NEWS Lockyer: time to crack down on tomfoolery

[McHunt]

Fresh off successfully tipping against his own club, the Broncos' board member who favoured former schoolteacher Anthony Seibold over his mentor Kevvie Walters, hints his coach hire isn't getting enough "discipline" from the players. Here on BHQ we recognize "poor discipline" as code for "failure to coach." But he's not ready to say that outright. It's up to you to join the dots.

Lockyer: bring on "the teacher"

Darren writes in the Courier Mail that rather than pin the tail on Milford and Croft for their team dying in the arse after Seibold's failed locker room rev-up last Thursday night, the entire team merely needed to "fix their discipline." He cites their penalty record in the four matches prior, receiving the fewest: 13; yet conceding 28. Only Gold Coast (30) and Cronulla (31) had been shitter at sticking to the rules.

He contends the Broncos' issue is the: "failure to win enough possession across 80 minutes." That being one of the worst penalised teams in the competition is "crippling them when it comes to energy and field position." And that playmakers "Milford and Croft own the result in a tight game, but the Broncos are doing their shot-callers no favours with a temperament that is putting pressure on their defensive line and triggering fatigue without the ball."

Get this right and the rest will follow

Against Manly our beloved Broncos lost the penalty count 12-2: "they gave away 11 consecutive penalties in a 61-minute period. That’s a penalty every five-and-a-half minutes. There were a variety of offences. Call it poetic justice, but it was a penalty goal, from another Broncos ruck infringement, that ultimately cost them victory. Their discipline, or lack of it, destroyed them. By not getting their halves good ball in strong field position, Croft and Milford are not getting the latitude they need to take control of a game. In the second half, Manly rolled through the midfield off the back of eight penalties and as a playmaker that puts you in survival mode."

Not just in the bedroom

"Croft and Milford are suddenly thinking we have to find a kick to get us out of trouble. They have no platform to apply pressure with an attacking kick, forced instead into a clearing kick to claw back metres and somehow put Manly on the back foot. If you have intensity in defensive line speed, you will win field position. If you concede an avalanche of penalties, you are constantly under siege."

He goes on to say if the team can sort out its bad discipline, it will energize the defence and gain field position, which will help build "confidence and cohesion in attack. For the Broncos to blow an 18-0 lead, they must be careful the frustration of losing in that way doesn’t affect their mindset this week against Newcastle. Croft’s role is to organise and get the team around the park. That’s his core strength and his purchase from Melbourne was designed to take the pressure off Milford, allowing him to run the football when he sees an opportunity."

And when the game hit 18-all and then 20-18, that, Lockyer says, was the time for Milford to get the ball.

But it wasn't all sly digs at the coach's ineptitude, there were reasons to be cheerful, singling out Matt Lodge, Joe Ofahengaue, Corey Oates and Xavier Coates for praise, and the return of Alex Glenn and Tevita Pangai this week as hope for the march ever onward and upward.

McHunt

 

[Twbapony]

Allow a culture of fun and enjoyment of the game, but get self motivated young men who turn up early, do the extras, and compete with THEMSELVES to be better each time they walk over that white line. Then reward that sort of behavior with good coin and job security, if a player isn't joining in with the team, let the team either suffer for the players indiscretions, or they are the judge jury and executioners. Peer reviewed standards work.