Round 1 - Broncos vs Cowboys - Post Match Discussion

[user_nat]

That kick Parker did for the Yow Yeh try was better than anything Hunt/Wallace/McCollough managed.

Or was that Lockyer and I'm going crazy?

edit: Watched the highlights. I am crazy.

 

[Jeba]

Geez this forum is hopeless in a crisis.

Parker's work rate tonight was fantastic and he made great metres with his runs. A few half breaks as well. Yeh sometimes he bobs up where he's not needed but we looked just as hopeless when Wallace et al got the ball on the last tackle as well. Besides the hooker should be responsible for getting it to the right man on the last play anyway.

Nobody is doubting his work rate. He ALWAYS gets in the way on the last tackle, it happens every game without fail. It just shouldn't happen, and he should really have slotted those 2 kicks he missed.

Well like I said, your hooker is responsible for getting it to the right man. Making the right decisions as to who it needs to go to. If Parker gets in the way then get it to Lockyer or Wallace or whoever, don't just submit to him.

With the goal kicking, well as I said, with the amount of ball and territory we had, we should've scored enough tries to win without relying on goal kicking.

 

[Big_Dave]

If you are you going to blame Parker for halting the attack, Beale was worst. Far out he is rubbish. He is a poor man Joel Moon!

 

[Kris]

WTF is up with our support play (or lack thereof)?

Such a frustrating game to watch.

Wallace...FFFFFUUUUUUU!!!!

 

[ethos]

Bit of a cripple fight tonight to be honest, it was exciting and tense but only because both teams were making errors to let the other back in the game.

Positives..
Hoffman's defence at the back. He's a gem, especially that tackle to bring down Bowen.
Our scrambling defence - the Cowboys made a few breaks but the effort to get back and help out was encouraging.

Not so good..
We didn't have enough thrust up the middle and were going sideways far too often. It comes down to a lack of quality props and McCullough's inability to help the forwards roll forward. A lot rests on the shoulders of Hannant, but I'm hopeful he can lead the way and inspire some of the younger guys.

Also, the inside pass set play to Hoffman is so damn predictable and there's never a gap there when we use it. At stages there was space on the outside and we went inside to Hoffman, and visa versa, at times there were big holes back on the inside when we shifted it laterally. We need to have inside runners and outside runners to give the ball players options.

And I won't call Wallace's grubber a brain fade because a brain is a prerequisite.

 

[Big_Dave]

Gagai should have swapped with Beale in attack. He looked dangerous everytime he got the ball.

 

[Big Pete]

Just watched the replay and I got to say it made for much better viewing than watching it at the nosebleeds on the eastern stand (yeah I stand correct from earlier).

Hoffman - Needed to get involved more in attack but his defence was very good.

Yow Yeh - Showed some nice signs, but took some silly runs from dummy half that weren't on.

Beale - Solid, made a great tackle on JT and ran some decent lines. Didn't see the acceleration that had him down as our fastest over 40...

Reed - Solid on debut, came up with some big plays but unfortunately suffered an injury that kept him from the final 20.

Gagai - Showed some potential, but also showed his inexperience. Don't try and stop the ball with your hands! Also what was up with that attempted offload? Should only get better though.

Lockyer - Decent performance, did well to set up the first try and even better for the second. Easily our best kicker and did well under pressure. Unfortunately, runners on his right sucked.

Wallace - Typical Wallace performance, aside from the long ball to Gagai was ineffective and didn't move from the left hand side of the field.

Anderson - Bad defence, but was better than I thought he was in spite of a slow start.

McCullough - Ineffective, for mine was the main reason we lost.

Tronc - Solid performance, some good runs and decent d.

Glenn - Ordinary, was way too flat and gave himself no room to run off Lockyer.

Gillett - Ordinary, he reminds me of that break-out comedian who becomes popular because everything comes naturally but after awhile, when the magic stops he starts to force it. Dropped some bad ball, most of his runs sucked and threw some passes that weren't on.

Parker - Better than I gave him credit for and probably my Broncos MVP. Still too much sideways BS, that silly run from dummy half and miss tackle on Tamou were ordinary.

Thaiday - Well underdone and sucked in all facets. Expected way more, but even the likes of Glenn and Gillett outplayed him, at least they weren't 60% of the time a liability.

Hunt - Outplayed McCullough but that isn't saying much. Made some dumb decisions and service was poor, but at least he was asking questions other then, 'how do you defend a dummy and go'.

Te'o - Back to being invisible.

McGuire - Solid game, ran well through the middle, made a good break. Threw an ordinary offload, but for mine did well.

----
That performance is nothing we can't bounce back from. Take away those s**t mistakes and I reckon we win by 10 tonight. Hannant will be a big boost and I reckon a lot of players will be better for the run.

 

[pennywisealfie]

we're way off the pace. We tried hard so I can't fault them, we're just not a good football side. As long as they keep trying though, Ill be there to support.

 

[Kimlo]

Geez this forum is hopeless in a crisis.

Parker's work rate tonight was fantastic and he made great metres with his runs. A few half breaks as well. Yeh sometimes he bobs up where he's not needed but we looked just as hopeless when Wallace et al got the ball on the last tackle as well. Besides the hooker should be responsible for getting it to the right man on the last play anyway.

I'm with you. I thought Parker was one of our best tonight.

+1 Seriously if half of the team played with the passion and effort that he plays with we would barely lose a game.

 

[Porthoz]

I'm with everyone re the playmakers, only Locky salvaged something, because it was otherwise pretty poor.

The go forward was disappointing after all the "bulk up and press benching" news, making this pack so formidable... Not!
Without Hannant and a fully fit Thaiday, we won't dent most packs in this comp, although dummy half service needs to improve a lot too!
Macca was the worst Bronco tonight and his performance in the 1st half may well have cost us the game…

It's the first game of the season, cobwebs everywhere, new trainer, a few rookies, slippery ball and sandy pitch, all in front of a 45K strong crowd. I'll cop it on the chin... :roll:

Still, the stats show that we were pretty much on par with the cows in meters gained per run/hit up, where they only averaged 1 mtr more per run than us (9 vs 8), albeit with a lot less work necessary for us (289 tackles against 349 for them).

Hoffman - Very good in the back, saved a couple of tries and looked threatening. Broncos best IMO
Gagai - Inexperience showed, that rah rah ball was a shocker, but did a good job overall, with good dummy runs and a good try. Best running back on the night with 144 mtrs out of 16 runs (would’ve scored a forward try [icon_lol1.)
Beale - Meh, was neither here nor there. Good assist for Gagai, worked hard, but just didn't convinced me.
Reed - I like the bloke, good positioning and defense, paired with a solid attack. Did well in his try. Won the position with Hodgo for mine.
Yow Yeh - Quick thinking that lead to his try was good. Is defending better, and is the best dummy half runner we have, although he only ran 85 mtrs out of 11 runs.
Lockyer - Ran at the line more, but the organisation in attack was woeful, and he suffered with it. Still by far the best playmaker for the Broncs.
Wallace - Keep this up and either Qcup or possibly a hooker spot looms if Macca doesn't improve either.
Tronc - Equal to himself, a few offloads didn't deliver the goods, but that all comes back to the teams positioning and second phase play, which was close to non-existent. Wish he had that little extra speed and oomph. 14 tackles in 36 mins was well below his usual.
Macca - Just bad, bad, bad. Transparent dummy and non-existent kicking game + slow delivery. As a hooker, 3 runs for 11 mtrs and only 12 tackles in 38 mins is just not acceptable!
Anderson - Not as bad as most say, but still too easily dominated by the opposite pack. Runs straight and hard at least.
Glenn – Worked hard during his 54 minutes on the field (24 tackles), made no mistakes, can’t really be faulted, except for the poor go forward (9 runs for 61 mtrs)
Gillett – Seems to have picked up where he left. Good footwork, plenty of tackling, but still some dumb decisions by rushing or attempting the impossible. Played 80 mins well below what he can achieve.
Parker – Equal to himself also, worked hard, ran straight, could have made a few better decisions and should have kicked better, but good overall. Only other forward who played 80 minutes, but made the most metres (175 out of 21 runs), although his tackle tally (20) was a bit low.

Hunt – Didn’t improve on Macca’s work, which is pretty hard to do. Will eventually get a stint at halfback if Wallace doesn’t get better quick. Way better stats than Macca for approx. the same time on the paddock (40 mtrs out of 4 runs and 28 tackles)
Te’o – Always the same style of play. Got in the game well and did some good work on the fringes, but was well contained.
McGuire – Ran hard and straight, but like Anderson, failed to make a dent. Still he managed a very respectable 116 mtrs out of 13 runs, with 26 tackles in only 33 minutes, which makes him the best prop we had today.
Thaiday – One of his worst games in recent memory. Tried too much and had horrible ball control. Can only get better!

Anyone know why Reed was subbed? Fatigue or injury?

 

[OXY-351]

Geez some of you expect a lot for the first game of the season with an in-experienced side.

The Broncos need a decent goal kicker though. Parker can have his good nights where he kicks 9/10, but they are usually in games where the result isn't dependant on the goal kicks, so there is no pressure on him. When he needs to land a goal, the pressure seems to get to him too much, and he misses.

The broncos have never really had great goal kickers, but the attacking ability of broncos teams of years gone (well at least in the 90s, and earl 00s anyway) by could probably get away with it. We don't have that luxury these days.

I just think that in cruical games come the end of the season, our goal kicking is going to become an issue.

 

[Coxy]

Coxy - What was horrible about Beale? Apart from one knock on I thought he was solid.

He had **** all in attack. He stood too flat. He was slow. He never looked like finding a gap. I see nothing in this kid. Nothing.

 

[The Brizz]

Reed should on merit get Beale's spot when Hodges is back he earned it last night. We just looked unenthusiastic last night no one really looked up for it especially our pack who were really bashed around by the Cowboys at times. I quite liked Anderson and McGuire for the aggression they added and the workrate of Parker otherwise our forwards weren't in the contest. Both hookers were very poor but weren't help by slow play the balls from dominated forwards, biggest issue I have with Tronc is that he crashes to ground and gets laid all over then takes an eternity to play the ball. Jack Reed and Hoffman were the obvious backline standouts and Yow Yeh made a couple of massive one on one tackles to save tries. Lockyer had some good touches but really gave too much control to others last night and those people failed, our kicking game was awful and we rarely looked threatening when on attack. Wallace is not good enough on the last years form to be in first grade and tonight he was just the same, barely sighted all night bar a few crap kicks and then bobs up on tackle 2 in the 79th minute to butcher our last chance.

 

[Crazy Sam]

We really lacked any sort of continuity in attack, not helped by playmakers kicking before we needed to (Hunt's grubber for himself when we had made a break was the worst play of the night). It also seems our pet play has disappeared, we were always good for at least one try per game with that play down the left side of the field.

The positive is keeping them scoreless in the second half.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Our kicking game has just been woeful for years. Wallace seems to hit the fullback or winger on the full everytime.

 

[ethos]

Coxy - What was horrible about Beale? Apart from one knock on I thought he was solid.

He had **** all in attack. He stood too flat. He was slow. He never looked like finding a gap. I see nothing in this kid. Nothing.

I agree, never understood the fuss about Beale. And while I'm on a roll, never really warmed to Ben Te'o either, he's too hot and cold.

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

A typical bits n pieces, 'meh' Bronco performance. As it's only round 1, I won't really read too much more into it than that, and to be honest I shrugged the loss off pretty quick.

Have to give Wally a blast for that kick though. My exact words when he laid boot to ball were "farrrrrrrrkkk, not again!"

 

[gUt]

haven't watched the replay yet but was at the game. The most annoying thing about the Wallace grubber at the death was he looked first, saw his outside men were standing deep and staying there, and decided to kick it anyway. From where I sat they didn't get within 15 meters of it. On the third tackle. [icon_thumbs_do