Premiership winning captain: toad you so

[abashii]

It has always been my working theory that Morris was significantly involved.

The timelines certainly overlap don't they.

 

[Sproj]

And yet Morris is still at the club, go figure.

As for the Broncos’ DNA, this is why I’m always suggesting we recruit Qlders and rarely suggest recruiting anyone else. The Broncos need to find a way to merge the past halcyon ways with the present if they are to become successful again. A few more Qlders in the side will help with that. So even if you have it pay a bit too much, gets the likes of Capewell, Mann, Lee, Liu, Opacic back at the club.

Someone like Opacic should never have been let go. If you have a guy who lives and breathes the club, grew up supporting them and is good enough to be in the side or even fringe and he wants to stay, keep him!

 

[McHunt]

Kevvie actually made a really good point there that I hadn't actually considered before and it might actually be quite telling:

“We’ve had all the former captains come in and speak to the players. A lot of our current guys weren’t even born when the Broncos were formed."

I have to say, this threw me a little bit when I thought about it. It's 100% true, these young men playing for us today are far less Brisbane or Queensland raised than ever before, and none of them were even alive when the Broncos came into existence. This is actually a huge shift from previous generations when you sit back and consider it. They are the first generation for which this would be true for almost entirely all of them.

What does it mean to this club when the guys playing for it not only increasingly didn't come from Brisbane or even Queensland, but more importantly, don't share the past experiences of watching Queensland getting thumped in Interstate games, or the BRL getting trashed on by Sydney media and their best players being scooped up by pokie rich clubs in Sydney? What does it mean to a current Bronco who never actually saw Wally and his Queenslanders punching so far above their weight in an Origin bloodbath?

What does it mean to be born into a Broncos that were ALWAYS successful, always had the best players, the most money, the biggest fan base and the most prestige?

Is it possible that a large part of the Broncos early DNA was about Brisbane finally standing up for itself and sticking it right up Sydney and NSW? Is a big part of being an early and even mid lifetime Bronco about representing your city and your state and getting one back on those Cockroaches on a weekly basis?

How can the current generation buy into that when so many of them never came from here, never shared that experience? How can it drive them when they were never forged in the fire of Queensland and Brisbane losing and being disrespected for so many years?

For the record, I don't blame them. You cannot be responsible for the era you were born into and the challenges you have or have not had to face as a result of that. I also don't blame the Broncos for recruiting externally on an increasing basis these days, as it's an essential part of modern Rugby League.

It is fascinating to think about though, and I do wonder if Kevvie must have considered the same thing too, because it sure would explain a lot about some of the criticisms that the former players have so often made about our current generation.

Queenslander!

 

[Kooly87]

And yet Morris is still at the club, go figure.

As for the Broncos’ DNA, this is why I’m always suggesting we recruit Qlders and rarely suggest recruiting anyone else. The Broncos need to find a way to merge the past halcyon ways with the present if they are to become successful again. A few more Qlders in the side will help with that. So even if you have it pay a bit too much, gets the likes of Capewell, Mann, Lee, Liu, Opacic back at the club.

Someone like Opacic should never have been let go. If you have a guy who lives and breathes the club, grew up supporting them and is good enough to be in the side or even fringe and he wants to stay, keep him!

That's sort of the problem with what I touched on though. Even if you recruited Queenslanders, they aren't the same generation who grew up losing or having their best players poached to another competition. I'm not saying they aren't as good, but if you haven't grown up living that pain or veyr closely following on and playing with the people who did, it's just so hard to have the same appreciation for it and to be able to use it as fuel to drive you going forward.

As I said, it's not their fault, they can't help the only Brisbane football club they've ever known has always been a glamour club, but they also can't change those circumstances and how that influences them either and as a club we just may be a bit poorer for that these days.

 

[theshed]

And yet Morris is still at the club, go figure.

As for the Broncos’ DNA, this is why I’m always suggesting we recruit Qlders and rarely suggest recruiting anyone else. The Broncos need to find a way to merge the past halcyon ways with the present if they are to become successful again. A few more Qlders in the side will help with that. So even if you have it pay a bit too much, gets the likes of Capewell, Mann, Lee, Liu, Opacic back at the club.

Someone like Opacic should never have been let go. If you have a guy who lives and breathes the club, grew up supporting them and is good enough to be in the side or even fringe and he wants to stay, keep him!

I’ve been crowing about Oppa and Capewell for months. I think our team is vastly different with them on that left edge, and by accounts Capewell is asking about $50-100k too much but Oppa would be a bargain by if we signed him right now before he potentially increase his worth at the Eels.

1. Walsh
2. Farnworth
3. Opacic
4. Niu / Staggs
5. Coates
6. ???
7. Dearden
8. TPJ
9. Turpin
10. Haas
11. Capewell
12. Riki
13. Carrigan

14. Asiata
15. Flegler
16. Bullimore
17. Piakura

Lodge, Oates, Glenn, Isaako, Niu/Staggs can all go.

and depending on asking price you’d probably dump Asiata for Mann if possible.

 

[ZTop]

At this stage I’d let ivan milat talk to the playing group.

He's dead

 

[Kooly87]

He's dead

Not sure that would change his point though.

 

[Alex Wingnut]

I’ve been crowing about Oppa and Capewell for months. I think our team is vastly different with them on that left edge, and by accounts Capewell is asking about $50-100k too much but Oppa would be a bargain by if we signed him right now before he potentially increase his worth at the Eels.

1. Walsh
2. Farnworth
3. Opacic
4. Niu / Staggs
5. Coates
6. ???
7. Dearden
8. TPJ
9. Turpin
10. Haas
11. Capewell
12. Riki
13. Carrigan

14. Asiata
15. Flegler
16. Bullimore
17. Piakura

Lodge, Oates, Glenn, Isaako, Niu/Staggs can all go.

and depending on asking price you’d probably dump Asiata for Mann if possible.

I don't understand your obsession with signing Opacic.
I think he was just a stop gap centre when he was with us and I admit defensively he is great but offers little in attack. I'd say not keeping Herbie there will be a mistake, He's going into his second full season and will only get better.

 

[Sproj]

I don't understand your obsession with signing Opacic.
I think he was just a stop gap centre when he was with us and I admit defensively he is great but offers little in attack. I'd say not keeping Herbie there will be a mistake, He's going into his second full season and will only get better.

No one is saying Opacic is or will be a star but you said yourself, defensively he is great and goodness me we NEED that. Even if he gets usurped by Niu / Farnworth / Coates, that isn't a bad thing. We NEED competition for spots and we NEED better squad depth, we have very little of either at present.

 

[theshed]

I don't understand your obsession with signing Opacic.
I think he was just a stop gap centre when he was with us and I admit defensively he is great but offers little in attack. I'd say not keeping Herbie there will be a mistake, He's going into his second full season and will only get better.

Well firstly because defensively he is great. Not sure if your antenna was on the fritz last year but the boys have a little problem defending, especially on the edges.

But also because he would be incredible value for money (he would sign for next to nothing), is fairly experienced, by all accounts is an honest toiler who would improve club culture, and I also think Herbie is a better winger than centre.

He is a Jack Reed type, and we have a team of Josh Hoffmans.

 

[lynx000]

Well firstly because defensively he is great. Not sure if your antenna was on the fritz last year but the boys have a little problem defending, especially on the edges.

But also because he would be incredible value for money (he would sign for next to nothing), is fairly experienced, by all accounts is an honest toiler who would improve club culture, and I also think Herbie is a better winger than centre.

He is a Jack Reed type, and we have a team of Josh Hoffmans.

You would have to say on any objective assessment that if you replace Kennar with Opacic that overall you strengthen the squad. They are the sort of moves we should be making.

 

[Sproj]

You would have to say on any objective assessment that if you replace Kennar with Opacic that overall you strengthen the squad. They are the sort of moves we should be making.

Excellent point. Try and strengthen your squad from the bottom up while trying to make those top down coups. This is the motto a recruitment and retention team should be working from.

 

[lynx000]

Excellent point. Try and strengthen your squad from the bottom up while trying to make those top down coups. This is the motto a recruitment and retention team should be working from.

Spot on, where someone elite comes on to the market (but only in an area where we need it - looking at you Bird) you swoop and sign them up. It would be so nice if we started doing this.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

On Capewell, I read somewhere last night we “chased” him .... by offering him 300K when he’s already on 400K where he is. Genius negotiating if true.

 

[Sproj]

On Capewell, I read somewhere last night we “chased” him .... by offering him 300K when he’s already on 400K where he is. Genius negotiating if true.

I'm as negative as anyone else about our recruitment and retention but I don't mind this, I actually agree with it. As mentioned elsewhere, you need to start low to get a sense of whether the player wants to come. If he laughs it up, you know he isn't really interested. If he comes back with a base price and willingness to come, you get serious.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

I'm as negative as anyone else about our recruitment and retention but I don't mind this, I actually agree with it. As mentioned elsewhere, you need to start low to get a sense of whether the player wants to come. If he laughs it up, you know he isn't really interested. If he comes back with a base price and willingness to come, you get serious.

Yeah, I get that it’s all about context but if a club thinks a bloke on a contract worth 400K, who then plays Origin, is going to entertain a 300K offer, you’re dreaming.

 

[Financeguy]

On Capewell, I read somewhere last night we “chased” him .... by offering him 300K when he’s already on 400K where he is. Genius negotiating if true.

I agree on the surface it seems strange but it's the start of a negotiation, not a one time take it or leave it deal.

The real message to Capewell was we are interested, his manager will let us know the price if his interest is returned.

 

[Huge]

"Because I don't want to" ? What a cop out. Then a rant about the administration and the club, none of which is the playing group's fault or even in their control. And claiming Paul White has blocked the old blokes doesn't fit either, given the statements below.

These are Lodge's comments on Gordie, from when he was the first Bronco to face the media after the 59-zip loss to the Roosters:

"Gordie's one of the best forwards that's ever played the game so everything he says you've got to take it with a bit of respect."

"But he's never stepped a foot in the building, helped any of the young players, helped the club get better or reached out to say if there's anything he can do to help us become better players. We've had plenty of old players come back and help us get better so sometimes you've just got to sit through his criticism."

"He's entitled to that opinion but maybe if he could know we're trying hard to fix it here and there's no excuse of us being young, we've got the talent here and we're going to put the head down and work. If he wants to come in and give us a hand and show us some leadership and help us be better players he's more than welcome."


We obviously have different views on this and that's ok. At the time of the talk of Lodge being captain I wasn't exactly hot about the idea but wasn't against it either. The team looked up to him, he was really leading from the front and let's be honest...options are few in the squad. I'm just really disappointed in Gordie using his Fox high horse to bag the shit out of the club every chance he gets. Sure, the team needs to face some home truths but Gordie's axe has been ground down to a stump!

" Because I don't want to " were his exact words.