Lets discuss Barba

[I bleed Maroon]

He has been described by some as the worst buy of the year, and by others as fundamentally crucial to our ability to score points. In typical fashion, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

In the attacking half, Barba is invaluable to us. He creates overlaps, has a good grubber on him and has outstanding positional skills. We wouldn't be putting 20 points on the Premiers and Souffs if he wasn't in the side. This is the case with him playing as a second 5/8th.

In the defensive half, with the exception of the Eels and Titans games, he is nothing more than a safe pair of hands. His ability to run the ball has been completely squeezed out of him by Griffins abysmal coaching, his best tool by far. I have a little laugh to myself thinking about what Hasler is thinking when he watches us play.

Personally, when it is NECESSARY instead of a luxury that our fullback is playing as a second 5/8th, that needs to be rectified. How is it rectified? By playing to Barba's strengths, and his strengths right now are playmaking in the attacking half. Give Barba the 6 and put a player with a bit of pace, ability to run the ball that Griffin hasn't fucked up and is safe under the high ball at the back. Maranta fits all of these criteria.

If we aren't going to promote a proper half, this has to be a better setup than the current merry go round that we have now.

 

[Unbreakable]

If we're going to change anything, it should be bringing in a proper Five-Eighth, we need to get Barba back to his 2012 style of footy, running the ball more often, lurking around the middle for offloads more often as well.

 

[Alec]

Barba's strength isn't full time ball playing. He can certainly contribute, but he's best on the edges and in support play. Forcing him to play as a half is making him play like anus, he'd be our worst buy this year if we didn't also get Kennedy.

 

[Super Freak]

I would be fine with Hoffman remaining the 5/8 until Broncos get in the opposition 30 and then switch with Barba and move Hoffman to right centre and bring Hodges at fullback..

 

[Broncoman]

Despite a few moments Barba has been a dissapintment so far and is struggling for form and I believe his morale and confidence is down. I'm actually nervous whenever he runs the ball back I've been a lot more confident when Vidot is.

He is a confidence player and his strength is his support play and the ability to back himself like he did in 2012 was outstanding and brought him great success. He is a great player on his day and is sensational on his teams day.

 

[CaptainHook]

Despite a few moments Barba has been a dissapintment so far and is struggling for form and I believe his morale and confidence is down. I'm actually nervous whenever he runs the ball back I've been a lot more confident when Vidot is.

Good point. How about shifting Vidot to fullback and Barba to the wing? Not as much pressure on him then on kick returns.

 

[Alec]

Vidot is too valuable to use as the kick returner, he's been immense taking the 2nd tackle.

 

[jarro65]

Barba is a fullback first and foremost.

The fact that he can ballplay a bit is a real bonus, and shouldn't mean he has to do it for us all the time.

Barbas beat role for us would be to chime into a smooth backline play and add some polish to the end of it.

We need him at the back, but more importantly, we need another playmaker in the 5/8 role.

 

[Broncoman]

Good point. How about shifting Vidot to fullback and Barba to the wing? Not as much pressure on him then on kick returns.

A part of being a fullback these days is having playmaking and game reading skills which Barba has and Vidot lacks. Vidot has been outstanding on the wing and I wouldn't have him playing anywhere else.

 

[brodster_1]

I think he is definitely lacking confidence, he needs to back himself with running the ball back.

On another note/barba, I was watching marmin today for the jets and he looked pretty good. Great speed and support like Ben good positional play, I wonder if we ll see him in a broncs jersey anytime soon, I reckon it would also be good for Ben

 

[noisetheory]

barbas been going ok. defenses are really putting him under pressure with their kick chases, most of the time he's got no room to move. he seems to be struggling to break tackles though, always seems someone can just hang onto the back of his shirt every time he's half a chance.

having him come into the backline as a playmaker is not getting the best out of him. moving him to fulltime 6 would just further confirm that.

 

[rhino]

Marmin was pretty impressive today, along with Georgetown. Mills was an eye opener, I can see why he isn't a first grader now.

love to see Marmin at 6 Ben at 1 even if it was only one game :)

 

[rnabokov]

In the game v Cowboys and especially Knights, Barba showed me he is a great ball playing FB, and seems to be starting to understand the way Hook has structured our plays (such as they are).

I would keep Hoffman at 5/8 (cough cough) and continue to let Barba fill the role of effectively, 5/8 UNLESS Hook replaces Hoffman which I seriously doubt.

For mine, Barba has shown enough - say setting up Gillett twice for great tries as a good 5/8 should, plus his short kicks and chiming into the backline, that he is worth his weight in gold to this side.

If his brother continues to impress, so much the better, but can anyone honestly see Hook dropping Hoffman? I can't, so let Barba continue to evolve - the next few games will tell

 

[Rabbir]

If you are changing certain positions during the game then the coach is not choosing the proper 17 to begin the game.

 

[subsbligh]

Barba is an eningma, but we knew took that risk when we bought him.

He seems to me to be favouring his ankle inury, which is severely limiting his confidence and willingness to run the ball; his greatest asset during 2012. Remember the Indigenous All-Stars game in 2013; everything he touched turned to gold, he was touted as being ready for the Maroons.

That was a touch over 12 months ago.

He's retaining his spot in the team on the back of some classy ball playing and his ability to fool opposition defences with deft kicks and quick hands.

He has also singlehandedly cost us games with his new found dropsys under the high ball.

On balance, he's too good of a player to leave out of the team but if we fade out in 2014 without much further improvement, you'd seriously have to question whether it benefits the long term wellbeing of Milford playing 6 at the expense of Barba.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

On balance, he's too good of a player to leave out of the team but if we fade out in 2014 without much further improvement, you'd seriously have to question whether it benefits the long term wellbeing of Milford playing 6 at the expense of Barba.

It's the sort of problem most other teams would love to have. We have two young superstar players who can play either fullback or 5/8th interchangeably without much hassle. If Barba doesn't come good, merely slot him into the 6 and put Milf at the back.

 

[broncos4life]

It's the sort of problem most other teams would love to have. We have two young superstar players who can play either fullback or 5/8th interchangeably without much hassle. If Barba doesn't come good, merely slot him into the 6 and put Milf at the back.

Totally agree

 

[Rally Towel]

Will be watching him keenly this week. He's had a good break with the bye/test. Hopefully we see him running a bit more freely.