Let the off season review begin

[Sproj]

Fair enough fella. I will stop being a smartatse. I gotta hand it to your moderators here, they seem like a decent, fair minded bunch. I thought I would have been banned from here long ago like on a few other opposition club forums I hung out on.

Lets just say both our clubs have been complete shite this year and leave it at that.

We actually welcome supporters of other teams here and if you don't act like a goose, you will be welcomed. This is one of the better forums around and we work hard to keep it that way.

Rabbits v Broncos 2025 GF - you read it here first.

 

[BooKhaki]

Arthars? No way. The rest you could make a case for but Arthars has been very consistent and isn’t very expensive.

I don’t think it’s worth getting rid of Arthars and Hoeter for what I think they’re on and their role in the team

I believe Arthars had a shit season, and would be on more money than most would expect. He's not worth much on 2024 form.

 

[Sproj]

I believe Arthars had a shit season, and would be on more money than most would expect. He's not worth much on 2024 form.

I agree, Arthars has been not as good as last year but he gets glossed over a bit because of how bad so many others have been.

 

[BooKhaki]

I agree, Arthars has been not as good as last year but he gets glossed over a bit because of how bad so many others have been.

I think it's also due to being injured several times throughout the year, took away more focus. When fit he was always selected, and that shouldn't have been the case.

 

[Mr Fourex]

To be fair, I don't believe this forum needs someone who isn't a fan to be dictating and telling us where the faults of this team are right now.

Agreed.....I've since put the souffs fuckhead on ignore.

 

[Financeguy]

I daresay a guy like Holbrook is probably like Neil Henry... but he's an assistant at rorters so why would he give that up.

He might still want to live in the area after his Titans stint and he is next to no chance of stepping into Trent’s shoes but a bloody good chance of stepping into Walters role. Might even bring a Khan-Pereira or Jojo with him…surely it’s worth the conversation.

 

[Johnny92]

I believe Arthars had a shit season, and would be on more money than most would expect. He's not worth much on 2024 form.

I agree, Arthars has been not as good as last year but he gets glossed over a bit because of how bad so many others have been.

Seems to drift in and out of games you forget he's even playing sometimes.
Mariner, Cobbo, Piakura and Arthars all seem to have that laid back attitude like they don't care if we win or loose, often times it's been 3 of those guys on one edge.

 

[BroncsFan]

He might still want to live in the area after his Titans stint and he is next to no chance of stepping into Trent’s shoes but a bloody good chance of stepping into Walters role. Might even bring a Khan-Pereira or Jojo with him…surely it’s worth the conversation.

If he is someone that the club wants then this is where they should be throwing their weight around as a supposed "big club"... but identifying Holbrook or whoever as the right addition to the coaching staff requires someone in the club having some actual smarts about football... which seems nonexistent these days

 

[Sproj]

If he is someone that the club wants then this is where they should be throwing their weight around as a supposed "big club"... but identifying Holbrook or whoever as the right addition to the coaching staff requires someone in the club having some actual smarts about football... which seems nonexistent these days

It is always a massive problem when the issue with your club is the decision making or lack thereof and the ones who need to pull the trigger are the ones that aren't capable.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

I hope who ever does our end of year review is better then the one who was associated with the firebirds. From memory wasnt their some serious conflict of interest?

 

[Unbreakable]

I haven't posted properly on BHQ in a few years, but I still watch every single game of NRL every weekend. I'll share my thoughts on a couple of glaring issues with this team.

Problem 1)

Our middle forward rotation is too big and too immobile. Take a look around the NRL at the moment, the middle forwards who've had breakout performances over the last 24 months are as follows: Max Plath, Connor Watson, Josh Curran, J'maine Hopgood, Reuben Cotter, etc.

They're all undersized. The biggest players on this list are Curran & Hopgood who both play at a little over 100kg. Our forward pack has no variability. Jensen, Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Te Kura, Baker, Taupau, Hunt.

The only middle forward on our entire roster who fits the mould of the way the modern NRL is going is Kobe Hetherington, who is underutilised, undervalued, and seemingly being told to find a new club. In my opinion, we should've been starting Haas & Carrigan at prop, with Hetherington playing big minutes at lock. Hetherington is our best defensive middle, and it's not particularly close. He moves well laterally and has the motor to make repeat efforts. He almost won us the Grand Final last year with his defensive clean-up work.

We're going to lose the middle most weeks next year (outside of the anomaly weeks where we get a roll-on early due to mistakes from the opposition or yardage penalties), unless we make drastic roster changes. I like Corey Horsburgh, but he's more of the same, not great laterally in the middle. We need to recruit several smaller bodies in the middle, and when recruiting them, we need to focus on motor, defensive technique and character. Hard workers. We have enough strike everywhere else that we don't need game breaking forwards to partner with Haas & Carrigan. We need to surround them with big minute, hard working, great defenders.

Problem 2)

We have no yardage from our outside backs. This goes hand in hand with Problem 1. The reason we've felt the need to recruit so many big middle forwards is because our outside backs are low work rate, lazy players. Our roster is constructed completely opposite to the way that the modern NRL is trending. Look at what the Bulldogs have done this year, they figured out the way to go about 24 months ago and have been building the roster around it. Their entire forward pack is undersized, almost exclusively hard working, high character players. They've got the yardage problem completely solved by having Kiraz, Tracey, Xerri, Skelton at the back, all of whom run for 150m+ every week, most of which is in post-contact metres. They've even had Addo-Carr put on about 5kg of muscle in recent years to help with his work out of his own end.

Now compare and contrast that to our current back 5 -

Walsh, Arthars, Staggs, Cobbo, Mariner.

There isn't a single player on that list I would say has an above average work ethic, or ability to make post-contact metres out of trouble. Arthars, Staggs & Mariner are barely hitting 100 metres per game, a lot of which are stat padded by free running metres when Walsh puts them in gaps. Cobbo is marginally better, but he has close to the most inconsistent work rate in the NRL. Some games he's running 18 times for 230 metres, other games he's running 9 times for 65 metres. And then there's Walsh, who has probably overtaken Latrell and Drinkwater as the laziest Fullback in the NRL this season. And don't even try to pull the "well he's an undersized Fullback so that's why he doesn't run very often", because I'll just present to you the stats of Keano Kini.

Once again - we need to make some tough calls, and recruit better.

I could probably name about 15 other problems, but this is a good place to start.

 

[thenry]

I haven't posted properly on BHQ in a few years, but I still watch every single game of NRL every weekend. I'll share my thoughts on a couple of glaring issues with this team.

Problem 1)

Our middle forward rotation is too big and too immobile. Take a look around the NRL at the moment, the middle forwards who've had breakout performances over the last 24 months are as follows: Max Plath, Connor Watson, Josh Curran, J'maine Hopgood, Reuben Cotter, etc.

They're all undersized. The biggest players on this list are Curran & Hopgood who both play at a little over 100kg. Our forward pack has no variability. Jensen, Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Te Kura, Baker, Taupau, Hunt.

The only middle forward on our entire roster who fits the mould of the way the modern NRL is going is Kobe Hetherington, who is underutilised, undervalued, and seemingly being told to find a new club. In my opinion, we should've been starting Haas & Carrigan at prop, with Hetherington playing big minutes at lock. Hetherington is our best defensive middle, and it's not particularly close. He moves well laterally and has the motor to make repeat efforts. He almost won us the Grand Final last year with his defensive clean-up work.

We're going to lose the middle most weeks next year (outside of the anomaly weeks where we get a roll-on early due to mistakes from the opposition or yardage penalties), unless we make drastic roster changes. I like Corey Horsburgh, but he's more of the same, not great laterally in the middle. We need to recruit several smaller bodies in the middle, and when recruiting them, we need to focus on motor, defensive technique and character. Hard workers. We have enough strike everywhere else that we don't need game breaking forwards to partner with Haas & Carrigan. We need to surround them with big minute, hard working, great defenders.

Problem 2)

We have no yardage from our outside backs. This goes hand in hand with Problem 1. The reason we've felt the need to recruit so many big middle forwards is because our outside backs are low work rate, lazy players. Our roster is constructed completely opposite to the way that the modern NRL is trending. Look at what the Bulldogs have done this year, they figured out the way to go about 24 months ago and have been building the roster around it. Their entire forward pack is undersized, almost exclusively hard working, high character players. They've got the yardage problem completely solved by having Kiraz, Tracey, Xerri, Skelton at the back, all of whom run for 150m+ every week, most of which is in post-contact metres. They've even had Addo-Carr put on about 5kg of muscle in recent years to help with his work out of his own end.

Now compare and contrast that to our current back 5 -

Walsh, Arthars, Staggs, Cobbo, Mariner.

There isn't a single player on that list I would say has an above average work ethic, or ability to make post-contact metres out of trouble. Arthars, Staggs & Mariner are barely hitting 100 metres per game, a lot of which are stat padded by free running metres when Walsh puts them in gaps. Cobbo is marginally better, but he has close to the most inconsistent work rate in the NRL. Some games he's running 18 times for 230 metres, other games he's running 9 times for 65 metres. And then there's Walsh, who has probably overtaken Latrell and Drinkwater as the laziest Fullback in the NRL this season. And don't even try to pull the "well he's an undersized Fullback so that's why he doesn't run very often", because I'll just present to you the stats of Keano Kini.

Once again - we need to make some tough calls, and recruit better.

I could probably name about 15 other problems, but this is a good place to start.

Excellent post. Agreed on the back 5 comment. This is where we're failing. We get dominated in tackles 1-3 then struggle to do anything more as the rest of the set is played out off no / minimal momentum.
Walsh has been worked out. Yes he'll come up with a line break assist or freak play every now and again, but more often than not this year, teams jam him and he throws a stupid, high pressure pass that leads to an error.
The fact that we haven't worked out a plan to counter this is an absolute indictment on the coaching staff / senior players.

 

[theshed]

Geez..... yet when Milford didn't deliver (and we expected him to win us games on his own) he was savaged by all and sundry.

Did you just compare Reynolds to
Milford alright Gordon

 

[Scorchie]

I haven't posted properly on BHQ in a few years, but I still watch every single game of NRL every weekend. I'll share my thoughts on a couple of glaring issues with this team.

Problem 1)

Our middle forward rotation is too big and too immobile. Take a look around the NRL at the moment, the middle forwards who've had breakout performances over the last 24 months are as follows: Max Plath, Connor Watson, Josh Curran, J'maine Hopgood, Reuben Cotter, etc.

They're all undersized. The biggest players on this list are Curran & Hopgood who both play at a little over 100kg. Our forward pack has no variability. Jensen, Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Te Kura, Baker, Taupau, Hunt.

The only middle forward on our entire roster who fits the mould of the way the modern NRL is going is Kobe Hetherington, who is underutilised, undervalued, and seemingly being told to find a new club. In my opinion, we should've been starting Haas & Carrigan at prop, with Hetherington playing big minutes at lock. Hetherington is our best defensive middle, and it's not particularly close. He moves well laterally and has the motor to make repeat efforts. He almost won us the Grand Final last year with his defensive clean-up work.

We're going to lose the middle most weeks next year (outside of the anomaly weeks where we get a roll-on early due to mistakes from the opposition or yardage penalties), unless we make drastic roster changes. I like Corey Horsburgh, but he's more of the same, not great laterally in the middle. We need to recruit several smaller bodies in the middle, and when recruiting them, we need to focus on motor, defensive technique and character. Hard workers. We have enough strike everywhere else that we don't need game breaking forwards to partner with Haas & Carrigan. We need to surround them with big minute, hard working, great defenders.

Problem 2)

We have no yardage from our outside backs. This goes hand in hand with Problem 1. The reason we've felt the need to recruit so many big middle forwards is because our outside backs are low work rate, lazy players. Our roster is constructed completely opposite to the way that the modern NRL is trending. Look at what the Bulldogs have done this year, they figured out the way to go about 24 months ago and have been building the roster around it. Their entire forward pack is undersized, almost exclusively hard working, high character players. They've got the yardage problem completely solved by having Kiraz, Tracey, Xerri, Skelton at the back, all of whom run for 150m+ every week, most of which is in post-contact metres. They've even had Addo-Carr put on about 5kg of muscle in recent years to help with his work out of his own end.

Now compare and contrast that to our current back 5 -

Walsh, Arthars, Staggs, Cobbo, Mariner.

There isn't a single player on that list I would say has an above average work ethic, or ability to make post-contact metres out of trouble. Arthars, Staggs & Mariner are barely hitting 100 metres per game, a lot of which are stat padded by free running metres when Walsh puts them in gaps. Cobbo is marginally better, but he has close to the most inconsistent work rate in the NRL. Some games he's running 18 times for 230 metres, other games he's running 9 times for 65 metres. And then there's Walsh, who has probably overtaken Latrell and Drinkwater as the laziest Fullback in the NRL this season. And don't even try to pull the "well he's an undersized Fullback so that's why he doesn't run very often", because I'll just present to you the stats of Keano Kini.

Once again - we need to make some tough calls, and recruit better.

I could probably name about 15 other problems, but this is a good place to start.

Oates, Corey I still feel is one of our biggest problems of 2024. Jokes about his speed aside (nothing sending him for 6 weeks with Mr Fabri wouldn't fix?)

Running metres averages:

2024:

2023:

2022:

2021:

2020:

2019:

2018:

So let's compare the pairs. I've bolded/underlined the winner each year. We've literally lost 50 metres a game without Oates and we're wondering why we're getting on the backfoot all the time.

Player	2024	2023	2022	2021
C. Oates	105 metres	185	169	162
J. Arthars	111	75	60	64
S. Cobbo	129	151	129	90
H. Farnworth	163 (Phins)	164	135	145
K. Staggs	111	119	97	75
D.Mariner	126	41	N/A	N/A

 

[Scorchie]

PCM I hear you say! I disagree most of Kiraz, Tracey's numbers are "mostly PCM" as Unbreakable suggested but again Mr Oates provided much of the go forward there too w.r.t. the back 5.

Unbreakable was right - the back 5 are indeed lazy in this year's iteration.

Player	2024	2023	2022
C.Oates	35	58	63
J.Arthars	38	21	19
S.Cobbo	41	35	33
H.Farnworth	62 (Phins)	56	43
K.Staggs	33	33	30
D.Mariner	34	10	21

 

[Johnny92]

Excellent post. Agreed on the back 5 comment. This is where we're failing. We get dominated in tackles 1-3 then struggle to do anything more as the rest of the set is played out off no / minimal momentum.
Walsh has been worked out. Yes he'll come up with a line break assist or freak play every now and again, but more often than not this year, teams jam him and he throws a stupid, high pressure pass that leads to an error.
The fact that we haven't worked out a plan to counter this is an absolute indictment on the coaching staff / senior players.

We should be trying to utilize Walsh and Mam off the back of offloads.
2-3 defenders in a tackle, offload and quick shift from the 9 who should be following the play to Walsh or Mam.

The Herbie-Oates 1-2 punch used to get us on a role down field. We haven't had either one this year.

 

[Trill Harrigan]

hating on arthars is diabolical
he is one of the few good guys we got!

 

[Wolfie]

Oates meters are clearly down because some games he's been coming off the bench, some games he's been in the back row. His stats i reckon would still be pretty good if you just took his wing stats. His meters generally arent padded out with length of the field runs into space either, they are pretty much him taking the tough hit ups.