POST MORTEM. Cowboys Broncs Grand Final.

[morganmorgan]

Hurts. We will be back. Hunt will be better. Milf will be better the team will gel.

 

[Unbreakable]

 

[K-Style]

Oates comes off his wing because he has to cover Reed. Oates stays on the wing but we need to resolve our centres.

 

[rnabokov]

Look everyone makes errors but that shouldn't detract from what was an EXTREMELY high quality game. We're a young team and we'll grow from that. They will be so hungry next year and while everyone is naturally disappointed, don't forget we weren't even supposed to be there this year. Congrats to all the boys on what was an epic GF and we are all proud of you. The better team both won and lost, no shame in losing that.

I agree with what you say except that it's not that everyone makes errors, it's that our equally key player, with talk of him being captain, made 3 crucial errors which for mine effectively lost us the game. I can't get my head around that Hunt was so unfocussed in a game as important as a Grand final. I honestly can't understand that he choked, with his experience and at his age. I also can't understand that he dumped, and deliberately dumped, Linnett on his head! WTF?

Gillett screwed up as well, once, and they scored from his 1 error, but then atoned by being my MOM.

I also do not agree the better team won. The Cowboys won only because of our errors, and the fact that our attack was disjoint and erratic too often, not because they played better football.

It was a fantastic game, and yes, the Broncos exceeded all expectations. I am just so disappoint not that we lost, but how we lost.

Congrats to the Cows at the same time. They played very good footie, but not good enough to win the match. We gave it to them.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

This is uncharted territory for Bennett. He's gonna have a hard time getting Hunt back up after this.

 

[Kaz]

Kicking it out to protect a 4 point lead with 30 mins to go?

That's what I was screaming at the TV, they should have kicked it & hope the Cows make a mistake to get the ball back.

 

[Allo]

It was a poor last 25 mins. Showed you need to make your own luck. 4 points was never enough. Poor Benny. Been one of our MVP's for the past 2 years, but shows he still has game-winning deficiencies i.e. don't try and kick yourself to a win when you don't have a quality kicking game. Running is our strength, and we should've tried to score points.

But we move on.

So for 2016, a returning Moose, Copley set at RC, Carlin (maybe) onto the wing with Kahu at LC (or wing depending on Oates + Reed's spot in pecking order). Gavet on the bench with Dodds gone. Milf + Hunt have had the year together. A stronger team imo

 

[Mr Fourex]

Our kicking game was fucking dogshit all game. Kicking it out to protect a 4 point lead with 30 mins to go? What the ****.

Agree mate.....we tried closing it out way too early.

Thought we were a try short of victory all 2nd half. We should have been trying to score points, not shut down the game.

 

[Harry Sack]

I can't back those blaming Hunt. Yes, he fucked up. He did not lose us the game.

The spear - yes, silly, but it's how he tackles - around the waist and chops them down. Inspiring when it goes right. I can't hold him to blame for that. And Milf's break in our set afterwards to give us outstanding field position when we were trapped in our half actually negated the spear penalty, so it was no issue.

And Thurston got out of two tackles on that last play. Blame the tacklers, idk who they are right now and I'm in no mood to watch replays. Then Oates comes off his wing onto the inside man who was well covered, leaving the corner open. Our left side defence was what lost us that game, and it's been an issue all year. It let in the only Roosters tries last week. And it lost us the game this week. Reed was busted, didn't help. But they had NO RIGHT to score the equaliser. We had them covered in the middle of the paddock but Thurston got away. We had them covered outside but Oates came in. THAT is what lost us the game.

We were never going to win once it hit golden point. Hunt is not to blame, though I understand why people want a scapegoat. I'd suggest pointing it at the missed tackles and Oates on the wing - which would also probably be unfair. As a team we were below our best, I don't think scapegoating is fair after that. We just weren't good enough.

This.

 

[winslow_wong]

Really when you think about it every Bronx player did their part and had good games. How did we not win with all that experience too. It does sadly come down to hunts last 1-2 minutes that cost us. He needs to pick himself up but how

 

[bb_gun]

We were never going to win once it hit golden point. Hunt is not to blame, though I understand why people want a scapegoat.

This. Well said.

Cowboys had the game in the bag once they scored their last minute try. It hurts, I get it, but what's done is done. Already looking forward to what we can do next year.

I'm just glad my old man (who is a hardcore Cowboys supporter) got to witness JT hold up the shield live. He's waited 20 years for that.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I'm just shattered that our GF record is gone. I guess it had to happen eventually. The more GFs you make, the more chance you have of losing.

1 point though, and off the back of 2 brain snaps from our most aspiring player.....I just can't. It's a disastrous outcome now with an uncertain future.

 

[Unbreakable]

I love what Oates has done for us this season, and he played fine tonight, but when it comes down to these last crucial minutes, we can't have a tired backrower lumbering out on the wing and making costly positioning errors like that. He also had 2 really poor knock-ons, both of which someone like Maranta wouldn't have dropped. His future isn't on the wing for mine.

 

[Fernando]

Losing it makes you realise how hard it is to win...

The start of the season, the origin period, the way you enter the finals. It all seemed pretty perfect for us this year. Ruined by that last set of regulation time.

Ouch

 

[Culhwch]

Just devastated. Devastated for Hodges. He deserved to go out a winner. Devastated for Reed, who just never stopped trying. Devastated for Hunt. I just can't imagine how he's feeling, and he certainly will need no help from this forum in beating himself up.

I thought the Cowboys played close to their best, and we played pretty ordinary football for most of the game, and that we were still five seconds and one tackle away from winning it might be what hurts the most. We probably shouldn't have been in that position. It was a bit of luck that the Cowboys weren't ahead at that stage. It was also probably a bit of luck that we weren't further ahead. Things didn't break our way. We made line breaks but never quite finished them off. We got good field position but didn't use it. The defense in the back end was outstanding for the most part, but that four point lead never felt like enough. Maybe they shouldn't have taken the two after halftime. We get a try there and convert, that defensive effort wins the game.

I hope in a few years time we look back at this and feel it was the loss we had to have. We had no right to be there this year. Hopefully they won't say that about us next year, or the year after. Hopefully this makes them want to get back to the big game, and fix what happened tonight. The future is bright. On to bigger and better things in 2016.

 

[winslow_wong]

That last minute try happened because hunt two errors. The penalty and not getting to the kick after milfords run. He put us under way too much pressure in the last minutes.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I want to be gracious. I want to be eloquent. But that was too god damned much. No premiership felt as good as this moment feels bad. Ben Hunt I forgive you. I want to put that out there before it festers and the lesser version of myself becomes ensconced in bitterness, because I'm a small, petty man. Cowboys can eat a bag of dicks. Though I'll probably revise that statement when I'm more composed.

Two bags of dicks.

 

[Harry Sack]

The gameplan for the last half hour is still baffling me.