It was a scrappy, but deserved win. We'll have to be much better against Cows or Storm next week...
Never mind most of the idiots on Fox, I thought the comments from Robbo were absolutely spot on, and they were backed by Walters as well.
- Our kick defusing sucks. Not so much the catcher himself, although Oatesy has been a bit dodgy, but the protection of said catcher is almost non-existent!
- Our attacking/short kicking game is crap, making us struggle to maintain pressure on teams by earning repeat sets. It appears we deliberately kick to the side line (Bennett applauded one of those kicks), out of fear of giving the opposition a 7 tackle set, due to our poor kick accuracy. We were lucky with the bounce of the kicks we scored of tonight, and our best kick came from... Kahu!
- In line with the previous, our 5th tackle options close to the enemy line are generally poor, and we seem much more effective at longer range.
- We compensate a lot of the above with our running game, which is probably the best in the competition, especially with Milford hitting his straps again. Hopefully Hunt can follow suit, as he still seems a bit shy, to make our expansive game style even more threatening.
I think our forwards definitely aimed up, giving our backs the room to create misery amongst the opposition. All deserve equal praise in my view, with Macca guiding them very well. Special mention to Glenn, whom has been a revelation in the ruck, and could well replace Parker as our next lock...
In the backs, Boyd was a bit rocks and diamonds, as was Oatesy, but I thought the rest of the backline was quite good, especially Milford and Kahu, who were my equal MOTM. As said before, if Hunt goes up a notch we will have a lethal attack from almost anywhere, as long as our forwards lay the platform.
Special mention to Jonus, who was very solid both carrying the ball and in defense and defusing kicks (he was pushed out of balance when catching the first).
I have no doubt the Broncos got the rub of the green tonight, except for the first no-try of the Titans, which should've been a penalty against the Titans for a push in the back of Pearson, and wouldn't have resulted in a Titans scrum feed. Of course, no one in the salty brigade mentioned it.
For mine, some decisions were correct, others not so much.
The correct ones:
- It was a penalty try. The ball was kicked out of a player's hand while in the process of grounding it.
- The scrum being overturned was also the correct call. It is the Titans player who knocks on first.
- There was no obstruction on Greg Bird, whom was the one who ostensibly targeted Thaiday.
- The Hayne pass was forward without a doubt. He passed it on the line and the ball was caught at least two meters past it.
The incorrect ones:
- As previously mentioned, Pearson was pushed when he was catching the bomb that resulted in the no-try and a Titans scrum. This was probably the only call that went against us.
- The Roberts kick should've been punished, although it should've happened on the spot, because the kick was before the PTB, and the subsequent action and try happened after the PTB.
- Parker's headbutt, as obnoxious as James was, although in this case I can understand it being missed by the refs.
- The Oates penalty was wrong in my eyes, albeit the dangerous position thing may actually be correct. Regardless, I don't think Mead did anything wrong in that one, he clearly went for the ball, not the player, imo.
P.S. Love the salty tears a LU... the butthurt is deliciously strong there!
