Round 1 - Broncos Vs Sea Eagles - Build Up Thread

[Bucking Beads]

Agree, that's a god awful statement. I'm all for keeping players confidence up, but not at the expense of the team. And that's what the quote makes it sound like, that Norman was picked to protect his confidence and ego rather than being the best man for the position.

or to stop him signing with another club.

 

[Splinter]

Huh?

Norman didn't trial at all at fullback and the coach expect him to do well with no trial form behind him? Deadset maatttteee. Stupid decision.
Hoffman is an average winger and would've prefer Kemp.

Good to see I invoked an opinion and some input Big Dave. The thing that irked me was the negative comment with no opinion. I may not agree with everyone here but I like to see some input.

 

[Bull Shark]

i think its a good team. norman to the back is a good move. this can work well. hannant has been good off the bench in the past.

my only worry is who makes the big metres early in the set out of our own end. i see mcguire taking two hit ups a set.

im surprised there arent more people keen on this lineup.

time will be the judge but its a gamble playing guys out of position imo ..

 

[Big Pete]

It's an interesting line-up to be sure. I've made my thoughts on Norman at fullback clear so I won't get into it, all I can do from here is wish him the best and hope to god that he serves me some humble pie.

Forward rotation doesn't surprise me although Hannant on the bench is a bit surprising. I can see Sam playing the front row role exclusively until he gets his fitness back.

 

[Splinter]

Lack of spark on the bench, but having Glenn and Gillett on the fringes is great IMO.
Prop rotation is good, but I do have reservations of Thaiday in the front row. It's never worked well before. I agree with Porthoz that it'd be better to have Glenn and Thaiday on the fringes, Gillett up the middle and Parker playing prop. But I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt initially.

Of the 5 on the bench, I'd probably drop Dodds out, albeit I haven't seen or heard much about his trial form. He seems to offer very little in attack, but he's a very good defender. If what I keep hearing about Anderson's hard work in the offseason and promising trial form is true, then I think he deserves a bench spot.

The backline is a worry because only Hodges you could really say has no pressure on his position. Reed, Hoffman and Norman were poor last year and showed little in the trials, and Maranta while promising is nothing but a rookie.

Such uncertainty over the long term make up of the side can be positive, or negative. If it motivates players to lift to a new level, it's positive. If it psyches them into poor form and then motivates chopping and changing from the coach, then that's negative.

Let's hope we get the positive reaction!

I think Anderson may be preferred in the 17 but picked up a rib injury in Dunedin. Dodds actually took the ball up pretty well against the Warriors. It was the best game I have seen him play

 

[Splinter]

You guys make me laugh. In the fullback thread the majority winner for this forum was Norman by a street and now you are concerned Griffin is picking him out of position
:laugh:

 

[noisetheory]

ok i agree thats a weird thing to say from hook. im trying to ignore the fact they've probably stuck him there just to keep him in the 13. something i referred to yesterday.

i thought i'd seen quite a few people wanting norman at the back here, where are they all today :D

EDIT haha Splinter beat me to it.

i'm taking the optimistic route. i think it can work. at very least i hope we stick with it for 4 or 5 rounds. if you are going to go ahead and select norman at #1 dont just make it for one game.

bring on friday is all i can say

 

[vertigo]

We all thought Hoffman would be demoted to the wing and that Thaiday would have to play some time at prop so no surprises.

Like others have said Thaiday will probably play the first 20 there then go off.

 

[Charmamba]

Now need to hope for a shocker from Norman, However a solid performance from the halves and Hoffman..Just let Norman go!

 

[Splinter]

ok i agree thats a weird thing to say from hook. im trying to ignore the fact they've probably stuck him there just to keep him in the 13. something i referred to yesterday.i thought i'd seen quite a few people wanting norman at the back here, where are they all today :DEDIT haha Splinter beat me to it.i'm taking the optimistic route. i think it can work. at very least i hope we stick with it for 4 or 5 rounds. if you are going to go ahead and select norman at #1 dont just make it for one game.bring on friday is all i can say

Agree totally. If he has a bad game he needs to be persevered with. If they keep coming then it is time to rethink

 

[Porthoz]

My faith in Hook is restored. Hoffman is out of the fullback position for Norman and Prince is in the halves. In my opinion we just improved our attack by 200% with those 2 moves.

Curious to how Thaiday is going to go at prop, after the previous (failed) attempts, but like others I do suspect this will be part of a fairly dynamic bench exchange where Thaiday will go off for Hannant and return to the second row. I do like Glenn and Gillett on the fringes, who are big threats by themselves and will probably give the 3/4's just that little bit more room to cause damage.

The only player I have my doubts on at the moment is Reed, who showed an awful trial form, and I probably would have had Hoffman in there with Kemp/Berryman on the wing, especially because we so desperately need speed in our backline. Obviously Kahu isn't ready to get into FG, but I hope to see him somewhere in there before Origin starts...

 

[Splinter]

Now need to hope for a shocker from Norman, However a solid performance from the halves and Hoffman..Just let Norman go!

What sort of supporter are you?????Doesn't matter whether I dislike a player or not. My team is the Broncos and always want whoever is selected to go well and hope they prove me wrong

 

[Splinter]

Now need to hope for a shocker from Norman, However a solid performance from the halves and Hoffman..Just let Norman go!

What sort of supporter are you?????
Doesn't matter whether I dislike a player or not. My team is the Broncos and always want whoever is selected to go well and hope they prove me wrong

 

[ningnangnong]

Now need to hope for a shocker from Norman, However a solid performance from the halves and Hoffman..Just let Norman go!

Seriously bro? :glare:

I don't want anyone to perform poorly when they're wearing a Broncos shirt... even Peter Wallace! :handshake:

 

[Big Pete]

The only player I have my doubts on at the moment is Reed, who showed an awful trial form, and I probably would have had Hoffman in there with Kemp/Berryman on the wing, especially because we so desperately need speed in our backline. Obviously Kahu isn't ready to get into FG, but I hope to see him somewhere in there before Origin starts...

In fairness to Reed, it was his first game back after a number of shoulder injuries. I thought all our returning players (Macca, Thaiday etc.) were among our worst against the Warriors.

I also don't know how Hoffman would go defensively against Jamie Lyon...

 

[coreyh88]

I also don't know how Hoffman would go defensively against Jamie Lyon...

He definitely has a point here. Both Lyon and watmough like to wreak havoc against the broncos. Their forwards have been decimated so we almost have a guaranteed win. Putting an unproven defender up against Lyon not could but would be a huge mistake. We would leak a lot of points and could lose the match because of it.

 

[noisetheory]

Putting an unproven defender up against Lyon not could but would be a huge mistake. We would leak a lot of points and could lose the match because of it.

the other options are all unproven as well. berryman.. kahu.. kemp? i'd take hoffman in defense over any of those guys, even though he's inexperienced on the wing.

i do agree it is a concern, just saying we dont really have any other options.

 

[Porthoz]

In fairness to Reed, it was his first game back after a number of shoulder injuries. I thought all our returning players (Macca, Thaiday etc.) were among our worst against the Warriors.

I also don't know how Hoffman would go defensively against Jamie Lyon...

Fair points, especially the defense against that wanker, who seems to get away with everything at Suncorp. Still haven't forgotten that torso try and that tap forward over a Broncos player to score his other try in that game.

We have to roll over their weakened forward pack, and not give them a chance to use their very good backline.
Here's hoping that this Broncos line-up will help convert the forward superiority into points!