Josh Hoffman

subsbligh said:
I think Norman made a meal of it first, and his delivery to Hoffman probably effected Hoffman's game.
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That's one way to look at it, but as soon as Hodges took Hoffman's spot, it was like night turned into day, and suddenly the attack was flowing... IMO, Lockyer was the one who hid Hoffman's lack of attacking nous with his supreme ability, and we were all very happy with Hoffy's recognised toughness and safety as custodian.
 
Cultofpersonality3 said:
And there's a good chance Vidot and Copley could play better than Hoffman this year.
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If either of those players got to that level I'd be stoked.

I've got high hopes for Copley having a break out year - he looks massive.

Vidot... he could be a smokey this year... I hope he can have a mid-career spike.

Imagine that massive 3/4 line all firing

1. Barba
2. Hoffman
3. Reed
4. Copley [Hodges]
5. Vidot

And there's still Oates and Yow Yeh in the wings.
 
subsbligh said:
To say a fullback must be a ball player is misguided, especially where the incumbent Australian fullback (Slater) isn't.

The Broncos structure, since the glory days of K.Hunt and Lockyer, requires a ball playing fullback. Lockyer, Norman, Wallace, Hunt, Macca, Hodges even are all ingrained with the low percentage play, build for a second man sweep to the fullback inside our 20 way of playing.

That's our structure and our shape on the pitch.

Hoffman is average at a ball playing fullback structure.

Now you can change the structure, or change Hoffman. The latter is much easier.

Given the structure hasn't brought a premiership in 8 years, perhaps it's not Hoffman that's the problem.
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I just think is an okay fullback but a better than average winger. Can't see what his problem is
 
broncospwn said:
He's definitely not our best back heading into 2014. Hodges is better, Barba is better. At his best, he might be our 3rd best back this year.
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As much as it pains me to say it, and Gods of football please realise I say this just to prove a point on BHQ forums only, Hodges is currently coming back from his second achilles rupture.

That is a massive massive injury. He's going to be busted arse for most of this season (despite his own positive attitude) and I think he only might be able to deliver for us in the finals.

Honestly, it took Hodgo until 2013 to get back to peak condition.
 
subsbligh said:
To say a fullback must be a ball player is misguided, especially where the incumbent Australian fullback (Slater) isn't.

The Broncos structure, since the glory days of K.Hunt and Lockyer, requires a ball playing fullback. Lockyer, Norman, Wallace, Hunt, Macca, Hodges even are all ingrained with the low percentage play, build for a second man sweep to the fullback inside our 20 way of playing.

That's our structure and our shape on the pitch.

Hoffman is average at a ball playing fullback structure.

Now you can change the structure, or change Hoffman. The latter is much easier.

Given the structure hasn't brought a premiership in 8 years, perhaps it's not Hoffman that's the problem.
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You can put down the problem to many things, but one thing I can confidently say is that our 6/7/9 are not good enough to have a player like Hoffman at fullback, and our coach certainly isn't of a level that he can make it work.

That may not be Hoffman's fault per se, but it certainly is his limitation. He's a great defensive fullback, but in terms of the modern game an extremely limited one as well. So yes, you could say Hoffman is not the problem, but by the same token he's by no means the answer, at least not at fullback. As a centre or winger he was definitely doing a lot of good though.
 
Billy Slater is a master of timing, something that Hoffman doesn't have. That allows Billy time and space to run, pass the ball or grubber kick. Hoffman invariably runs into the opposition within a fraction of a second of receiving the ball.

Billy Slater is always sniffing around the ruck and when there is a break or second phase play, loose ball, etc... He's always there to capitalise or support. Even Norman was better at this than Hoffman.

The Storm is one of the teams that uses the second man play most effectively too, and that is with the "non ball playing Slater".
 
Ari Gold said:
You can put down the problem to many things, but one thing I can confidently say is that our 6/7/9 are not good enough to have a player like Hoffman at fullback, and our coach certainly isn't of a level that he can make it work.

That may not be Hoffman's fault per se, but it certainly is his limitation. He's a great defensive fullback, but in terms of the modern game an extremely limited one as well. So yes, you could say Hoffman is not the problem, but by the same token he's by no means the answer, at least not at fullback. As a centre or winger he was definitely doing a lot of good though.
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Hoffmans defense sucks. He let in all three tries in the 9s on the weekend. I know the 9s aren't the most perfect of examples but they were 1 on 1 tackles with no room beside him.
 
Cultofpersonality3 said:
Hoffmans defense sucks. He let in all three tries in the 9s on the weekend. I know the 9s aren't the most perfect of examples but they were 1 on 1 tackles with no room beside him.
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That's true. I meant more in a bomb defusal, kick return kinda way. Definitely not tackling!
 
Ari Gold said:
That's true. I meant more in a bomb defusal, kick return kinda way. Definitely not tackling!
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Oh yeah he can definitely catch a ball. His kick returns are hard and fast but I feel they put him out of action for a period of time after because they always hurt him a bit. That could be part of the reason he doesn't back up in attack afterwards
 
subsbligh said:
As much as it pains me to say it, and Gods of football please realise I say this just to prove a point on BHQ forums only, Hodges is currently coming back from his second achilles rupture.

That is a massive massive injury. He's going to be busted arse for most of this season (despite his own positive attitude) and I think he only might be able to deliver for us in the finals.

Honestly, it took Hodgo until 2013 to get back to peak condition.
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Remember Hodges in his first game back against the titans? A year and a half of not playing and scores the winning try straight away. Hodges is a more classy player than Hoffman ever could hope to be when he's on the field.
 
Hoffman is pretty decent in defence at the back, centres is another story but that's one of the toughest positions to defend in.

For instance Round 1 2011 where he basically prevented about 3 tries including a couple of try savers on Bowen of all people.

I also don't think Beale was neccesarily better than Hoffman. Around the same level? Mmm, maybe but the only aspect of Beale's game that was stronger was his passing and it wasn't by THAT much either. Meanwhile, his technical aspects were certainly lacking.
 
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Donald said:
Thats exactly right. Its obvious that "IF" Hoffman wants out because he isnt playing fullback then all he cares about is himself and not the team performance. Blind freddy can see that Hoffman just doesnt have the same ability as Barba when it comes to the fullback role and ball playing ability. If Hoffman was a team player he wouldnt care where he played as long as he was in the team.

Truth of the matter is neither Hoffman or Norman were remotely as good as Hunt when it came to running that second man play and creating oppurtunities with ball in hand. Thats why Barba has been bought.
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why can't i like this twice? :wink:
 
I guess off-topic but I guess BHQ'ers are happy with the Broncos running the second man sweep as the go-to play in 2014?
 
subsbligh said:
I guess off-topic but I guess BHQ'ers are happy with the Broncos running the second man sweep as the go-to play in 2014?
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As opposed to the Hoffman run into the defence. Really neither excite me but it worked last year while Hoffman was on the wing as he got room and finished for us
We need a fullback that can create plus hole run in support of offloads. Not sure how Barba will go but Maranta is a better support runner and hole runner at fullback than Hoffman.

Hoffman was able to get our sets of to a good start by beating defenders early in his career but the last three seasons he has lost the ability from fullback to beat a defender. Perhaps the defence is more aware of him now.
Give him a bit of room and he is dynamic.
 
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