My thoughts on the games so far (not many thoughts)

[lynx000]

I am actually not all that happy with their form to be honest. The only consistent thing about our play is our inconsistency. Although we have won 5 from 6, we are yet to play for 60 minutes, let alone 80 minutes. Once again, being honest, the teams we have beaten to date, have largely been cod ordinary and either through injury or whatever, put on some of their worst performances against us.

If we dish up what we have dished up so far against a side like Melbourne we get towelled. We need a bit more structure in attack, particularly in the opposition 20. I would love to see a couple of performances where we put some sides to the sword.

 

[broncos4life]

They are doing really well. Yes there are many things that need to be fixed but it is round 6 FFS. Some of you are acting like the finals series is next week. How quickly every forgets that this is our first year without locky and a year that most 'experts' were predicting we would pick up our first spoon. They are doing a remarkable job for this part of the season and will only get better. Comparing them to the Storm at this stage is ridiculous. The broncos are adapting to life without our star half, who was/is arguably the best five eighth in history, the storm have their spine that has been set and unchanged for years... you can't compare the two sides at round 6

Seriously though credit where it is due. Pretty much all we ever hear when we are beaten is that we were awful (as opposed to the other side were too good) and when we win all we hear about is how the opposition were sub par for some reason. Rarely do people make the more accurate comments about how solid and unflinching defence creates errors through frustration and desperation

 

[rnabokov]

They are doing really well. Yes there are many things that need to be fixed but it is round 6 FFS. Some of you are acting like the finals series is next week. How quickly every forgets that this is our first year without locky and a year that most 'experts' were predicting we would pick up our first spoon. They are doing a remarkable job for this part of the season and will only get better. Comparing them to the Storm at this stage is ridiculous. The broncos are adapting to life without our star half, who was/is arguably the best five eighth in history, the storm have their spine that has been set and unchanged for years... you can't compare the two sides at round 6

Seriously though credit where it is due. Pretty much all we ever hear when we are beaten is that we were awful (as opposed to the other side were too good) and when we win all we hear about is how the opposition were sub par for some reason. Rarely do people make the more accurate comments about how solid and unflinching defence creates errors through frustration and desperation

I don't compare them to the Storm, simply to say we need to have a repertoire of set plays that they do, and start work on it yesterday. We dont. And for the record, we have been doing not really well, but bloody awesome terrific - for 60 mins a game. Now for the next 20?

As for our spine, so far it seems to get scoliosis when Macca comes off. He needs to play 80

 

[Foordy]

IMO, Gillett is better suited to coming of the bench, thats not to say that he is a worse player than the starting backrowers. I thonk that Parker in particular is a very important player for us, he may not be the flashiest player, but he does that hard work on and off the ball that many people don't see. Thaiday is obviously also a certain starter, being captain and one of the best second rowers in the game. that leaves one spot in the starting lineup, i like Glenn there. Gillett coming on after 20 gives the team the lift they need, ATM he is suited to being an impact player. the problem for him is at the Broncos we have such a brilliant backrow with plenty of depth.

but as i've said before Gilletts 2 worst performances of the season have been the 2 games he has started in

 

[pennywisealfie]

Don't want to pick on the kid, but it's quite amazing how many puns (well three off the top of my head) his name can made into:

Fail Copley
Dale Dropley
Dale Costley

i usually go with Fail Dropley.

 

[Anonymous person]

and a year that most 'experts' were predicting we would pick up our first spoon

I don't think I've seen a single "expert" even remotely suggest we'd get the wooden spoon? Most tipped us for a top 4 if not 8 finish. We've got arguably the best forward pack (hannant/civoniceva/Thaiday/Glenn/Parker) and reserves (McGuire/Gillett alone) in the competition, along with Hoffman/hodges/yow yeh (well not yow yeh now obviously) and a very highly rated (which before the last ~12 months I don't know why lol) halfback in Wallace. Plus we made the gf qualifier last year....

 

[Big Pete]

Agree with AP, I don't remember too many outlets claiming we would miss the 8 let alone land our first wooden spoon. Only point I disagree on is P. Wallace, he wasn't really rated by the media and there was a ton of pressure on him, Norman & Hunt to step up.

So far, so good.

 

[Jeba]

Most of the NRL on Fox panelists predicted we'd miss the 8, as well as Rugby League Week I seem to recall. Don't think anyone predicted us as wooden spooners, although I remember a few years ago when Lockyer went down injured with his knee, heaps of fans called in to the Grandstand boys saying that as soon as Locky retires we will win the wooden spoon. They obviously didn't count on the great depth we have in the club!

 

[dukey]

Actually, the only expert prediction I recall about this season is Gus saying last year that we'd win the comp in 2012. He said it in half a dozen Broncos games he commentated. Apart from him, I think the rest of the pundits just ignored us.

 

[Big Pete]

Was it Paul Kent or Matty Johns (or even both) who rated us highly on NRL on Fox? Geyer rates Hook too from memory and I don't know if Gordie would tip against us.

Warren Smith maybe, and I hope he does, because whenever he talks us down we bounce back.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Laurie Failey tipped us to miss the 8. Matty Johns said he thinks we can win the comp

 

[Kimlo]

Laurie Failey tipped us to miss the 8. Matty Johns said he thinks we can win the comp

Dailey has no idea, on anything.

 

[Porthoz]

The Fox boys have changed their tune in the last weeks. Prior to the competition, we were gonna compete for a top 8 position at most, with most of them tipping us out.
The last few weeks has brought a totally different perspective, with pretty much everyone in tune, saying we're title contenders.
Credit to Gould though, who has been saying it for a while. Regardless of his blue bias and man love for everything Tigers and Marshall, the man knows his footy.

Anyway, can't remember anyone tipping us for the wooden spoon, except for some haters dreaming...

 

[schmix]

I think most in the media had us on the fringe of the 8, which was a pretty reasonable assessment in my opinion because no-one knew how we would cope without Locky.

It's amazing how pro-Bronco the Sydney media has been over the last 18 months though. I wouldn't say it's love, but there's definitely more affection and a bit of admiration regarding how they go about their business these days.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I think so far we have seen we have the game to get the job done it is just a matter of being consistent and playing for 80 Mins. Would rather be peaking come finals time then right now

 

[OXY-351]

Don't want to pick on the kid, but it's quite amazing how many puns (well three off the top of my head) his name can made into:

Fail Copley
Dale Dropley
Dale Costley

Fail Properly

 

[lynx000]

If the finals started tomorrow, it would be us and Melbourne in he Grand Final. So we're in some nice form. Personally, I don't even think we're playing that well at all and yet we've only lost 1 game. This is a GOOD sign, HOWEVER please remember this! If we don't actually improve, other teams will work us out and other teams WILL improve, so we could end up sliding.

If I was Hook, I'd be concentrating on improving our game in many ways. We've got the basics right after 6 rounds, now is the time to start injecting more authority into our games.

This was the point of my post earlier. I would like to see us play well and consistently for 80 minutes. The way we are playing it can go either of two ways, we keep playing inconsistently and teams start to knock us off because we are always within one try of being beaten. The alternative is we play to our better standard for 65-80 minutes and really put teams away, the way Melbourne does.

 

[Scorchie]

Gus has been pretty excited about the Broncos for a year or so now,,,