it to get back into position, that is certainly feasible, but I don't think he's going yeah this dude has me beat so I'm just gonna fall over to absolve myself of responsibility lol

I've been hating on Boyd as much as anyone and more than most but that wasn't his fault. He was the one running out of the line to prevent a field goal and as soon as the ball was passed, he ran back to fullback. It's indirectly his fault for not being a better C. He should have remained at the back and yelled at Bird and Nikorima for example to run out of the line to try to prevent a field goal.

It was actually one of his better games. Which based on the last year, doesn't mean he played well but he certainly tried hard.

 

[lynx000]

I've been hating on Boyd as much as anyone and more than most but that wasn't his fault. He was the one running out of the line to prevent a field goal and as soon as the ball was passed, he ran back to fullback. It's indirectly his fault for not being a better C. He should have remained at the back and yelled at Bird and Nikorima for example to run out of the line to try to prevent a field goal.

It was actually one of his better games. Which based on the last year, doesn't mean he played well but he certainly tried hard.

Good post and I completely agree.

 

[winslow_wong]

In Darius' defense, Michael Chee-Kam is evidently the second coming of prime Benji Marshall and hit him with an earth shattering right foot step.

Milford wasn’t much help there either.

 

[theshed]

geez I'm hating on Boyd as much as the rest of you but I don't think he's purposely slipping over.

What you could suggest is that he's slipping over because he's getting his position wrong and overdoing it to get back into position, that is certainly feasible, but I don't think he's going yeah this dude has me beat so I'm just gonna fall over to absolve myself of responsibility lol

I’m not saying it was on purpose but he did so much last year that it was already a meme before this season started. You could make a 5 minute video of him doing this, giving up close to the line, or failing to chase grubbers. He seems to find some convenient mishap like a slip or falling for a dummy every time someone breaks the line. It might not even be a conscious decision but he is obviously avoiding the contact. There’s no 2 ways about it.

 

[Jedhead]

I’m not saying it was on purpose but he did so much last year that it was already a meme before this season started. You could make a 5 minute video of him doing this, giving up close to the line, or failing to chase grubbers. He seems to find some convenient mishap like a slip or falling for a dummy every time someone breaks the line. It might not even be a conscious decision but he is obviously avoiding the contact. There’s no 2 ways about it.

Its all about self-preservation and keeping the coin rolling in.

 

[winslow_wong]

I’m not saying it was on purpose but he did so much last year that it was already a meme before this season started. You could make a 5 minute video of him doing this, giving up close to the line, or failing to chase grubbers. He seems to find some convenient mishap like a slip or falling for a dummy every time someone breaks the line. It might not even be a conscious decision but he is obviously avoiding the contact. There’s no 2 ways about it.

Every time he catches a bomb, be it contested or not, he falls over.

 

[Renegade]

I’m not saying it was on purpose but he did so much last year that it was already a meme before this season started. You could make a 5 minute video of him doing this, giving up close to the line, or failing to chase grubbers. He seems to find some convenient mishap like a slip or falling for a dummy every time someone breaks the line. It might not even be a conscious decision but he is obviously avoiding the contact. There’s no 2 ways about it.

if he's falling over a lot when one on one, either his position sucks or he's wearing the wrong studs.

 

[tommy]

Last night's slip was on purpose imo. Even after MCK put the step on Boyd still had time to get to him. Self preservation? Probably. But he is opening himself up to some far more sinister allegations.

 

[theshed]

if he's falling over a lot when one on one, either his position sucks or he's wearing the wrong studs.

Yeah, or he’s a massive cat in defence.

 

[Sproj]

In Darius' defense, Michael Chee-Kam is evidently the second coming of prime Benji Marshall and hit him with an earth shattering right foot step.

Someone with more skills than me should turn this into a Michael Bayism gif.

 

[Sproj]

Milford wasn’t much help there either.

Milf made a pretty valiant attempt to stop a running forward to be fair without help from anyone.

 

[winslow_wong]

Milf made a pretty valiant attempt to stop a running forward to be fair without help from anyone.

He could have chased harder from the beginning.

 

[Sproj]

He could have chased harder from the beginning.

Fair point.

There is a real attitude problem amongst the whole side at the moment, they are all leaving it to someone else to do. It should be that two or three guys are competing, not two or three guys hoping the other guy is going to do it all for them.

 

[winslow_wong]

Fair point.

There is a real attitude problem amongst the whole side at the moment, they are all leaving it to someone else to do. It should be that two or three guys are competing, not two or three guys hoping the other guy is going to do it all for them.

If you watch the whole sequence it’s as though both Boyd and Milford were shit scared of the support play and a pending pass so they held off. Thing is there was no support players and for me, Milford had a really good shot at tackling from behind.

 

[Jedhead]

The Letter Boyd should have wrote to himself.

By the end of 2017 you’ll be playing in the finals. In the preliminary final you’ll be up against the club’s arch nemesis in the shape of a fresh and rested Melbourne Storm having had the week off. You’ll be under an injury cloud due to a ‘tweaked’ hamstring, but you’ll be determined to overcome the adversity and lead the boys out. The team are already badly bruised and battered from the gruelling game the week before and Benny badly needs his captain to inspire and lead by example. You hate the thought of letting the fans down, the team down and perhaps most of all you owe so much to your beloved mentor that you feel a deep sense of obligation. So, you’ll take the needles and suit up again for the father figure and club you love so dearly.

The game will be played before 28,821 fans at AAMI Park, the second highest crowd for a final at their stadium. Your courageous act will set an example to the rest of the boys which will make them hungrily feed off one another’s determination to ‘put in’ for the captain and the team. The opening exchanges will see the Broncos dominate possession and territory early in the game. But having no modern-day structures to guide them through the mental fatigue factor of the game, the team will cough up the ball five times in a row inside the Storm’s 10-metre zone to thwart any chance of putting on scoreboard pressure. Benny knows the team have to score soon as the Storm hate to chase games. However, having gone to the well once too often your aging body will let you down and tragedy will strike. Deep into the first half with the game in the balance your career path, which has been on an upward trajectory up until now, will suddenly and sadly stall. Like all adoring Broncos fans, Benny will wince and recoil in horror when you pull up abruptly when chasing back in cover. You’re hamstring will finally let you down and despite trying to hobble around for a bit you will be forced to leave the field. Your loss will crush the last remnants of the team’s resilience and fighting spirit and they will finish up getting thrashed 30-0 by a fast finishing Storm. You’ll be inconsolable and blame yourself for letting Benny and the team down.

This point in your illustrious career is crucial; you will now be at a major crossroads. You will consider calling it a day and bow out of the game that has given you so much with your reputation and your legacy fully intact. If you decide to push on, you’ll run the risk of disappointing your mentor, your club and your adoring fans as your aura of supreme athlete will slowly disintegrate before your eyes.

You will decide to push on believing that this is another difficulty sent to test your resolve and deciding that to quit at this stage without trying to get back to full fitness again is a sure sign of mental weakness. Having fought so valiantly to overcome these psychological issues in the past you will refuse to let doubt cloud your judgement. Unfortunately, it will not be a lack of courage and determination that will be your downfall it will be the failure to recognise that your body has reached its peak ‘use by date’ for the rigours of NRL and the further you go, the worse it will become.

2018 will be a season beset with niggling hamstring strains which will hamper your ability to perform to your own high standards. However, Old Clint has his eyes on the future and believes the current young crop of forwards coming through have the skills and the smarts to win a GF but knows they will not be fully ready for a serious tilt at it until at least 2020. He will ask you to persevere and will confide in you that he is currently in the process with management to extend his tenure for a further year so that you are both around when the young pack comes of age. Benny knows you are doing it tough and suggests a move to the centres might help the team and maybe even prolong your career. But the added amount of tackling required is counter productive and he will move you back to FB after only a week.

By this time, you will have started to create doubt and confusion among the supporter base. They are desperate for you to regain form, but its just not happening. Already some are beginning to realise that your best is behind you. Looking back, you’ll concede that your best has been pretty awesome: -
RLPA Rookie of the Year 2006
Clive Churchill Medal 2010
Dally M Fullback of The Year 2010
RLIF Fullback of The Year 2010
RLPA Player of the Year 2010
Ron McAuliffe Medal 2016
From 2008 to 2017 you will have played for your beloved Queensland 28 times. Having the good fortune to have GI inside you for most of these games you will amass a staggering 17 tries. Between the same years you will proudly represent the country 23 times scoring another 16 tries. You will also represent the Prime Minister’s XIII once. No one can or will argue your proud record shows you fought adversity and won. Those achievements were just that – hard won achievements. Nobody handed you anything. But those achievements will come with a price. They will fool you into thinking the end is not the end. Your determination and desire to win will cloud your judgement and you will push on. If you stopped and looked back now you will see your last significant achievement was in 2017. Ahead is your 300-game milestone. Do you push on into 2019 to that last significant milestone and risk tarnishing your standing in the game or do you retire now on your own terms?

2018 will end in bitter disappointment as St. George (who are still driven by the two GF losses to us) humiliate the boys in our own backyard. Ironic the team you and Benny won a GF for were the team that delivered the final blow to your long-running partnership. The end of the season sees Old man Clint shuffle off to Souths and Anthony Siebold take over at Red Hill. By now your fan base has halved. Your persistence to push on will be met with disbelief by many supporters many sceptical that you will ever re-gain form and play at your best. During the off season you will speak to the media and say that you haven’t felt fitter or faster during a pre-season. Whether this was designed to calm your own mind, or the fans minds you will never know, but when the season starts you will be unable (or unwilling) to chase back or make decisive efforts to save tries. Slipping over and ‘falling’ for dummies rather than being the exception will become your norm, making you the laughing stock among NRL fullbacks.

All the talk about being fitter than ever will now make you look decidedly stupid and your credibility will take a huge knock. However, fate has decided your 300th game will be against your old mentor and has given you one last chance to announce your retirement and save some of your reputation. After a 38 to 6 humiliation in which you are blamed not once but twice for the start of the collapse you will crazily come out in the press and announce you are going nowhere, and you are pleased with your form. These delusions of grandeur will alienate the last of the die-hard Darius Boyd fans. The only way left for you to save face will be to announce that you are retiring at season’s end. Because you are still an exceptionally good trainer and professional in your preparation before games Siebs has asked you to stay on until then to help him restructure the team and guide the young, inexperienced group coming through. This final decision will determine how you are remembered by the Bronco’s fanbase.