PRE-GAME Finals week 3 - Storm vs Broncos

[WASSHHH]

I would hope the club acknowledge the loss by wearing black armbands on Friday night.

I think you'll find the Storm may too.
Say what you like about them as opposition, the players that matter at the Storm would have enormous respect for Boyd and will probably want to show that.
I hope so anyway, it'd be a nice touch.

 

[Donald Garner]

I'm more concerned about our left side defence. Chambers and vunavarlu against Moga and Oates.

Moga came rushing in last week and made some good reads in defence but there was a couple of times that if the panthers fullback had of passed they would have scored. I can see the storm throwing a lot of traffic that way and executing a lot better then Penrith did. Cronk to skater to chambers to Vunavarlu down our left side concerns me more then through the middle to be honest

 

[Super Freak]

Sam Thaiday wants NRL referees to crack down on Melbourne Storm’s wrestling in preliminary final

September 19, 2017

SAM Thaiday has appealed for the referees to stop Melbourne reducing Friday night’s grand final qualifier to a “wrestle-a-thon”.

The Broncos ramped up their defensive work in preparation for the AAMI Park preliminary final with a high-intensity training session at Red Hill.

Defence was the focus for the Broncos, who know the key to winning in Melbourne is beating the Storm at their own game.

The Broncos finished the regular season as the second-highest scoring team behind the Storm thanks to the open style of football they have adopted.

But they will be limited if Melbourne is allowed to slow the game down and play it on their terms.

“I definitely hope it’s not a wrestle-a-thon,” Thaiday said. “We’ve got some fantastic outside backs with brilliant running ability.

“We love to be able to get those guys into space and give them some time to get into space.”

Assistant coach Jason Demetriou has been the catalyst behind Brisbane’s free-flowing style this season.

The Broncos were three minutes away from beating Melbourne in round 3 and hooker Ben Hunt said they would adopt a similar game plan on Friday.

“It’s been our plan to beat them the last few years,” he said.

“We want to move the ball a fair bit against different sides and we want to shift the ball around because they wrestle so well, you have to move them around.

“The more passes we string together, the better we will be. Melbourne are so good at the wrestle because they work at it better than anyone else.

“Talking to the Melbourne boys down there, they talk about how hard they work on it. But we’ve been working on it ourselves at training and hopefully we can shut them down in that area.

“We have to be excellent defensively. If we want to win this week, we need to be better than we were against Penrith.”

The Broncos focused on winning the ruck in Tuesday’s session and lock Josh McGuire said that was the key to stifling Storm champion Cameron Smith.

“That’s an area we want to be better at,” he said. “They are a classy team. Cameron Smith is the greatest player of all time.

“Everything starts in the ruck around him. We’ve got to make sure we are on our game there.”

Source: Courier Mail

 

[I bleed Maroon]

We need more than Thaiday coming out and saying this. We need Bennett to make a strong point of it too

 

[Morkel]

Not yet, doctor assesses him today. Test again later in the week but Friis has the say.

He has to complete the Cogstate test before he can resume contact at training or play. NRL says symptom free.

This is Oates. I want his babies but seriously, I'd have doubts he'd pass anything resembling a cognitive test even if he'd been practising all the right responses for a month.

 

[Wild Horse]

Was that when he threw his mouth guard on the ground?

Alfie threw his mouth guard on the ground too, when we lost a sudden death to North Sydney by one point in 1994. That game still hurts to think about. We were after the 3peat that year.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Alfie threw his mouth guard on the ground too, when we lost a sudden death to North Sydney by one point in 1994. That game still hurts to think about. We were after the 3peat that year.

That reminds me of that game against the Roosters we lost to from a penalty because of an incorrect play the ball by Andrew Gee. Frustrating as hell.

 

[GCBRONCO]

 

[Super Freak]

Darius Boyd a certain starter according to Bennett. He is good to go.

 

[Wild Horse]

There are actually wankers willing to support Melbourne just because they hate us so much.

Fucking for real?

Agreed.. why would Syndey based hate Brisbane more than Melbourne?

Sydney and Melbourne have been bitter rivals as Australia's number one city for over a millennia haven't they? I know the Broncos took more than our share of premierships in the Nineties from Sydney based clubs. But Melbourne surely should be Sydney's new focus of hatred.

 

[Sproj]

Massive upset brewing...I'm in the front row and ready to literally stand out in the crowd.

 

[Sproj]

If Oates is out (let's hope he isn't) I'd be throwing out this side:

1. KNik
2. Moga
3. Roberts
4. Boyd
5. Kahu
6. Milford
7. Marshall
8. Thaiday
9. Hunt
10. Blair
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. McGuire

14. Mead
15. TPJ
16. Joffa
17. Ese'ese

 

[Sproj]

Not our game but anyone see number 21 for the Cows? Interesting indeed!

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Not our game but anyone see number 21 for the Cows? Interesting indeed!

Not in a million years. If the Cows seriously risk a bench spot on a player who is 7 months into ACL recovery, they're daft. The Rorters are begging them to try it.

 

[Sproj]

Not in a million years. If the Cows seriously risk a bench spot on a player who is 7 months into ACL recovery, they're daft. The Rorters are begging them to try it.

I think so too but pretty clever mind games at worst.

 

[Wild Horse]

Melbourne is a better side, are on a fairytale year with Cronk finishing and will get all the refs' calls accordingly, the odds are completely stacked against us...and yet I feel quietly confident.

I can't even put in words how great it would be if we could knock this mob out of the race.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

After years and years of them raping us in finals while cheating, I think it's about time the NRL let us get them one back

 

[Murphda]

Cam Smith needs to be owned. Blair or gillette need to be all over him like white on rice. A few big hits he will slow down. I am not saying take a knee out but hey its contact sport anything could happen.