NEWS Pre-season Challenge 1: Broncos 24 drew Titans 24

NRL Pre-season Challenge 1: TITANS - Feb 12, 7:05pm (Sunshine Coast)

Broadcast on Fox/Kayo only.

Broncos v Titans

Brisbane Broncos versus Gold Coast Titans match centre includes live scores and updates. Includes official live player and team stats. Run metres, fantasy points scoring.

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Broncos v Titans | Sunshine Coast Stadium

Catch the NRL pre-season trial between the Broncos and Titans on Sunday 12 February.

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[Big Del]

Walsh has got a huge boot on him like a lot of left footers .
Some of the bombs he kicked yesterday had mucho hang time . And the 40 / 20 was very classy .

Kicking the ball dead on tackle 2 . Not so classy .

The centres and wingers will def benefit from having Walsh inside them . He makes defenders nervous because he could run or pass and either be a threat .

I was impressed with Mariners kick returns . Baylis - meh . Te Kura give him time he`s a good `n

Hass looking to play faster ie find the ground . Looked good . Jensen did what Jensen does quiet achiever .

Piakura got better late sone good runs and stuck his shoulder hard into some Titans runners . I can see the potential but he needs to improve quickly if he is to be a threat to the starters .

 

[Mr Fourex]

At last we might have more options than one guy (Milford/Reyno) to do the kicking in general play.......

Reece looked the goods.....

 

[Big Del]

At last we might have more options than one guy (Milford/Reyno) to do the kicking in general play.......

Reece looked the goods.....

Means we don`t need to get to the centre / right side of the field every set of 6 to set up for the right footed kicker .

If the defence knows that`s coming it`s easier to defend . Being able to work to multiple positions to kick from coming out of our end means a lot harder for defence to plan for . And full backs / wingers to position for .

 

[Santa]

My few observations.

Walsh did what we know Walsh can do, but he will really need Reynolds out there with him to stop him overplaying his hand.

I didn’t think any of our 9 options put their hand up. I also don’t think any of them were really provided much opportunity to do so. I know it’s only a trial and that’s sort of what it’s for, but at least give them each 25mins straight in the role. Chopping and changing and having 2 (or even 3, I can’t recall) out there are the same time was strange. Surely Walters knows who his preferred option is, so I hope he gives the other 2 a half each next week to see who performs better.

Herbie and Staggs looked good in the little time they had, but were both a little rusty in D at times. Understandable given the injury they’re each coming back from.

I just don’t see the organising 7 in Mam that others see. At the moment he is a 6 and one that relies heavily on his 7. His defence was great at times though, which is super pleasing.

Mariner looks ready, but at who’s expense I don’t know.

Mam seems like another Milford to me. But hopefully he keeps it up and doesn't drop off as bad. But yea, he's not a 7.

 

[BroncsFan]

Cartwright recently said they'll be rotating Paix and Walters like last year and the way Kevvie has done with his halves since he's had this job. Did you get the impression either of the two had progressed in the position over the off season?

Pre-Season

the playing group will plot their own course. Lol. Sounds like code for “kevvie is a good bloke but not a good coach” I'd read it more as putting it on the leadership group and playing group to establish where they actually want to go this year. Mentality in sport is 90% of the game... all...

broncoshq.com

I found it hard to get a gauge on whether there was any improvement, because we spent the bulk of the game defending or just working out of yardage, and when we did have the ball Reece Walsh was putting on a master class.

A criticism I would have from the team as a whole was impatience inside the 20m, which would be a carry over from last year... we were unable to build any sustained pressure due to either turning the ball over early in the set or having ineffective kicks on the last (when we actually got to the last tackle).

I feel we don't really play through our dummy halves inside the 20m anyway either... when Campbell is the opposition fullback I would've liked to see some plays where the dummy half is getting a big forward 1v1 against him, but when we did it was telegraphed and the running forward was treating it as a settler rather than opportunity to score.

The broncos should be practicing these types of plays non-stop during training as it is, because getting the fullback 1v1 is the number one tactic used against Walsh from last year so he needs practice defending against it anyway.

In general I would like to see more of our red zone attack going through the dummy halves... spotting up forwards against their opposite in 1v1 situations to geenrate quick ptb's, etc. but we seem to always get it into the backlines hands or going for one out settlers.

Plays like that provide a point of difference for the attack to reduce pressure on the backline and halves to produce all the points.... or create quick ptb's for the backline to work off, which is the most effective time to attack in the current game.

 

[WASSHHH]

I found it hard to get a gauge on whether there was any improvement, because we spent the bulk of the game defending or just working out of yardage, and when we did have the ball Reece Walsh was putting on a master class.

A criticism I would have from the team as a whole was impatience inside the 20m, which would be a carry over from last year... we were unable to build any sustained pressure due to either turning the ball over early in the set or having ineffective kicks on the last (when we actually got to the last tackle).

I feel we don't really play through our dummy halves inside the 20m anyway either... when Campbell is the opposition fullback I would've liked to see some plays where the dummy half is getting a big forward 1v1 against him, but when we did it was telegraphed and the running forward was treating it as a settler rather than opportunity to score.

The broncos should be practicing these types of plays non-stop during training as it is, because getting the fullback 1v1 is the number one tactic used against Walsh from last year so he needs practice defending against it anyway.

In general I would like to see more of our red zone attack going through the dummy halves... spotting up forwards against their opposite in 1v1 situations to geenrate quick ptb's, etc. but we seem to always get it into the backlines hands or going for one out settlers.

Plays like that provide a point of difference for the attack to reduce pressure on the backline and halves to produce all the points.... or create quick ptb's for the backline to work off, which is the most effective time to attack in the current game.

As much as he’s got one of the more punchable faces in the NRL, Mahoney provided the perfect example of this for the Bulldogs yesterday.

They looked so, so much better when he was on the field and looked very dangerous in the red zone.

He is going to make a huge difference for them this year. When they’ve got Kikau and TPJ parked on each edge, with Mahoney plotting around the middle, their backs are going to have a lot of room to move.

 

[BroncsFan]

Mam seems like another Milford to me. But hopefully he keeps it up and doesn't drop off as bad. But yea, he's not a 7.

I think he should be given time to learn his actual role as a 6 before we start trying to overburden him with halfback and game management duties as well.

For Souths in qcup his first year was great as a supporting running 6... the next year they tried to up his kicking and game management and by all reports he looked completely lost.

He then gets a call up to first grade and told to be a running supporting 6 and starts having a great run... his first game was as a 7 in Newcastle, but I believe Gamble was the 6 in that game and basically played as the 7.

After the game yesterday in his interview he was talking about how he was looking to up his game management, etc. and has been working on it... which I'd see as an obvious move from the coaching to shoehorn him into the soon to be vacant 7 jersey after Reynolds retires.

I feel that is too premature for Mam though... he's fresh into playing against men and adapting to the faster style of play compared to playing against kids his own age. Let him learn what actually works for him in first grade before we start pushing the 7 duties onto him.

We have Jock for the next 3yrs at least and he seems like he's actually played a bit of 7 in the lower grades... so even if the long term plan isn't Jock I'd still think he should be next cab off the rank.

When Reynold retires get him straight back in as a specialist halves coach and work with all of them, including Walsh... to find out who is best suited for the halfback duties moving forward OR if none of them are go to market to find someone.

It does look like we are progressing down the Milford route again with Mam, except Milf was at least in his 4th-5th year of first grade by 2017 when we decided to make him a 7, so at least by that point he knew what his game was in the NRL.

 

[ejbronco]

Cartwright recently said they'll be rotating Paix and Walters like last year and the way Kevvie has done with his halves since he's had this job. Did you get the impression either of the two had progressed in the position over the off season?

Pre-Season

the playing group will plot their own course. Lol. Sounds like code for “kevvie is a good bloke but not a good coach” I'd read it more as putting it on the leadership group and playing group to establish where they actually want to go this year. Mentality in sport is 90% of the game... all...

broncoshq.com

To be honest it looks like Paix has gone backwards and Walters is the same player as always

 

[Mustafur]

Mam is a 6 and should stay as one.

 

[ejbronco]

Any update on TC robati? Like him as a player and I rate him higher than Riki.. we really need another good backrower..

 

[Sproj]

Any update on TC robati? Like him as a player and I rate him higher than Riki.. we really need another good backrower..

He is stood down, so who knows when he will be available if ever. He may never play for us again, probably likely he will not.

 

[BroncosFever]

The report on Frie was trivial .
He stuck his leg out to deflect a grubber kick and the kicker fell over it . Nothing to see here .

Shalom will get a cpl of weeks for the swinging arm I expect .

That's what he meant to do but he was very late on doing it.

 

[Xzei]

watching the game now how good was it watching mam stopping fifita in his place

 

[Xzei]

not sure if walters gets another stint or not but for me so far paix smoothy then walters,paix and smoothy passes seem to be out the front and at chest height walters been guilty of having the 7 reaching above his head for the ball,really like that smoothy was directing his forwards where to run.

 

[007]

not sure if walters gets another stint or not but for me so far paix smoothy then walters,paix and smoothy passes seem to be out the front and at chest height walters been guilty of having the 7 reaching above his head for the ball,really like that smoothy was directing his forwards where to run.

I saw a few balls from smoothy aimed at the eyebrows. Neither of the 3 had standout games.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I saw a few balls from smoothy aimed at the eyebrows. Neither of the 3 had standout games.

I think if everyone is being completely honest....all 3 had uninspiring games.

Its pointless arguing about who was more shit.

We just need a Shane Perry performance from a no.9 until a genuine talent can be found........
Shane Perry wasn't consistent ....but he did what he had to do, to get us over the line.
I think BW is our best chance of someone doing that, in the interim.

If we're not getting over the line.....it'll be because of other reasons than solely just our no.9.

TBH....I'm looking squarely at Adam Reynolds in 2023. If he doesn;t consistently fire...its gotta be his last year.

 

[theshed]

I think if everyone is being completely honest....all 3 had uninspiring games.

Its pointless arguing about who was more shit.

We just need a Shane Perry performance from a no.9 until a genuine talent can be found........
Shane Perry wasn't consistent ....but he did what he had to do, to get us over the line.
I think BW is our best chance of someone doing that, in the interim.

If we're not getting over the line.....it'll be because of other reasons than solely just our no.9.

TBH....I'm looking squarely at Adam Reynolds in 2023. If he doesn;t consistently fire...its gotta be his last year.

It’s funny because I think we entirely agree right up until the conclusion of Billy Walters being the best chance. While none offer anything great, I personally think Smoothy and Paix offer the least bad

oh, I also entirely disagree about forcing Adam out if he doesn’t consistently fire lol. That’s not a good opinion at all

 

[Mr Fourex]

In your opinion.....