Lets discuss Barba

[broncos4life]

The interview came afterwards.

The big talking point until the Garry questionnaire was his ankle, now it's the bulking regime.

Quite frankly, I'd be very interested to see how we perform with an alternative back there.

You can't have an alternative at fullback with Hoffman in the 6 IMHO

 

[rnabokov]

Barba would be a lot quicker irrespective of his size, and a lot more effective overall, if he was totally focused, which seems certainly not to be the case.

To me, it is bleeding obvious, and therefore, IMO, the club ought to looking at that very seriously, separate to any "coaching" Hook does or doesn't do

 

[rnabokov]

You can't have an alternative at fullback with Hoffman in the 6 IMHO

The best possible alternative arrangement I can see is Maranta to FB, Hoffman to wing, and Hodges to 5/8, with Copley to right centre which is, for mine, his best position, but it has to happen now, which, of course it won't.

Hoffman will be there for the whole of this season

 

[vertigo]

It's gonna suck if he's still plodding it up when his back-ended deal kicks in.

 

[Porthoz]

I think you're placing too much stock in the bulking program Porthy.

I don't think anybody suspected it until Garry raised it in his little questionnaire and people have latched onto it ever since. I just wonder how much choice the Broncos had in the matter. He was recuperating from a serious ankle injury correct? Wasn't expected to recover until January and broke down a few times inbetween.

I honestly think the Broncos bought damaged goods. Fans were expecting instant results but it was always going to be a wait and see type deal.

He was mentally in way worse shape last year than this year, and he still managed to score a fair few tries and be quite damaging for the dogs. He appears to have sorted a lot of his personal issues, and although there may still be some lingering problems, his size and having to compensate for Hoggman are imo the biggest causes of his relatively poor form.

A lot of people have been talking about his size well before Garry sort of confirmed it, and to me it explains his lack of speed, explosiveness and evasion... anyway, I'm not gonna go around in circles, and try to argue against BHQ's newest black sheep.

 

[Big Pete]

:laugh: I get it, Barba, Black Sheep, nice. Don't know if it would be appropriate to run with that as much as other BHQ "classics", especially around the politically correct crowd but I see what you did there.

I don't think Barba is being made out to be the sole scapegoat and you know as well as I do that he'll never be persecuted as much on here as Hoffman. However, there's definitely faults in his game and they have really hurt the Broncos yet nobody really speaks up about them other than a vocal minority like Unbreakable who copped flack for it. Speaking for myself, I was patient with him, even after the Sharks game I was defending him because I thought fans were looking for any excuse to sink the boot into the players and saw some positive signs but he took another step back against Penrith.

I'm really getting tired of excuses for Barba. At the end of the day, he's got nobody but himself to blame for his terrible efforts at the back. As they say in Louisiana "what's good for the goat is sweet for the sheep".

 

[Old Mate]

A move to 5/8 would be best for the team, and if Hoffman still frustrates at fullback we give Maranta a go.

 

[Super Freak]

I don't think any changes will be made to be honest.

It's too late in the season for another experiment. Unfortunately, it looks like Hoffman will remain at 5/8 and Barba will remain at fullback.

 

[subsbligh]

2012 was a fluke on the back of an incredible Bulldogs forward pack and gameplan that no-one had figured out yet.

IMO: Barba was also the lair, the flashy fullback who loved to scored tries, be the centre of attention, party hard with the boys and play up. He (thought) he had no responsibilities and so long as he kept being an unbelievable footy player, he could do what he wanted on and off the field.

That was short lived.

He's reformed. He's living a quiet family life in Brisbane.

For better or worse I think that reflects in his on-field performances. They are subdued, workmanlike, low-risk. He wants to get his job done, support his family and go home.

They say a fighter is no good once he falls in love/finds a wife and family and gets fat.

The best Barba is a showman. The smallest but quickest and most agile bloke on the field. A big risk taker. You have to give him the ability to take those risks to get the rewards. You have to protect him and feed him the ball on a plate in your best attacking opportunities.

Whether he has an alternate role at the Broncos... I don't know.... he has shown some seriously nice ball playing skills. If he wants to grow into a "leader" type role, then we need him to play 6 and learn how to build pressure and grind out wins and defend and do the hard work... Perhaps feed Milford the ball his younger, wilder self would have flourished on?

But it will never be Barba 2012, for better or worse.

He and the club need to re-invent him, IMO.

 

[K-Style]

this site seems to need one player to put the blame on for the loss ... for most of the season it has been Hoffman, now it seems to have switched to Barba

If it makes a difference I think he's not been up to scratch all year. I think his year off in 2013 hasn't helped.
Barba needs to go to Q-Cup. There's nowhere else for him.
He's not the player he was in the 2012 highlight reel. Doesn't contest high ball, break tackles, get out of in-goal on his own. If fact he gets dragged back in goal, has the ball stripped from him, backs off from tackling.

Hoffman at 5/8 isn't working either.

 

[rnabokov]

He and the club need to re-invent him, IMO.

This. For mine, Barba is all class. I don't care what anyone says - the Barba of 2012 was all class, both personally, as well as a result of good coaching and the right game plan.

No one can do what Barba did in 2012 and not have class. No one in this Broncos side comes remotely close for starters.

I think a lot of posters are selling him short. He is down on form no doubt about it. He is capable of so much more and for mine, there is no doubt about that. We have invested heavily in him and we need to do all we can, as a club and a team, to get him back to speed, literally and metaphorically.

If that doesn't work, then of course, he may well not deserve his place at the Broncos.

As for 2014, I still reckon we would be worse off without him then with him in the side, and for mine, he ought to go to 5/8 now, with Maranta at FB and Hoffman on the wing

 

[Danoz Direct]

IMO, Barba's confidence and the attacking instinctive ability is being coached out by Griffin. Griffin is just to conservative to coach players like Barba and Milford, in his eyes no individual brilliance is need everyone just need to work as a team in order to grind out a win.

 

[vertigo]

He and the club need to re-invent him, IMO.

Can totally see how they're gonna do this.

Step 1: the effort was there.

 

[Alec]

They key to getting the most out of Barba (and Hoffman too) is to actually simplify things IMO. No ball playing (or much more limited at least), just mostly support play.

 

[Foordy]

Can totally see how they're gonna do this.

Step 1: the effort was there.

I'll never understand why people take those post game Press Conferences as gospel ...

90% of the time the coaches and captain's are only there because of NRL rules.

So the end up spewing clichés, PR or BS... or a combination of the lot, but very rarely say what they mean or think.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I'll never understand why people take those post game Press Conferences as gospel ...

90% of the time the coaches and captain's are only there because of NRL rules.

So the end up spewing clichés, PR or BS... or a combination of the lot, but very rarely say what they mean or think.

Exactly...which makes the suggestion that the players are playing like a mirror image of Griffin's post match conference personality, absurd.

 

[BroncosFan_Corey]

Barba's taking a break from social media. Hopefully this means he will concentrate more on his personal life and get his head right so we see some better results on the footy field.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Barba's taking a break from social media. Hopefully this means he will concentrate more on his personal life and get his head right so we see some better results on the footy field.

To be honest, he hasn't really been on there a lot lately and most of the abusive comments from Dogs fans seems to have dried up. Still, it may be a sign that he is trying to clear his head and get back on track.