POST GAME Round 1 - Broncos vs Eels

[NSW stables]

Just re-watched the match.

Tesi holds on to the croft in goal grubber, herbie holds onto the intercept and turpins try is not stolen by the officials and that is 3 more tries we scored. If the officials had a closer look at browns loss of control for the gutherson try (rather than gloss over it with one poor angle in order to make the game closer) and it is potentially one less to them.

What i really liked was turpin skipping out from dummy half and drawing the markers/the middle before passing (mccollough actually did this a bit in 2015). In addition to drawing defence, it also forces our forwards and halves to run onto the ball which was a major issue last year.

Asiatas involvement had the middle organised and his involvement in the ball movement provided our halves with better balls and got them deeper which meant the ball got to our outside backs before the defence was on them.

Our outside backs pushed up hard in the defence (with croft and milf leading it to cut the ball off before it goes wide which is similar to strategy used by melbourne and the roosters) which improved our edge defence dramatically. The first half parra kept trying to go around us and they couldnt do it. It is only when they played up the middle where our defence still appears soft and slow that our defence fell apart.

 

[Dexter]

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.

@Big Pete that's Milf though. He doesn't see those opportunities like a $1m player should. He is ok inside 30 and taking advantage of a shut down defence but he isn't capable of seeing plays 2 and 3 sets ahead like elite halves can.

 

[Stix]

@Big Pete that's Milf though. He doesn't see those opportunities like a $1m player should. He is ok inside 30 and taking advantage of a shut down defence but he isn't capable of seeing plays 2 and 3 sets ahead like elite halves can.

Hopefully that’s what Dearden can bring. I think Kevvie knows he’s not a game manager. I reckon Kevvie has Dearden playing ISC for a few rounds and then will unleash him when he’s got his confidence right.

 

[berrigan]

Are you for real?

Yeah, it was exciting seeing Milford get worked up at his dummy half (who had a good game, don't get me wrong), when he wasn't given good ball for a probable try to the right with an overlap. Service was too slow on that occasion when Milf was screaming for it. By the time he got it, he was smothered. I'll have to watch it again to find at what minute of the game it occurred.

 

[ZTop]

Yeah, it was exciting seeing Milford get worked up at his dummy half (who had a good game, don't get me wrong), when he wasn't given good ball for a probable try to the right with an overlap. Service was too slow on that occasion when Milf was screaming for it. By the time he got it, he was smothered. I'll have to watch it again to find at what minute of the game it occurred.

First half after 25 minutes I'd say

 

[berrigan]

Yeah, it was exciting seeing Milford get worked up at his dummy half (who had a good game, don't get me wrong), when he wasn't given good ball for a probable try to the right with an overlap. Service was too slow on that occasion when Milf was screaming for it. By the time he got it, he was smothered. I'll have to watch it again to find at what minute of the game it occurred.

.. and if you're talking about Carrigan, yeah. It's not just about logging meters. Playing 80 minutes running the ball forward, it's always going to be easy to get that decent yards gained stat.
He's never a threat of even near creating or being involved in anything, or offloading. So he's very predictable to the opposition.
Then a sluggish play the ball, and sluggish returning to the line in defense, also after non impact tackles.
That's the problem I believe, nothing against him, just not enough conviction in those runs in attack or defense, just going through the motions.
We need forwards making impact, physically and dynamically. Not a slow back and forth.

 

[Big Pete]

@Big Pete that's Milf though. He doesn't see those opportunities like a $1m player should. He is ok inside 30 and taking advantage of a shut down defence but he isn't capable of seeing plays 2 and 3 sets ahead like elite halves can.

To be fair, I can't think of any halves who are capable of playing that Johnathan Thurston/Andrew Johns type of football where they'll manipulate the defence and then change the point of attack - the game is just so regimented that halves rarely have that freedom.

However you're right his instincts have always been an area of his game that's let him down especially as he's had less and less opportunities to run the football. I still think it's an area he can improve in but obviously he's got to help get the team into that position first which is another area he's struggled with.

 

[McHunt]

What i really liked was turpin skipping out from dummy half and drawing the markers/the middle before passing (mccollough actually did this a bit in 2015). In addition to drawing defence, it also forces our forwards and halves to run onto the ball which was a major issue last year.

Kevvie has two brothers who played hooker for QLD and Australia, and won multiple premierships with different clubs. I wonder if they might drop in and give Turps a few pointers?

 

[pagey]

Kevvie has two brothers who played hooker for QLD and Australia, and won multiple premierships with different clubs. I wonder if they might drop in and give Turps a few pointers?

Steve is already part of the team I believe

 

[berrigan]

First half after 25 minutes I'd say

yeah, from memory, it looked like being another Coates try, so that timeline makes sense.
I could see him really mouthing off at him over it, was good to see how much he cared! He really was hungry for it

 

[Foordy]

Steve is already part of the team I believe

yep Football Administration Manager

 

[BroncsFan]

Kevvie has two brothers who played hooker for QLD and Australia, and won multiple premierships with different clubs. I wonder if they might drop in and give Turps a few pointers?

Steve already at the club and I noticed him on the sidelines on Friday night with headphones on as the interchanges were coming on and off.

Great to have some of these legendary players around the current squad

 

[Sproj]

Alright honourable defeat out of the way, now to take the next step and beat a side they should beat.

 

[lynx000]

Alright honourable defeat out of the way, now to take the next step and beat a side they should beat.

You feeling a little bit more confident now mate?

 

[Sproj]

You feeling a little bit more confident now mate?

Yep. I wanted to see effort and for that effort to go through to full time and I saw it. I saw a coach who took ownership of the side, had a plan and instilled confidence and a game plan in his side.

Of course there are question marks over injuries, squad depth and whether they can keep it up but in terms of what they could show, I saw enough. Recruitment and retention is an issue but that is not something Kevvie can control. I'm on board this patched up boat and I am realistic this boat is not going to be speeding any time soon but it is on the right track.

 

[Cult]

Just randomly, when Asiata went down and play continued for the entire set did our trainer call for time to stop? I just noticed in the Raiders game their trainers hand was up straight away, but I don’t remember seeing ours do it and it occurred right in front of me.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Just randomly, when Asiata went down and play continued for the entire set did our trainer call for time to stop? I just noticed in the Raiders game their trainers hand was up straight away, but I don’t remember seeing ours do it and it occurred right in front of me.

He put his hand up as soon as the ball turned over.

 

[holdzy]

He put his hand up as soon as the ball turned over.

Yeah but they waited until the Eels had the ball to stop play didn't they?