Prem 7. What stopped it?

[broncsgoat]

-Ashton Sims dropped ball

He didn’t cost us the game it was the players missing the tackles after that cost us

 

[Big Pete]

As far as the question at hand, it can be traced back to 2007.

Lockyer wasn't the same player after he tore his ACL and the exodus of senior talent saw the Broncos go through a cultural shift. When Bennett and Connell departed that process went into overdrive and in just three years the Broncos saw the back of Karmichael Hunt, Petero Civoniceiva, Brad Thorn, Shaun Berrigan, Brent Tate, Greg Eastwood, Dave Taylor, Darius Boyd, Michael Ennis etc.

On top of that, Justin Hodges had his share of physical and mental setbacks and he was never as good as he was when the Broncos won the premiership. Still good but just a step below the Billy Slaters, Jarryd Haynes, Greg Inglis' etc.

Brisbane were still a chance with Lockyer around but they were never the dominant team and they really needed things to fall their way which never happened.

Once they got through the post-Locky hangover they built another team but it was just inherently flawed relying more on individual brilliance than consistent systems that achieve success. They tried to fix that by getting rid of Bennett altogether and bringing in Seibs but it was just terrible timing all-round.

So now the Broncos find themselves well and truly out of premiership contention and I can't see that changing for at least a few years.

 

[Scorchie]

2011 was our year I'm sure of it. Lockyer would have guided us somehow to the GF then...Well when Locky plays in GFs he doesn't lose.

Having said that, I remember the Manly prelim and I forget the referee, might have been Archer or Hayne, but they gave 2 'hand on the ball' penalties against us in the first few minutes to get Manly out of their end and some momentum. Not one hand on the ball penalty for the rest of the game and there were of course a heap of very similar instances (IMO).

So who knows, even Locky can't beat shit refs..

Locky was on absolute fire at the end back of that year. Am confident he could've pulled us through

 

[realist]

We should have beat Manly in 11, even with Gillette at 5/8. Unfortunately we had prime Dropley. Dropping 2 tries and leaking a couple.

 

[vertigo]

We haven't won a minor premiership in 20 years either.

Until we have a dominant team that just runs over the top of everyone all season long I won't have any confidence in us winning a comp.

Finish 1st or 2nd. Win. Week off. Breeze through prelim and just win ffs.

 

[WASSHHH]

This united, totally compliant and well composed squad and their exemplarily moral and ethical club didn’t help. That’s for sure.

 

[jarro65]

Andrew Mcculloughs dummy

 

[GCBRONCO]

Scott Minto moving on to the Cowboys after 2006. You just can't replace an immortal average run of the mill player of the game like that overnight and then Lockyer retiring in 2011 only compounded it. Now there was a guy who knew how to beat the Storm!

Now you got these wannabe wingers like Coates, please! I want class average not pretenders like that! Him departing and Dropley gone 2 less to worry about.

 

[Emanon]

Its hard to say. We had Peter Wallace post Lockyer to try to get us through it, but the rest of that spine was Hoffman, Norman and McCullough. With Hunt on the bench for a while.

I'm not entirely convinced Thaiday was the right choice to succeed Lockyer as captain either. It should of been Hodges to balance out Hook.

 

[Browny]

Wallace getting injured didn’t help

 

[broncsgoat]

Milf not getting any good ball didn’t help

 

[Sproj]

Milf not getting any good ball didn’t help

And being expected to keep fit was just gross mismanagement.

 

[Jason Simmons]

This year will be 15 years since we won the Premiership. I've been thinking about years that got away from us in that time and thought I'd pose the question to you guys.

What do you think was the most significant hindrance in those 15 years, that had it gone the other way, we would have won another premiership? Of course "tackling a Cowboys player after the siren in 2015" is the truest answer, but let's forget that for this (and every other thread too please).

Things I thought of were:

-Melbourne cheating the cap
-Ashton Sims dropped ball
-Gerard Beales Knee
-Greg Inglis signing with Souths

Arrogance within our own club.

They seemed to think every decision they made between 2006 and 2020 was perfect and no-one outside the club had a goddamn clue what they were talking about.

They knew it all.

Pick 5 different coaches in that time? Correct decision.

Give out free Maccas cards to players? Correct decision.

Implement the infamous ‘bulk up program’? Correct decision.

Hand out player options like free lollies? Correct decision.

Sack Wayne? Correct decision.

Play Josh Hoffman at 5/8? Correct decision.

The stupidity involved never ended, but from the club’s POV, everything was right. Even when they themselves reversed some of the decisions not long afterwards. They still wouldn’t admit they’d got it wrong in the first place.

The arrogance is / was breath-taking. Often it was stupid and self-defeating, yet persisted nonetheless.

Until it led us directly to the wooden spoon, it was un-assailable. Once that happened, there were no more excuses.

Change had to come.

 

[Foordy]

Sack Wayne? Correct decision.

it certainly was

 

[LittleDavey]

In my mind we should have won it in Locky's last year, he was absolutely on fire and Beale's knee was literally the death knell for our premiership charge.

2015 was ours as well. I will never, NEVER get over that. Playing 'protect the lead' through that whole second half was unforgivable, we had them on the ropes and needed to press the advantage not play it safe. We should never have been in the position to be run down after the whistle IMO.

The next opportunity we have? Hard to say. There's a bunch of talent at the club now but really that's always been the case. Do we have the coaching staff to take them to the next level? We are almost rid of anyone with the negative mindset of previous seasons so that's a huge plus, hopefully these kids won't be as scarred as some of their previous teammates. I don't see how we can compete with the likes of Melbourne - yet.

But the roster is getting in shape again. Now with some consistency in players and coaching staff (hopefully) we can start getting some of those systems in place which serve the likes of Melbourne and the Rorters so well. The future looks bright, and I think we're headed in the right direction. I believe another premiership is possible before 2025 if we continue on the path we've been on the last 2 months or so. With a good dose of luck, which is also needed to get there IMO.