Hoffman in the halves

I'll ask you the same question i have asked others (and am yet to get a proper answer)...

give me the name of 1 player that is playing well enough in the lower grades to warrant selection in the top grade. most of the halves on our books simply are not ready yet ... thats not to say they won't be this year, but they are not this week.

The NRL web site has Kahu due back this week, but they have been saying that fir 3 weeks now, besides i think he will need a couple of games in the ISC first anyway ... and to throw an injury prone youngster that is new to the 5/8 role straight into the NRL would be a tough ask.

I am starting to feel sorry for Kahu a bit now. A bit of pressure mounting. Can we bring back Wally from the news desk?
 
It is a tough question but I do feel Strasser has shown enough. I have watched all his games this season so far and he has been pretty good at setting up plays and steering his side around. In fairness he isn't blowing the door down but he is showing considerably more in organization and playmaking than Hoffman but his defense is not as good. Though it could certainly becargued Hoffman's has not been as good as it has been med our to be in key moments. I would Take a punt on Strasser with the plan on Duncan P if Strass fails and if Dunc is going great in a month's time.

Strasser will "blow the door down" eventually. He just needs to huff and puff and blow some houses in the ISC for a bit first. Just watch out for the big bad 'Wolf' Man when we play Manly - he's still pissed that someone slept in his bed.
 
It is a tough question but I do feel Strasser has shown enough. I have watched all his games this season so far and he has been pretty good at setting up plays and steering his side around. In fairness he isn't blowing the door down but he is showing considerably more in organization and playmaking than Hoffman but his defense is not as good. Though it could certainly becargued Hoffman's has not been as good as it has been med our to be in key moments. I would Take a punt on Strasser with the plan on Duncan P if Strass fails and if Dunc is going great in a month's time.

thats what i was waiting for, someone who has a response other than, as long as its not Hoffman...

I haven't seen many ISC games this year, so i don't know how players are going, if he is in reasonable form he may be worth a punt. i honestly wouldn't worry too much about defense from our 5/8 we may just have to stick Parker or someone like that next to them similar to the role Tunza used to play with Locky
 
thats what i was waiting for, someone who has a response other than, as long as its not Hoffman...

I haven't seen many ISC games this year, so i don't know how players are going, if he is in reasonable form he may be worth a punt. i honestly wouldn't worry too much about defense from our 5/8 we may just have to stick Parker or someone like that next to them similar to the role Tunza used to play with Locky

As much as Strasser, Taylor, Pau, and Nikorima (whom I personally think is closest to ready), they and everyone else I have seen in ISC are still 1-2 years away in size, mindset, and overall readiness. Hate to say it because I know it is not ideal, but I personally would like to see Matt Gillett playing 5/8 as the stop-gap at least till Kahu comes back. At least it opens the 2nd row to play Oates with decent mins regularly, and bring Parker back to lock, and Hoffman to wing/center, and Gillett seems to defend better with helpers, has big-game experience, and dare I say it after the semi in 2012, I liked how he backed himself in a big-game, in big shoes (Lockyers), and on one of the first plays he did a short attacking kick (confidence), and he is not too bad a play-maker either comparatively. Not a long-term option, but in my opinion, the only long-term option is patience.
 
i dont actually believe we should be waiting for someone to blow the door down in the ISC,, because we already have plenty of spark with benny hunt all we need is someone capable of organising the open side so hunt can work on his preferred short side. hunt is a reaction player, he just needs a cool head to partner him with a decent long passing game. and i dont think hoffman would be blowing the door down at five eighth in the isc either so why should we deny an actual halve an opportunity just because they arent first grade experienced, its that kind of attitude that stops future stars from getting a chance to show what theyve got. you might find someone like strasser may shine with quality nrl standard backs around him like hodges and co. im so sick of brisbane doing this shit playing players out of position to cover rather then blooding a youngster i swear we do it more then any other team
 
i dont actually believe we should be waiting for someone to blow the door down in the ISC,, because we already have plenty of spark with benny hunt all we need is someone capable of organising the open side so hunt can work on his preferred short side. hunt is a reaction player, he just needs a cool head to partner him with a decent long passing game. and i dont think hoffman would be blowing the door down at five eighth in the isc either so why should we deny an actual halve an opportunity just because they arent first grade experienced, its that kind of attitude that stops future stars from getting a chance to show what theyve got. you might find someone like strasser may shine with quality nrl standard backs around him like hodges and co. im so sick of brisbane doing this shit playing players out of position to cover rather then blooding a youngster i swear we do it more then any other team
Pretty sure we haven't played a new half since BHunt.
 
josh hoffman at 5/8th is the worst thing to happen to the broncos. how long do we have to suffer with this hack at 5/8th....
 
josh hoffman at 5/8th is the worst thing to happen to the broncos. how long do we have to suffer with this hack at 5/8th....

until we have another 5/8 that can do a better job... and rushing our young but talented halves into first grade would be a huge mistake
 
those of you advocating strasser. did you watch him in the trials? they are weakened nrl teams and he was out of his depth and i think only passed once but has a much poorer running game than hoffman.

in saying that. i do not believe hoffman is the correct option at 5/8. both hunt and macca's kicking games have improved massively from the start of the season. barba can kick too in desperate circumstance so can parker. so i don't believe this is as big an issue as the season start. taking that into consideration i think we can reshuffle our current squad of adequate nrl players (the 20 or so we have) in order to achieve a better 17.

the players under performing from worst to least bad.

hoffman his defence has gotten worse with no improvement in attack. other than bombs offers nothing positive in this position but is 1. a great finisher (outside back) and 2. a better defensive fullback than our current one in current form.
the players that may be better suited to this position are: hodges, gillett, barba, possibly maranta even.

reed. has lost his biggest positive in defence. we have three options that can currently cover this position. copely, hoffman, oates. if hoffman is replaced we can cover this extremely well.

bench forwards. the change in rules seemingly have hurt them. kennedy is great defensively but none offer anything in attack. therefore i believe a kennedy, hala, oates combo is good. hala and oates make up for kennedy's attack whilst neither are defensive liabilities and if we can carry a bench warmer hala's lack of ability to play big minutes is not a negative. the options that are fit include: oates, hala, wallace, reed

barba. his running game particularly kick returns are actually a negative at the moment with his only positive being his playmaking. 5/8th anyone? our alternatives are: hoffman(particularly in defense), hodges (only in defense), maranta.

These are all our current options as you can see numerous of those options fit into numerous positions and so there are numerous options for a reshuffle. i don't mind what hook tries but if poor form continues for these players i would like hook to shuffle the deck. unless by then we have kahu to add.
 
those of you advocating strasser. did you watch him in the trials? they are weakened nrl teams and he was out of his depth and i think only passed once but has a much poorer running game than hoffman.

Did you see the team he had to work with? Broncos were massively depleted themselves.

He passed more than once also..
 
Last edited:
What is everyone's thoughts on this? Bombed try or not?



In my view, Vidot may not have scored. However, he had a very good chance of scoring. I would have given him a 85% chance of scoring a try.

Hoffman should have looked at the hole that was opening up and passed it to Vidot.

Barba's run out the back committed Hopoate which opened up the hole. Edwards committed to Hoffman which would have left Vidot 1-on-1 with Sandow. Vidot still would have needed to beat Sandow and Hayne and possibly Paulo (if he would have been quick enough to get across), but considering the sheer strength of the guy he would have been very hard to stop.

A simple draw and pass could have resulted in a try. But instead he holds it, runs it and drops it.

Or maybe I have just completely misread the whole thing.

I shall keep reviewing the footage of the 5 games so far and update this as I go.

I will try to keep it balanced as I think Hoffman has done some good things also.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yep, I think he should have let that one go out wide - I reckon about 75-80% chance of Vidot scoring.
 
Fair chance he might not have scored too .... looked to me like Barba was well and truly marked.

He would have been tackled the instant he got the ball.
 
Well I mucked up and got the names wrong, I thought it was Vidot. Closer look shows it's Glenn. I think I might go to bed!
 

Active Now

Top
  AdBlock Message
Please consider adding BHQ to your Adblock Whitelist. We do our best to make sure it doesn't affect your experience on the website, and the funds help us pay server and software costs.