Lets discuss Barba

subsbligh said:
He has also singlehandedly cost us games with his new found dropsys under the high ball.
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well, one game.

every fb makes errors at times. slater had the drops early season as well.

i agree his confidence hasnt been great but its improving.

i stand by the fact that the style of football (or lack of) that we try to play does not suit him. he shouldn't be playing a primary ball player type role at all. having said that just him handling the ball is putting defenses in two minds or over committing to him which is creating space for others eg his inside balls to gillett. that stuff isnt all that flashy but its barba who is creating that space.

he seems to have lost a bit of his elusiveness from the back but defenses are really crowding him every time theres a kick chase. our back three might need to try link up a bit more but griffins game plan isnt exactly to attack from our own half.
 
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We should absolutely be using Barba sparingly and allow him total freedom to pick and choose his moments. He's totally got the class to do it.

His running game sucks at the moment and teams are all over him on the kick chase.

To use a football analogy, his involvement level should be more like a SS than AMF.
 
The moment that highlighted his lack of confidence for me was against the Eels, one on one with Sandow close to the line, he had him beaten on the outside if he would have gone for the gas, but didn't
 
subsbligh said:
He has also singlehandedly cost us games with his new found dropsys under the high ball.
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I don't think it's a new found thing at all. Barba has always been suss under the high ball.

For large parts of 2012.....his way of dealing with the high ball was to let it bounce and not even attempt to catch it on the full.
 
Alec said:
Remember Hunt under the high ball? After his first season in 04, I seriously can't remember him dropping even one, he was godly under it.
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He looked damn awkward sometimes but he never dropped it. Got CLEANED UP more than a few times too...balls of steel that bloke...
 
Why oh why has Ben Barba not been relegated to QLD Cup to find his form?? I believe he needs to look further beyond QLD Cup, say for instance, Timbuktu seeing as though his form is so far out from being even fractionally acceptable for top grade football. And to those who hyped this man up, shame on you for letting his ego and not his football skills propel him to stardom. He clearly shows a lack of enthusiasm and alertness, and in my opinion, let's his team down no end. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Josh Hoffman, what can I say, he made that position his own. People say it's a team effort, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I personally can see heads dropping time and time and time again when a simple error that 9 times out of 10 results in points scored against them. DROP HIM TO QLD CUP!! The game does not revolve around BEN BARBA, regardless of the ridiculous amount of money he receives.
 
Geez people, he's not on massive money! Kennedy is on nearly double what Barba is! FFS this agenda against one of our few dangerous players is ridiculous. He's playing better for us this year than he was at the Dogs last year. He's improving generally as the year goes on.

Hoffman isn't a good enough ball-player to be a good modern-day fullback. Barba shits all over him in that department. Hell, Barba's playing more 5/8 from FB, than Hoffy is in #6..

What do you want from BB?? What makes him "worthy" of a spot in this team??
 
Jodes76 said:
Why oh why has Ben Barba not been relegated to QLD Cup to find his form?? I believe he needs to look further beyond QLD Cup, say for instance, Timbuktu seeing as though his form is so far out from being even fractionally acceptable for top grade football. And to those who hyped this man up, shame on you for letting his ego and not his football skills propel him to stardom. He clearly shows a lack of enthusiasm and alertness, and in my opinion, let's his team down no end. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Josh Hoffman, what can I say, he made that position his own. People say it's a team effort, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I personally can see heads dropping time and time and time again when a simple error that 9 times out of 10 results in points scored against them. DROP HIM TO QLD CUP!! The game does not revolve around BEN BARBA, regardless of the ridiculous amount of money he receives.
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If you think Barba played a major role in tonight's defeat, you're kidding yourself.
 
Morkel said:
Barba was great tonight. Looked confident, sharp on his feet. Just needs to practice getting to ground quicker so he doesn't get pushed back so much. Probably his second best game for us.
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That's his biggest weakness at the moment. Teams are just picking him up and dragging him back like a rag doll. As soon as he hits the line on a kick return he gets dragged back 5+ meters. Also gets pushed back in goal too many times for my liking. I know he is one of the smallest players but needs to learn to get to the ground and surrender.
 
austyphoon said:
That's his biggest weakness at the moment. Teams are just picking him up and dragging him back like a rag doll. As soon as he hits the line on a kick return he gets dragged back 5+ meters. Also gets pushed back in goal too many times for my liking. I know he is one of the smallest players but needs to learn to get to the ground and surrender.
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Yep, that's his major issue. He needs to get to ground faster and not look to try and make ground. His positioning in stopping tries and covering kicks has been great unlike Hoffman. Unfortunately until Milford "returns" to the Broncos he's going to have to do the halves job because Hoffman offered utter squat last night and barba was effectively the 2nd half and playing fullback. He should have had an assist for a try as well, if Reed could actually learn how to ground a ball.
 
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Jodes76 said:
Why oh why has Ben Barba not been relegated to QLD Cup to find his form?? I believe he needs to look further beyond QLD Cup, say for instance, Timbuktu seeing as though his form is so far out from being even fractionally acceptable for top grade football. And to those who hyped this man up, shame on you for letting his ego and not his football skills propel him to stardom. He clearly shows a lack of enthusiasm and alertness, and in my opinion, let's his team down no end. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Josh Hoffman, what can I say, he made that position his own. People say it's a team effort, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I personally can see heads dropping time and time and time again when a simple error that 9 times out of 10 results in points scored against them. DROP HIM TO QLD CUP!! The game does not revolve around BEN BARBA, regardless of the ridiculous amount of money he receives.
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Worst. Post. Ever.
 
austyphoon said:
That's his biggest weakness at the moment. Teams are just picking him up and dragging him back like a rag doll. As soon as he hits the line on a kick return he gets dragged back 5+ meters. Also gets pushed back in goal too many times for my liking. I know he is one of the smallest players but needs to learn to get to the ground and surrender.
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Get low...
 
i think, in some respect, his effort is his own undoing, in that he's pushing for a couple of extra metres when the defense ends up having him well covered and being pushed back. when he should of just got low and took the tackle (then we'd have a heap of people complaining that 'he's not even trying').

its pretty clear that teams coming up against us have focused on good kick chase. he rarely picks up the ball without 5 or 6 guys swarming him. he's no greg inglis so he cant just barge through the umbrella
 
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It sucks that it takes a player like Barba as the Broncos fullback for us, for the opposition to stop phoning any of their kick chases in.
 
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