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[QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2717622, member: 1899"] [B]NRL Round 9, 2009 Brisbane Broncos vs Manly Sea Eagles[/B] I've been going through this season as of late and I'm fascinated by the Broncos. They had the talent to go all the way that year, yet the inexperience of the players the coaching staff took their toll. I've always felt sorry for Ivan Henjak. He was thrown into a role with far too many assistants and was expected to build on everything Bennett had built. It was never going to work out and everyone was made worse by the arrangement. As for the game itself, it was a game Manly had to win, and while they did it the hard way, they accomplished their mission. Trailing by 16 points mid-way through the first half, Manly turned to experience back Jamie Lyon to get out of trouble. The controversial centre led the way for his team, producing a masterclass to steer his team to victory. On the other side of the coin, the game exposed the mental fragility of the Broncos. Going in at HT, they led 16-6 and were well on top of Manly. However, all it took was a controversial try to centre Jamie Lyon to ruin their composure. Suddenly it was the Broncos who were struggling to make ground and build pressure. Manly recognised this and had the Broncos measure from that point on. It was a game Manly should never had won. They weren't there mentally and constantly invited the Broncos back into the contest. However, the Broncos struggled to find their rhythm committing mistake after mistake leaving it to individuals to come up with a big play. The biggest problem with the 2009 Broncos was their inability to engage in the physical contest. There were periods through out the season where they didn't want to get their hands dirty and just wanted to come up with the big play. That approach worked against a lot of sides, but against the top guns, the Broncos were usually left red-faced. Things only went from bad to worse when they were without their stars. Whenever Bennett was without his key players, the young guns typically stood up to fill the role. However, under Henjak the players were simply out of their depth and the senior players did little to alleviate the issue. It was a problem that stayed with Henjak until his final few games where the Eels, the Knights, the Warriors and the Raiders all coasted to easy victories. Now with all that said, the main reason I checked out this game wasn't to critique the players but the referee. I remember this being one of the more frustrating games I ever attended where the referees influenced the result. While I can see where I was coming from, I definitely let the emotion of the afternoon affect my judgement. Yes, the Jamie Lyon torso try was a joke but under the rules it was a try. I'm willing to eat crow on that and enjoy the two controversial tries Queensland scored in Origin. Even the tap ahead was fine, it was just annoying it happened in concert only weeks after Hayne committed a similar act against the Cowboys. I thought some of the penalties were a bit iffy and it didn't help that Manly scored off two of them, but those calls are made in every single game. The only difference is, teams like Manly and Melbourne rarely concede more penalties since the referee rarely has the gall to blow the count out. So whenever Manly would give away a penalty, they would actually work over the ball-carrier more to test the referee. 9/10, they get the benefit and the ball-carrying team is left frustrated. Overall, I think this game puts the Broncos strengths and flaws on display. If you get the opportunity to watch the game, I'd suggest you'd do so since it really sums the team up nicely. It just sucks that the Broncos happened to play Manly into form (something the Broncos had a habit of doing - 2008, 2011 being two good examples). [/QUOTE]
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