POST GAME Round 1 - Broncos vs Eels

[McHunt]

Happy Birthday, Tommy!

 

[Morepudding]

1. Isaako - He certainly wasn't terrible, stayed safe under the high ball, was typically awesome with the kicking tee and showed urgency to avoid getting caught in goal, but he still hasn't got a clue about what it takes to be an attacking fullback. Would love to keep him in the side on the wing, but he is definitely a stop gap at the back. 6
2. Mead - I loved what he brought to the side. Ran with intent, always looking for the ball and got himself a try to top it off. Perfectly happy to leave him where he is if nothing else but for his experience, but regardless I thought he was very good. 8
3. Farnworth - One of our best on ground. Always looked dangerous with ball in hand, combined well with his winger and didn't seem to give away much in defence. From this day forward, he is to be known as the magic Herb. 8
4. Niu - He wasn't bad, but he absolutely has a bit of a ball hog habit about him. He might just be still adjusting to the centre role but he needs to get his winger into space as much as possible, and with that brutal step he has there is no reason why he can't. 6
5. Coates - He's in for a big career this young man. Was flying until his injury and combined brilliantly with Milf to get his second. Should probably cut out the try scoring theatrics and I reckon he learned that lesson last night. The wing spot is his to lose. 7
6. Milford - Brilliant first half when everything was going his way, completely MIA when the tide turned. If someone ever wrote a book about Milf's career, the title would surely be "Tale of two halves". 40 minutes of great footy isn't worth a million dollars a year, and if I were Kev, I would be drilling that into his head for the whole year. 6
7. Croft - I'm not gonna shit on him. He played okay. Never had hands on hips despite blowing some opportunities, put in some good grubbers into the in goal which is what I wanted from him and defended decently. He really does need to learn to keep his head in pressure moments and be astute. Happy for him to get another run next week but Dearden hangs over him like a big shadow. 6
8. Pangai Jr - I love what he brings to the side, the problem is he just doesn't bring enough of it. Consistently being gassed after 15 minute stints is not going to be sustainable in the long term, especially with our diabolical injury toll. Hopefully Haas returns and frees up TPJ to play more liberally on the edge, but a long term Prop option he ain't. 7
9. Turpin - My personal MOTM. Stuck in for the full 80 minutes, great service from dummy half and looked to me like he was barking orders at times. A breath of fresh air. If I did have to force out a complaint, I would like to see him take some darts from dummy half more often when the markers are in a shambles. We need to be getting teams backpedaling more often and he is best placed to do that. 9
10. Lodge - I don't have much to say about his ability as a footballer, he always runs the ball back hard and does his best to put in, but sadly it's looking more and more obvious that his body is not up to it. He had something like 2 big hit ups last night before his hammy decided to give way in an innocuous moment. And frankly I don't think our medical/conditioning staff have it in them to get his body right either. Might be time to be getting in his head about homesickness. 5
11. Glenn - I can't recall any particular moment where he impressed me. Maybe he was off screen moving the chess pieces around but otherwise he was too quiet to warrant comment or praise. Can't help but shake the feeling he is just grinding his way to a modest retirement. 5
12. Riki - Considering the hype he saw in the off season, he had a relatively quiet night, which is fine I'm not hanging him for it, he's still young. Played almost a full game and defended well. I'd still like to see his half bring him into the attacking fold a bit better. Get his big frame turning Ash Taylor into smooth peanut butter. 6
13. Carrigan - Honestly not seeing the hype to be honest. Can be very lazy getting out of the ruck which cost us dearly last night and doesn't have much of an effective offload on him. Can totally see TPJ taking the 13 and Carrigan benched before the year is out. 5

14. Asiata - He did exactly what we were expecting him to do. Added a dimension to our attacking options so the other guys can do their own thing. Already looking like a very astute signing, and that is only with a 40 minute showing. If it weren't for his injury he would have been at least a seven. 6
15. Flegler - He remains a perfectly good bench prop option, but that's about it. Knows how to do a decent hit up but also knows how to be completely brain-dead discipline wise. I can see some desperate clubs that are weak up front coming after him with some absurd dollar figures thrown around and in that scenario, he's welcome to explore his options. 6
16. Bullemor - Only saw limited minutes but I liked what I saw. A big, mobile body is exactly what the doctor ordered with this dogshit 6 again rule seemingly not going away. Get him in there when TPJ is off for a spell and you basically lose nothing. 6
17. Te'o - His best performance since his return to the Broncs. He's looking fit, he had a bit of mongrel about him late in the game getting in Ferguson's face, and covered the centre well after the reshuffle. I'm so relieved the most experienced guys left in the side are leading by example. That's all we can ask of them under the circumstances. 7

Herbie definitely should have caught the intercept. He had it straight to him, both hands touched it and no one in front of him. That was Corey Oates level of Gumby.
Teo was good, came in too far which led to fergos try but other than that did a pretty good job filling in there. I hope that assuming lodge is the only one out, that cardigan goes to prop with Asiata at lock and that cardigan plays less minutes.
My phone keeps correcting Carrigan to Cardigan, but since he plays pretty soft I think the name works...

 

[Foordy]

i just wasted a few mins of my life skim reading Badel's latest hatchet job ... I think he must have mistakenly watched a game from the Seibold era

 

[Wolfie]

I disagree about you disagreeing, Copley is much more of a threat .

I think Copes is a bit more lively in attack than Tom ( well, he was when he was younger ). Hard to compare their attacking stats though really as Tom has pretty much played exclusively at center in the NRL where as Copley has played a fair bit of his career as a winger. Comparing both as centers, Tom for me has a better all round game. Copley at his best is a good attacking player where i would say Tom is only decent, but Tom is a miles better defender.

 

[holdzy]

I think Copes is a bit more lively in attack than Tom ( well, he was when he was younger ). Hard to compare their attacking stats though really as Tom has pretty much played exclusively at center in the NRL where as Copley has played a fair bit of his career as a winger. Comparing both as centers, Tom for me has a better all round game. Copley at his best is a good attacking player where i would say Tom is only decent, but Tom is a miles better defender.

Opa every day of the week.

 

[McHunt]

Like I said in a pre-season thread, it was the manner in which we were losing under Seibold. We didn't look like we knew each other or wanted to be there. So long as we improved our effort and 'look' in how we played, it would be an improvement.

Last night we were up for the fight and didn't crumble instantly. We were just out on our feet with only one player on the bench

That last ten minutes was a pretty damn intense stretch of footy, even from the couch. I had to turn the air con on. I was started to sweat just watching it.

 

[pagey]

I think Copes is a bit more lively in attack than Tom ( well, he was when he was younger ). Hard to compare their attacking stats though really as Tom has pretty much played exclusively at center in the NRL where as Copley has played a fair bit of his career as a winger. Comparing both as centers, Tom for me has a better all round game. Copley at his best is a good attacking player where i would say Tom is only decent, but Tom is a miles better defender.

Yeah, much of a muchness . I'd say Copley was cheaper though

 

[BroncsFan]

Yeah, much of a muchness . I'd say Copley was cheaper though

Opa will be available for 20 games a year though

 

[theshed]

Yeah, much of a muchness . I'd say Copley was cheaper though

I think Oppa would come to the broncos for a similar contract to Copley.

 

[Sproj]

Happy Birthday, Tommy!

View attachment 11792

Looks like he's already gone to North Queensland?

 

[calsy]

Sorry, but that is a completely crap response, and if you had any league knowledge you would know that. It is a 17 man game these days and if you are down to 14 players that will always have an impact particularly towards the end of the game. And yes, being down those players and the rub of the green and Parra having some luck and us getting some bad luck and dodgy calls very much explains the second half.

Farnsworth holds on to that intercept, no one was going to catch him, 6 points there. In my view Turpin scored, 6 points there and Parra probably are not in a position to score at the end.

Someone with league knowledge wouldn’t base their teams performance on could have beens and how hard done by their team was. Every team suffers player injuries, it’s not an excuse especially in the 1st round. The scenarios you describe of what might of happened are just wishful thinking at best. Stop justifying losing, it’s a bad habit.

 

[Wolfie]

Yeah, much of a muchness . I'd say Copley was cheaper though

Yep, absolutely. Real shame he is so brittle because he has a lot going for him.

 

[Broncapz]

Someone with league knowledge wouldn’t base their teams performance on could have beens and how hard done by their team was. Every team suffers player injuries, it’s not an excuse especially in the 1st round. The scenarios you describe of what might of happened are just wishful thinking at best. Stop justifying losing, it’s a bad habit.

This rule changes and game speed makes mid game injuries exponentially worse than any season prior.

It could be worse... we could be cowboys.

 

[theshed]

This rule changes and game speed makes mid game injuries exponentially worse than any season prior.

It could be worse... we could be cowboys.

They need to increase the bench size / amount of interchanges if they want the game to be so quick and keep the ball in play longer without quality dropping.

 

[Big Pete]

It's the one that got away.

Credit where it's due they put themselves in a position to win it. I thought they played with plenty of belief in the first half and while the attention to detail was lacking the commitment made up for it. A good example would be the opening try which Mead shouldn't have been allowed to score. However because Ferguson took out his own team mate it opened up the space for Mead who just backed himself and strolled over.

There were a few stand-outs during that period, but Pangai Jr and his offloads sparked Brisbane and put the Eels under all sorts.

Obviously things started to go against the Broncos and Gutherson's try was really unfortunate for them but they didn't help themselves at the same time. The Broncos set afterwards is a good example where they built it off the back of Mead's nice defusal and run. They found themselves inside the Eels half with the Eels standing back a bit and instead of trying to put Riki through a gap, Milf sends him back into the middle not far from where Te'o just ran the exact same play. It was a settler for a bomb kick where the Broncos found themselves short on numbers and Sivo was able to win that first ruck with ease as a result. Not only was the Riki run a nothing play, but the lead up made no sense. The kick should have been to Ferguson with Mead, Croft, Te'o and Glenn screaming down. Pin them in a corner, see if they come up with a mistake and celebrate like the Panthers do when they do anything remotely good.

Instead the Eels work it up the Broncos field easily, they exploit Riki in defence and Pangai gives away an unnecessary six again.

I have to say as well, looking at the play again, I hate seeing the playmakers behind the play the ball. I saw Milford doing it at times which outside of his defence is my least favourite feature of his, but in this instance I saw Isaako there doing nothing. Create the extra man, run a decoy just do something to put some doubt in the opposition defence.

Even after all that, Brisbane were given opportunities to get out of it. However instead of slowing down the play when Asiata is down 20m away, they continue to play frantic football and Pangai throws an offload that puts the receiver under pressure and they spill it when they could have stopped play altogether and pointed to Asiata in back-play. I thought that was the story of the last twenty minutes except when Milford made that break that should have put them in the lead. It ended up being a tough call against Brisbane but it shouldn't have got to that stage, Croft should have nailed it.

Even late in the contest, there was a kick Milf put through that found the in-goal and could have been a goal line drop out but the Broncos only had one chaser. Not long after that, Moses comes up with the exact play but gets four chasers (including himself) there.

A couple of moments with Milf, I thought both his chip kicks were bad. The one on half-way was by far the worst, but even that kick for Glenn off that break was just too cute. If I was Kev, that would be the first video I'd show Anthony and I'd highlight the numbers they had back on that edge. If Milf hits the ball with speed, steps back in, picks up Glenn with an inside pass and he finds Mead it's game over.

I thought a few individuals played really well. Mead replicated his club debut against the Roosters with a close to Man of the Match performance. I just hope he doesn't do what he did last time where he hit the ground running and then completely fell off the face of the earth. Hopefully that doesn't happen because he made a really nice difference to the backline.

Turpin I thought typified the performance. He was little scatterbrained at times and sloppy out of dummy half but he just kept turning up and was always looking to make something happen. I admire the attitude it's just a matter of whether he can improve the technical aspects of his play - hopefully his playmakers and his forwards are working with him because he's the type of dummy half you'd want to shed blood for.

 

[Sproj]

It's the one that got away.

Credit where it's due they put themselves in a position to win it. I thought they played with plenty of belief in the first half and while the attention to detail was lacking the commitment made up for it. A good example would be the opening try which Mead shouldn't have been allowed to score. However because Ferguson took out his own team mate it opened up the space for Mead who just backed himself and strolled over.

There were a few stand-outs during that period, but Pangai Jr and his offloads sparked Brisbane and put the Eels under all sorts.

Obviously things started to go against the Broncos and Gutherson's try was really unfortunate for them but they didn't help themselves at the same time. The Broncos set afterwards is a good example where they built it off the back of Mead's nice defusal and run. They found themselves inside the Eels half with the Eels standing back a bit and instead of trying to put Riki through a gap, Milf sends him back into the middle not far from where Te'o just ran the exact same play. It was a settler for a bomb kick where the Broncos found themselves short on numbers and Sivo was able to win that first ruck with ease as a result. Not only was the Riki run a nothing play, but the lead up made no sense. The kick should have been to Ferguson with Mead, Croft, Te'o and Glenn screaming down. Pin them in a corner, see if they come up with a mistake and celebrate like the Panthers do when they do anything remotely good.

Instead the Eels work it up the Broncos field easily, they exploit Riki in defence and Pangai gives away an unnecessary six again.

I have to say as well, looking at the play again, I hate seeing the playmakers behind the play the ball. I saw Milford doing it at times which outside of his defence is my least favourite feature of his, but in this instance I saw Isaako there doing nothing. Create the extra man, run a decoy just do something to put some doubt in the opposition defence.

Even after all that, Brisbane were given opportunities to get out of it. However instead of slowing down the play when Asiata is down 20m away, they continue to play frantic football and Pangai throws an offload that puts the receiver under pressure and they spill it when they could have stopped play altogether and pointed to Asiata in back-play. I thought that was the story of the last twenty minutes except when Milford made that break that should have put them in the lead. It ended up being a tough call against Brisbane but it shouldn't have got to that stage, Croft should have nailed it.

Even late in the contest, there was a kick Milf put through that found the in-goal and could have been a goal line drop out but the Broncos only had one chaser. Not long after that, Moses comes up with the exact play but gets four chasers (including himself) there.

A couple of moments with Milf, I thought both his chip kicks were bad. The one on half-way was by far the worst, but even that kick for Glenn off that break was just too cute. If I was Kev, that would be the first video I'd show Anthony and I'd highlight the numbers they had back on that edge. If Milf hits the ball with speed, steps back in, picks up Glenn with an inside pass and he finds Mead it's game over.

I thought a few individuals played really well. Mead replicated his club debut against the Roosters with a close to Man of the Match performance. I just hope he doesn't do what he did last time where he hit the ground running and then completely fell off the face of the earth. Hopefully that doesn't happen because he made a really nice difference to the backline.

Turpin I thought typified the performance. He was little scatterbrained at times and sloppy out of dummy half but he just kept turning up and was always looking to make something happen. I admire the attitude it's just a matter of whether he can improve the technical aspects of his play - hopefully his playmakers and his forwards are working with him because he's the type of dummy half you'd want to shed blood for.

You are the voice of reason as always, so I am genuinely interested, in your opinion was the refereeing as bad as it seemed in the moment?

 

[Big Pete]

You are the voice of reason as always, so I am genuinely interested, in your opinion was the refereeing as bad as it seemed in the moment?

I think fans are entitled to feel hard done by, but I don't think the officials necessarily made any wrong decisions either.

I'm also a believer in making your own luck and keeping the officials out of the contest as much as possible. Gutherson doesn't score if Paulo doesn't create a 3-1, Turpin scores untouched if Croft just gets the pass away etc.

I'm skeptical about the management of the game, but it's a competition wide problem so I see it as an area that will sort itself out one way or another.

I will say a lot has been made about the players performing under fatigue, it can't be easy on the officials.

 

[Jason Simmons]

I think fans are entitled to feel hard done by, but I don't think the officials necessarily made any wrong decisions either.

I'm also a believer in making your own luck and keeping the officials out of the contest as much as possible. Gutherson doesn't score if Paulo doesn't create a 3-1, Turpin scores untouched if Croft just gets the pass away etc.

I'm skeptical about the management of the game, but it's a competition wide problem so I see it as an area that will sort itself out one way or another.

I will say a lot has been made about the players performing under fatigue, it can't be easy on the officials.

Try getting that point across in the live game thread...

Our own mistakes cost us that game, not the refereeing decisions. The good teams learn from their mistakes and don’t repeat them. They are disciplined, fit and well-coached.

Their mistake-free football takes 50/50 decisions out of the refs hands and keeps it firmly in their own. We do the complete opposite and then bleat about how bad the refs are, forgetting of course that we had more missed tackles, more errors and our play-makers took the wrong option time and time again or fumbled the execution of our plays...