POST GAME Post Game Discussion - Round 1 - South Sydney

[animal eater]

OK... first off, calm the hell down. We lost to the best team in the comp/world. For 30 minutes the Broncos defensively looked the part. Offensively it was a struggle. Roles need to be defined with the spine. Milford is a talent and in time will show it. We know Hunt has it in him as well. I can't say I have ever seen anything to indicate that Kahu is a legitimate fullback. Poor hands, no kicking or passing skills don't work in the modern day as a fb.

I'm going to give Glenn a rap because he actually hit some holes with pace and did his job solidly. While Blair was OK, when you compare him to actual legitimate props, you see quickly he doesn't have the size or power needed to impact a game.

Wayne will hopefully see the obvious. Reed/Copley make a pretty dreadful pairing on the left side in both defense and attack. Thaiday is getting to the stage where his upside doesn't outweigh the negatives. I could parrot all the other criticism offered in this thread but don't want to be redundant.

If I was Bennett I would do the following.

1. Maranta to FB next game and Kahu to lower level to get some skills/confidence
2. Sam to the bench Matt to the starting side
3. Oates to right wing and Vidot to left wing
4.Copley to left center.
5.Nikorima to utility
6. No Whitchurch or Gavet (will be suspended anyway)

Still... calm down folks. Nobody should realistically expected a win against that side last night.

 

[Foordy]

i'd say he would of watched most of last seasons matches during the off season.

i did like his press conference. its nice to see a coach address the issues openly. its clearly calmed alot of us down :D

Did he say WTF he sees in Whitchurch?

 

[noisetheory]

Still... calm down folks. Nobody should realistically expected a win against that side last night.

yet you are ringing the changes?

why would you drop kahu after one game? the biggest thing this guy needs is back to back games in top grade. why is he the scapegoat for ultimately what was a game lost in the forwards and from poor discipline.

 

[Renegade]

lol how bad was Aaron Shitchurch?

 

[Bucking Beads]

The Cowboys have Kyle Feldt and Tautau Moga playing Q Cup and the Broncos have Jack Reed and Lachlan Maranta in their backline...

 

[Ari Gold]

Anyone else find it ironic that Bennett trashed the ineffectiveness of our bench whilst leaving Corey Oates off it?

Hopefully that will cause a rethink.

 

[animal eater]

yet you are ringing the changes?

why would you drop kahu after one game? the biggest thing this guy needs is back to back games in top grade. why is he the scapegoat for ultimately what was a game lost in the forwards and from poor discipline.

Because he is without the skills needed for the position. Could he slot in at center or wing... sure but not fullback. Also when I say calm down, it is to put the result into perspective. Yep, we lost to the best side in the comp. It isn't the end of the season.

 

[CaptainHook]

Game was ****ed. I havent sweated that much, even at the cricket in January. A bit of an anamoly hopefully but WB needs to get the squad.

South's weren't that good. They were very beatable and when we got moving there were points on offer. Then Whitchurch or Gavet dropped the ball and all of a sudden game's over

I agree. Souths weren't incredible at all, imo. A big part of the game was one team taking their opportunities while the other team squandered theirs. Nothing amazing about that. Just simple, effective Rugby League.

 

[K-Style]

We seem to go all silly when we are up against the rabbits. The Rabbits turn it up a notch and Inglis turns up 3 notches.

 

[Battler]

Our bench for next game should be: Niko, Thaiday, Oates, Joe O/ Garbutt (if Bennett is convinced that he should ply his trade in the ISC this season, which I'm not against if it means he'll be an even bigger talent next season). Leaving Oates out of the team was criminal, he is the same player as Shitchurch (in terms of the role he plays in the side), but five times better, younger, and has actually performed in the back line and forward pack. I liked what I saw from Blair, although he needs to play more minutes imo. Milford had a few very smart kicks mixed in with a generally poor performance.

Bennett said more to instil confidence at one PC than anything Griffin said in his entire time as Broncos coach.

 

[Nashy]

I see people talking about them going to another level, and how great they were. They weren't that good, and I don't see how you can say that they have stepped up since last year based on that game yesterday.

I don't understand people saying it beyond using it as an excuse for the helpless Broncos getting flogged. If they want to win again this year, they will need to be better.

 

[noisetheory]

Our bench for next game should be: Niko, Thaiday, Oates, Joe O/ Garbutt

way too small. one prop will not work.

 

[Renegade]

The Cowboys have Kyle Feldt and Tautau Moga playing Q Cup and the Broncos have Jack Reed and Lachlan Maranta in their backline...

I'd love Kyle Feldt.

Strong runner, great finisher, great goalkicker.

 

[rhino]

Please...... Kahu

Oates

Copley

Hodges

Vidot

Milford

Hunt

McGuire

Mc

Blair

Glenn

Gillett

Parker

Nikorima

Thaiday

Garbutt

Molo

 

[Rabbir]

Vidot is never coming back.

 

[Unbreakable]

~

Why are you dropping Maranta? He was solid last night, didn't do much wrong at all, made the correct choices in attack for a change (Whether to go in-field or go for the corner)

Don't see how Oates or Vidot is an upgrade at this stage, they're both the size of props, we need some speed out wide.

 

[Drop Bear]

If you look at the stats, it tells the story. Souths were given 72% in territory, 60% possession, 28 missed tackles on them etc. I thought South's looked a bit rusty, but they were made to look good. If you give an attacking team like the Bunnies so much space and ball, they will hurt you. I thought with Teo and Sam Burgess missing from the team, they would not be as effective in the forwards as last year, but Glenn Stewart picked up a notch from previous years. I thought the game was very disappointing with the penalty count also, 21 in all is a worrying sign for the rest of the season as far as entertainment goes.

 

[Morkel]

I'm only just popping my head in now...

So what did everyone think about Parker being subbed ( and then playing hooker), McCullough being subbed, and running a bench back as a utility? Bennetts use of the bench and player selections in that one game were worse than anything griffin ever did IMO. Parker is an 80 minute player, yet he was subbed and then made to play hooker!?

Reynolds is just a damn fine halfback. I suggested we throw the chequebook at him last year when souths told him he was free to look elsewhere, but was met on here with "hes peter Wallace with a better forward pack" type reactions lol.

Parker received a massive head knock just before he came off. Also, this:

If Souths didn't hold a 20 point lead, I doubt you'd see Whitchurch out on the field or Macca subbed.

It was just about giving the guy a go and it didn't work out.

Bennett himself said that a couple of players were there for him to test out. Make sure they had the goods. While it won't surprise me to see those same players given another week or two, if they dish up the same shit they'll be gone. My thought would have been to put Whitchurch in the backs and put Hodges at temp hooker (he has a very fast, accurate pass), but obviously Bennett wanted to test him out as a super-sub and see if he could be relied on to be thrown anywhere. He'll be the first to be cut.

That's exactly what he is, lol.

Reynolds can kick better, but that doesn't make him a "damm fine halfback".

Having a great pack makes things pretty easy for him, but he is in every other aspect than kicking, nothing more than average. I stand by that statement!

Exactly. He's nothing but a showpony who is benefiting from being behind one of the greatest wrestling teams of the NRL era. He has a mountain of time for every kick he makes, and has been proven that even that department goes to shit when pressured. His goal kicking is phenomenal though.

Until we have a fully functional spine we are not going to be competitive, separate to having fundamental errors coached out of the squad whoever is selected and a decent kicking game.

The scoreboard last night said it all

The spine means nothing if the forwards aren't getting anywhere. You could blame the hooker and the halves for failing to direct them efficiently, but from what I saw last night the gaps were there in the Souths defensive line, we just blew every single opportunity except Gazelle Gillett's 4-pointer. On that note, I actually thought Milford & Hodges combined quite well. Normally Hodges will stifle the attack if it is stuttering, but they put on some very nice moves together as a combination. Again, every time someone blew it. I counted at least 3 bombed tries that Hodges had thrown what should have been the last pass for. And he was given time by Milford (the same Milford who didn't run the ball) because the defence zeroed in on him and allowed him to shovel it out to Hodgo who was locked and loaded with whatever final pass was necessary.

Souths weren't that good, they're definitely beatable, we just had the worst execution and discipline in recent memory. Yet we still defended well in the first half, and were able to create opportunities on both sides of the field and in the middle. From what I saw, Reed blew two guaranteed tries (though one of those was at the other end of the field so maybe that's the one that Milford dropped). Gavet dropped two balls right on their line, and he wasn't the only one, I lost count to be honest. Maranta was being taken out all night. Add that to Thaiday's unforgivable penalties (it's like no one has ever pointed it out to him before), the two restarts that went out on the full, and the refs refusing to blow a penalty for (a) wrestling after the held call, (b), not being back the 10, including Dylan Walker's howler, and (c) walking off the mark, we did well to not get beaten by 50.

As disappointing as it was, it's a huge wake-up call, we have a slightly better idea of who deserves a jersey, and Bennett at least seems to know where to start fixing things.

The worst part for me was the Souths fans. After half time these real deadshits (with, as has been pointed out by others, brand new jerseys or try-hard singlets) sit behind us. One of them says "these are way better seats than ours". The constant "that's why we're the champs, boys", the sense of entitlement just oozing from their every pore. Government handouts, free upgrade to better seats, why wouldn't they expect their (new) team to have guaranteed success? They left with 15 to go.