PRE-GAME Round 1 - Broncos vs Rabbitohs

[Splinter]

I reckon we will win a close one or they will blow us away in the last 10. I think it will be pretty close for a fair while.
We need to attack Keary and Sutton as that will be there weakest side. Sutton is a jersey grabber

 

[rnabokov]

Adam Reynolds is so overrated, it's not funny. He has nothing other than his kicking game, which admittedly is terrific...

It will be a good tough test, but they're not the boogeyman some people think they are, especially without Sam Burgess.

I'm not sure about your comments about Reynolds, P. Looks to me like he has more or less re-invented himself and he played a lot better v St H than I can remember in a long while. On top of that, he adds a lot of value with his goal kicking.

I always feel the same way about Sutton, and Stewart. They are not to be under-estimated. The whole Souths side looked well oiled and and had good speed and momentum in the game v St H.

And this quote from Maguire sums it up well - for me one critical element of a seriously dangerous side:

"I think with Greg, allowing him to swing round to both sides with two ball-playing back-rowers adds a big difference to us.
"It frees up our halves.

Recast Rabbitohs pose different threat - NRL.com

This is going to be one hell of a wake up call for us, and our new coach.

 

[jarro65]

We can beat them...but we really have to strangle them out of the game, no cheap turnovers and penalties will kill us.

I thought our defense was pretty good against Wigan, so if we can lift it up another notch we might be able to frustrate the Bunnies.

 

[Waynesaurus]

I think we really need Macca to stand up this year and I think Wayne thinks the same thing and is trying to get something more out of him by giving him the captaincy against Wigan. We need him running from dummy half and turning those big forwards around, getting our forwards on the roll and looking for offloads to Milford. I think he also needs to take responsibility of kicking more from dummy half to take to the pressure of Hunt and Milford.

His defence is great but we need more than that from him, he is in a key position.

 

[bazza]

I think we will win. Won't be easy by any means though.

It'll probably be a low scoring encounter, but I got a feeling with our defence looking better than in recent seasons we'll shut down most of what the Bunnies throw at us and it will frustrate and unsettle Souths. We will have to be ruthless all night, and pressure Keary and Reynolds into making errors.

Souths are a bit weakened with their go forward with the absence of Burgess and Te'o. Likewise they lack a bit of class in the backline without Auva'a and Tuqiri.

 

[big k]

It's been a while since I posted over here, have to more often ( I'm Kiwi over at The Front Row forums ).

I'm looking forward to round 1, yes Souths looked impressive against St Helens, but I think we have the right players to trouble and beat them. Plus lets be honest Souths looked no better in the WCC than the Roosters did last year who didn't exactly set the NRL on fire till mid season. But that aside and not counting on that happening we are still in with a chance.

With Hunt and Milford we can play both sides of the ruck now, and both players are strong on both sides, which is a bonus, Glenn and Thaiday look like they are where they belong, out wide and running hard. Up the middle despite having the smaller pack we have the aggression to match it with the bigger packs, Wigan tried to bash us out of the game and we just kept coming at them and won up the middle easily.

I only have one concern going into round 1, will or attack come together or will it take a few rounds to gel. I'm certainly not going to panic if it doesn't gel and we lose the game, because it will gel and when that happens we will show that we can now attack from anywhere, hopefully from round 1, but I'll take it in a few rounds or even half a dozen rounds, because when it happens all teams will fear us.

My team for round 1 would be

1 - Kahu
2 - Oates
3 - Copely
4 - Hodges
5 - Vidot
6 - Milford
7 - Hunt
8 - McGuire
9 - McCullough
10 - Blair
11 - Glenn
12 - Thaiday
13 - Parker

14 - Nikorima
15 - Gavet
16 - Gillett
17 - Joe O

Unfortunately I think Bennett will run with Dodds and Miranta over Joe O and Oates. Also I would like to see Nikorima come on in the last 15 minutes of the game, not to replace McCullough but to be given a license to thrill, to just do his thing and play whatever is in front of him, because while he filled in for McCullough well enough and will do against Souths, with a free run in the final 15 he could really catch some of the bigger Souths players out and put the hurt on. But in saying all that I wanted Bennett back so whatever he runs out there I will show faith in and not lay the boot in.

 

[Splinter]

It's been a while since I posted over here, have to more often ( I'm Kiwi over at The Front Row forums ).

I'm looking forward to round 1, yes Souths looked impressive against St Helens, but I think we have the right players to trouble and beat them. Plus lets be honest Souths looked no better in the WCC than the Roosters did last year who didn't exactly set the NRL on fire till mid season. But that aside and not counting on that happening we are still in with a chance.

With Hunt and Milford we can play both sides of the ruck now, and both players are strong on both sides, which is a bonus, Glenn and Thaiday look like they are where they belong, out wide and running hard. Up the middle despite having the smaller pack we have the aggression to match it with the bigger packs, Wigan tried to bash us out of the game and we just kept coming at them and won up the middle easily.

I only have one concern going into round 1, will or attack come together or will it take a few rounds to gel. I'm certainly not going to panic if it doesn't gel and we lose the game, because it will gel and when that happens we will show that we can now attack from anywhere, hopefully from round 1, but I'll take it in a few rounds or even half a dozen rounds, because when it happens all teams will fear us.

My team for round 1 would be

1 - Kahu
2 - Oates
3 - Copely
4 - Hodges
5 - Vidot
6 - Milford
7 - Hunt
8 - McGuire
9 - McCullough
10 - Blair
11 - Glenn
12 - Thaiday
13 - Parker

14 - Nikorima
15 - Gavet
16 - Gillett
17 - Joe O

Unfortunately I think Bennett will run with Dodds and Miranta over Joe O and Oates. Also I would like to see Nikorima come on in the last 15 minutes of the game, not to replace McCullough but to be given a license to thrill, to just do his thing and play whatever is in front of him, because while he filled in for McCullough well enough and will do against Souths, with a free run in the final 15 he could really catch some of the bigger Souths players out and put the hurt on. But in saying all that I wanted Bennett back so whatever he runs out there I will show faith in and not lay the boot in.

Great post
I still would not run Joey O out in the first game of the season and certainly not against Souths. Only thing i disagree with as he is only 19 playing in the front row
Pretty sure WB used Nikorima at the end of the Wigan game in this way. Macca and him were on together, with both going into dummy half at stages

 

[Old Mate]

Macca should be taking every long kick.

 

[big k]

One of the biggest things that i liked about the game against Wigan is we stuck to our own game plan. When other teams with bigger packs have turned it into a grind we have in the past gone away from what suits us and gotten drawn into it and ended up bashed and losing. This time guys like Glenn and Thaiday could stay wider of the ruck not only due to having stronger players up the middle but also because they stuck to the plan. It gave us space for Maranta's try and from what i saw there were plenty of other times we could have exploited the same situation and will do when things gel. The signs are there, the plans in place, the players, etc, it's all there, we just have to be patient and believe even if it takes 6 months or so.

 

[big k]

Macca should be taking every long kick.

Nope that becomes readable and makes it easier to charge down if the markers know he is always kicking long, even.if he drops out of dummy half for it he will always be pressured. He needs to look at kicking more from dummy half he just needs to pick when.

 

[Old Mate]

Nope that becomes readable and makes it easier to charge down if the markers know he is always kicking long, even.if he drops out of dummy half for it he will always be pressured. He needs to look at kicking more from dummy half he just needs to pick when.

Hunts pretty bloody readable and isn't anywhere near as good as Macca in that regard. Maybe not all long kicks but he certainly needs to do more.

 

[big k]

Hunts pretty bloody readable and isn't anywhere near as good as Macca in that regard. Maybe not all long kicks but he certainly needs to do more.

I think Hunt doing pretty much all the kicking made it very readable. Our opposition only needed to worry about one player. If McCullough kicks more ( couple of long kicks a game ), and with Milford and Boyd ( when he returns ) kicking as well all of a sudden we have alot of variety and options unlike 2014.

 

[rnabokov]

It's been a while since I posted over here, have to more often ( I'm Kiwi over at The Front Row forums ).

I'm looking forward to round 1, yes Souths looked impressive against St Helens, but I think we have the right players to trouble and beat them. Plus lets be honest Souths looked no better in the WCC than the Roosters did last year who didn't exactly set the NRL on fire till mid season. But that aside and not counting on that happening we are still in with a chance.

With Hunt and Milford we can play both sides of the ruck now, and both players are strong on both sides, which is a bonus, Glenn and Thaiday look like they are where they belong, out wide and running hard. Up the middle despite having the smaller pack we have the aggression to match it with the bigger packs, Wigan tried to bash us out of the game and we just kept coming at them and won up the middle easily.

I only have one concern going into round 1, will or attack come together or will it take a few rounds to gel. I'm certainly not going to panic if it doesn't gel and we lose the game, because it will gel and when that happens we will show that we can now attack from anywhere, hopefully from round 1, but I'll take it in a few rounds or even half a dozen rounds, because when it happens all teams will fear us.

My team for round 1 would be

1 - Kahu
2 - Oates
3 - Copely
4 - Hodges
5 - Vidot
6 - Milford
7 - Hunt
8 - McGuire
9 - McCullough
10 - Blair
11 - Glenn
12 - Thaiday
13 - Parker

14 - Nikorima
15 - Gavet
16 - Gillett
17 - Joe O

Unfortunately I think Bennett will run with Dodds and Miranta over Joe O and Oates. Also I would like to see Nikorima come on in the last 15 minutes of the game, not to replace McCullough but to be given a license to thrill, to just do his thing and play whatever is in front of him, because while he filled in for McCullough well enough and will do against Souths, with a free run in the final 15 he could really catch some of the bigger Souths players out and put the hurt on. But in saying all that I wanted Bennett back so whatever he runs out there I will show faith in and not lay the boot in.

Oates on the wing?

What a great idea. Now why didn't I think of that.

 

[Porthoz]

I'm not sure about your comments about Reynolds, P. Looks to me like he has more or less re-invented himself and he played a lot better v St H than I can remember in a long while. On top of that, he adds a lot of value with his goal kicking.

I always feel the same way about Sutton, and Stewart. They are not to be under-estimated. The whole Souths side looked well oiled and and had good speed and momentum in the game v St H.

And this quote from Maguire sums it up well - for me one critical element of a seriously dangerous side:

"I think with Greg, allowing him to swing round to both sides with two ball-playing back-rowers adds a big difference to us.
"It frees up our halves.

Recast Rabbitohs pose different threat - NRL.com

This is going to be one hell of a wake up call for us, and our new coach.

Reynolds always has had a top kicking game, probably the best in the NRL alongside Thurston and Cronk. And he is an excellent goal kicker too... but that is where it ends. The rest of his game is average at best imo.

Against St Helens, as many people have said, he had time to sip a cappuccino before taking a kick on each of the final tackles. Compare that to the pressure Wigan put on Hunt... there is a world, a galaxy even, of difference!

Of course souffs is a good team, and a very tough adversary to start with, but they're far from unbeatable and I doubt they will be better this season with Glenn Stewart and BP's love child Chris Grevsmuhl, than they were last year with Sam Burger and Ben Te'o. :wink:

 

[big k]

Oates on the wing?

What a great idea. Now why didn't I think of that.

If you could show me where i said it was my idea and i thought of it first it would be great. When you're done with that or failing that i'll show you a douche in your very own bathroom mirror.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Reynolds always has had a top kicking game, probably the best in the NRL alongside Thurston and Cronk. And he is an excellent goal kicker too... but that is where it ends. The rest of his game is average at best imo.

Against St Helens, as many people have said, he had time to sip a cappuccino before taking a kick on each of the final tackles. Compare that to the pressure Wigan put on Hunt... there is a world, a galaxy even, of difference!

Of course souffs is a good team, and a very tough adversary to start with, but they're far from unbeatable and I doubt they will be better this season with Glenn Stewart and BP's love child Chris Grevsmuhl, than they were last year with Sam Burger and Ben Te'o. :wink:

Agreed Reynolds definitely the stronger of the two when it comes to the kicking side but you compare the two stat wise from last season and Hunt blows him out of the water, beating him in tries scored(outstanding amount for a playmaker too), try assists, line breaks, line break assists.

The problem for Ben Hunt in his kicking game isn't helped(and I'm not downplaying this particular problem area for him, it's something he needs to work on) by the amount his required to do and the stat's last season back it up, Barba, Hoffman and McCullough did him no favours in this regard. McCullough and Milford are both going to have to take some of the load off him, otherwise it gives the opposition too easy a target.

 

[Porthoz]

Milford and Kahu are better kickers than Barba and Hoffman respectively, so that should make a difference. Macca needs to take a more active role as well, like Smith does at the Storm.

 

[Cult]

Milford and Kahu are better kickers than Barba and Hoffman respectively, so that should make a difference. Macca needs to take a more active role as well, like Smith does at the Storm.

I thought Kahu would chime in and have a few more kicks in that Wigan game. Hopefully it is in the game plan.