Round 1 - Broncos vs Cowboys - Post Match Discussion

[vertigo]

Seriously. Just leave the halfback position vacant. An odd bounce of the ball would direct it to a better player than Wallace would.

[icon_lol1.

 

[OXY-351]

We should just buy Thurston to solve our halfback issue, and Cameron Smith for the hooker problem.

I'm also not convinced that Jack Reed had what it takes, so I say we buy Greg Inglis too.

Hoffman is going ok, but he's no Billy Slater, so I don't understand why we have to put up with having Hoffman when there is clearly a better option out there.

We are Bronco fans, and we shouldn't have to settle for anything less than the best!

 

[Anonymous person]

And yet we want to take a risk with Ben Hunt. And what happens if Hunt doesn't work out and is worse than Wallace, what do we do? Do we bring Wallace back? [icon_shru You can't do that.

i want to take a risk with Hunt because seriously, we cant get much less creative or potent with ball in hand than we have been for the last 12 months with Wallace at halfback.

Wallace has proven to not be up to it. at least Hunt is still unproven when given the fulltime halfback role. he might suck, sure, and to be honest hes done very little to impress me and suggest that he is our future halfback - but Wallace has done everything to prove to me that hes NOT our future halfback, so something needs to be done about it. giving Hunt a go will do a few things:

1. give him some experience in the NRL in his specialist position.
2. make Wallace have to actually work to get a spot in the Broncos team.
3. answer the question of 'is Hunt our future halfback?'.
4. not weaken the team by playing him at hooker, allowing our hooker to play 80 minutes.

and we need to be looking at buying a quality established half NOW. we need to pull out all stops. Lockyer will be gone soon enough, and if Hunt/Wallace arent good enough to replace him then we need to find 2 new halves. get one now (for next season) to replace wallace/hunt, and then go after another after lockyer announces when hes going to retire UNLESS either Hunt or Wallace step up to the plate.

we need to stop just twiddling our thumbs HOPING that one of them will come good. its not good enough. buy someone that we KNOW is good enough. if we dont do something, in 2 years time we're going to be in an even worse position than we are now. imagine our team without lockyer there. we'd be lucky to score a single try per game. thats what we're going to be like if we keep Wallace there and just hope Hunt turns out good.

its time to $hit or get off the pot - Hunt or Wallace, not both.

 

[Meat77]

I agree with your sentiment AP - I'm just not in Hunt's corner on this one.

 

[Anonymous person]

I agree with your sentiment AP - I'm just not in Hunt's corner on this one.

im not in his corner either - im just that far away from Wallaces corner that id give whoever is running around in the Q-Cup for our feeder team this year with the number 6 or 7 on their back a go next week over Wallace. and i feel that we need to make a decision on Hunt NOW. there are only so many years we can have him on the bench, taking up a spot that could be used for another good forward or utility, and coming on to play hooker for half an hour max. if we're not going to put him in halfback, tell him to look elsewhere. hes showing loyalty to us by staying, so we shouldnt jerk him around if we're not going to even give him a decent shot at his position.

Wallace has been given 3 whole years to produce the goods. he hasnt even come close. by the process of elimination for good halfbacks, its Hunts turn by default.

Yep. I'm not a fan of just handing out free passes for the halfback position, which is essentially what we're doing with Hunt. We're giving him a free pass despite his poor form. Hunt needs to work for the position, he's shown NIL.

its not a free pass though. the only reason we kept him was so he can play halfback. thats it. Wallace is struggling BIG TIME, has been for 12 months, so its time to give the other guy a go. Wallace is being given a free pass as it is - no matter how little he does, no matter how many games we lose because of his inability to create anything, he keeps his position because 'Hunts not ready', despite the fact that we're doing absolutely nothing to get him ready. give him 6 weeks at halfback, and if he doesnt produce anything or show any decent form, drop him from the 17 for good. wallace then goes back to halfback while we actively search for a replacement for the next season.

 

[ningnangnong]

I agree with your sentiment AP - I'm just not in Hunt's corner on this one.

Yep. I'm not a fan of just handing out free passes for the halfback position, which is essentially what we're doing with Hunt. We're giving him a free pass despite his poor form. Hunt needs to work for the position, he's shown NIL.

Bit of a catch-22 though, isn't it?

Wallace needs to show he deserves to retain his position, which in the opinion of many, he isn't doing.

What you said about Hunt can be used to describe Wallace as well - we're giving him a free pass despite his poor form.

Anyway, I'm on the fence for this one.

 

[OXY-351]

and we need to be looking at buying a quality established half NOW. we need to pull out all stops.

Who though? What genuine half backs are there in the game these days, let alone off contract ones that brisbane could afford?

I don't overly rate Wallace, but for this season at least, sometime's it's better the devil you know than the one you don't.

 

[Big Pete]

I'm on the, let's give Wallace till Round 5 before we start thinking of tinkering with the spine.

 

[Anonymous person]

Who though? What genuine half backs are there in the game these days, let alone off contract ones that brisbane could afford?

select halfback
from NRLTeams
where teamname <> 'Brisbane Broncos'

theres your answer [icon_lol1.

seriously though, we should have absolutely thrown the cheque book at Cooper Cronk last year. i wouldve taken him over slater/inglis/smith without a doubt, pretty sure i even said as much as soon as the whole storm saga unfolded. we get him and suddenly we just have to worry about bringing in young guys to hit the gaps that Cronk WILL create, or to catch the kicks that Cronk WILL place with pinpoint accuracy. as it is, we've got guys getting the ball from Wallace with 3 defenders in front of them while flatfooted, and we've got no chance of them catching kicks because theyre all right down the throat of the oppositions fullback or wingers.

wallace is on a pretty penny at the broncos, we signed him to a big deal stupidly after what, half a season with us? when thats done, we'll have enough to buy a good replacement.

i agree that for this season we're pretty much screwed halfback-wise. thats why i think its time to throw Hunt in and see if he can produce anything. if not, then we have 1 less player to worry about resigning, and we just go back to Wallace as the halfback for the rest of the season. but to just keep Hunt hanging around while Wallance goes from 1 disappointing game to another is just stupid.

 

[Coxy]

I'm on the, let's give Wallace till Round 5 before we start thinking of tinkering with the spine.

Funnily enough, as one of Wal's biggest critics, so am I.

Putting last year aside, you can't dump someone after one bad game this year.
However, I would modify that slightly for Hunt or McCullough. I think we need to dump the interchange hooker role. Pick one with the intention they play 80 minutes. Have someone who can cover hooker if need be, but isn't picked specifically for that role (eg, Alex Glenn).

Let whichever one we drop (I'd lean towards Hunt) play Q Cup full time for a few weeks in their preferred position (halfback for Hunt, hooker for McCullough I assume).

See how Wallace, Hunt, McCullough et al are travelling after a month of footy. If Wal hasn't lifted his game and Hunt/Macca are carving up in Q Cup/NRL (hooker) then you change things.

But fact is, as bad as Wallace was (and the others), the biggest problem was panic play (silly offloading) and poor handling. Both of those things can be fixed without changing much in the way of the personnel.

 

[pennywisealfie]

I agree with your sentiment AP - I'm just not in Hunt's corner on this one.

im not in his corner either - im just that far away from Wallaces corner that id give whoever is running around in the Q-Cup for our feeder team this year with the number 6 or 7 on their back a go next week over Wallace. and i feel that we need to make a decision on Hunt NOW. there are only so many years we can have him on the bench, taking up a spot that could be used for another good forward or utility, and coming on to play hooker for half an hour max. if we're not going to put him in halfback, tell him to look elsewhere. hes showing loyalty to us by staying, so we shouldnt jerk him around if we're not going to even give him a decent shot at his position.

Wallace has been given 3 whole years to produce the goods. he hasnt even come close. by the process of elimination for good halfbacks, its Hunts turn by default.


[quote="The Rock":33dtwzuv]
Yep. I'm not a fan of just handing out free passes for the halfback position, which is essentially what we're doing with Hunt. We're giving him a free pass despite his poor form. Hunt needs to work for the position, he's shown NIL.

its not a free pass though. the only reason we kept him was so he can play halfback. thats it. Wallace is struggling BIG TIME, has been for 12 months, so its time to give the other guy a go. Wallace is being given a free pass as it is - no matter how little he does, no matter how many games we lose because of his inability to create anything, he keeps his position because 'Hunts not ready', despite the fact that we're doing absolutely nothing to get him ready. give him 6 weeks at halfback, and if he doesnt produce anything or show any decent form, drop him from the 17 for good. wallace then goes back to halfback while we actively search for a replacement for the next season.[/quote:33dtwzuv]

yep, well said.

 

[Anonymous person]

We could end up with no halfback at all.

at the moment we may as well not have one. we've basically just got a guy there doing some tackling and getting tackled with the ball whenever he gets it.

despite what *some* people like to think, a halfbacks job is to be a playmaker. i havent seen any of that from Wallace for a long time.

i would be fine doing what you say RE: Hunt to reserve grade to try and get some form. i just think we need to make a decision ASAP - either wallace is our halfback, or hunt is. hunt isnt a hooker, and shouldnt be benchwarming only to take off our hooker for the sake of it. Hunt to reserve grade, give wallace another 5-6 weeks, and if Hunt is playing well and Wallace hasnt done much, switch them around. McCullough stays at hooker for 80 mins every game while this is happening, which can only be a good thing for the team.

 

[Charmamba]

North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen can avoid suspension with an early guilty plea after he was charged with leading with the feet in his side's opening round win over Brisbane.

http://nrl.com/king,-white-facing-one-w ... fault.aspx

Interesting, Raises the question as to where the penalty was on the field? And If it was a penalty shouldn't that have been a penalty try?

 

[ningnangnong]

North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen can avoid suspension with an early guilty plea after he was charged with leading with the feet in his side's opening round win over Brisbane.

http://nrl.com/king,-white-facing-one-w ... fault.aspx

Interesting, Raises the question as to where the penalty was on the field? And If it was a penalty shouldn't that have been a penalty try?

Might have been when Gillett did the double movement.

 

[user_nat]

I don't think it should have been a penalty try, because it didn't stop Gillett from scoring.

It should have been a penalty to us though, because it occurred before the double movement.

 

[Raw Boned Youngster]

Playmakers are only as good as the positional play and the lines run by those around him.
Just ask Craig Bellamy, he understands.

 

[Porthoz]

Playmakers are only as good as the positional play and the lines run by those around him.
Just ask Craig Bellamy, he understands.

Very true, but it's up to the playmakers to set those in place. I got the feeling there were too many generals on the paddock last Friday... [icon_shru