Round 1 - Bulldogs vrs Broncos; Pre-Match Discussion

[Ari Gold]

Hoffman is as good as any of those players when he's running the ball in good form.

Nobody is as good as Inglis when he's running the ball in good form. Nobody.

 

[Alec]

Nobody is as good as Inglis when he's running the ball in good form. Nobody.

Pretty much.

Also while Inglis isn't the greatest ball player either, he's still god compared to Hoffman, and Hayne is a much better ball player than Inglis, so that puts it a bit into perspective.

Dugan is a very ordinary ball player too, one of the crappier ones in the NRL, but at least he's willing to pass at times.

Hoffman is going to run the ball himself more than Norman did, and he'll do it straight into the defence.

 

[noisetheory]

people love to take a pretty straight forward comment and run outta the park with it hey hahaha.

anyway. lets see how we go. im excited. cant be bothered whinging anymore. i hope every player has a blinder including hoffman and maranta. fck the bulldogs. i want barba to leave that ground a winner and show the haters he's still got it.

 

[Huge]

I too am looking forward to the game and the season. Yes FIH ,it is a good thing that Griffin is trying something new. However it is poor that it has taken him so long to see the error of his ways and it required a truly dismal end to 2013 and the very real threat of never coaching first grade again to motivate him to bring about change. While I hope these changes reap dividends it appears to me to be desperate and amateurish.

The pride in performance should already be a given, the team should be motivated without 'reverse psychology' ! As WB once said it is a simple game. Forwards win you games, directed and controlled aggression gains ground. Sadly we have precious little of that. How could Griffin not see what makes the best teams successful ?

Like most on this site I will be glued to the screen, cheering the boys on tonight. Hopefully I will see stinging brutal defence and controlled playmaking coupled with good metres from our forwards.

 

[FaithinHook]

I too am looking forward to the game and the season. Yes FIH ,it is a good thing that Griffin is trying something new

CF, I really appreciated your reply and reading your thoughts. From past experiences on this forum, YOU are certainly one of the most open minded and diplomatic subscribers when it comes to 'agreeing to disagree'.

Look ,I by no means 100% agree with this new, and IN my opinion, high risk strategy that Hook has employed in 2014 in terms of using this reverse psychology ploy to fire the lads up. It could backfire very badly. Apparently one of the young guys had to be held back after yesterday afternoons session when Hook told the guys "gees I dont know if it is even worth my valuable time turning up to the stadium tomorrow night as i reckon Canterbury are gonna rack up plenty of points against us". I mean i can understand how that kinda talk could be taken the wrong way by some players, right?

Anyways, the time for talking is over and lets just wait and see how the lads respond tonite.

 

[subsbligh]

Watching the Roosters v Souths game (1 v 2), I am resigned to the fact that the Broncos are a good few seasons off being premiership material. They are the pace setters without a doubt. The Broncos just aren't in the same class.

But that's not the reason I'm a member of the Broncos. They represent more than that for me and so long as they continue to play with pride and ambition. I'd love it even more if they went back to the ethos of the early 90's when we genuinely were the entertainers with our halves having a genuine go.

That's all I hope for tonight, is something different than the effort and the performances of 2013, which was effectively a rehash of 2012, which was effectively a rehash of 2011, minus Darren Lockyer.

Tough times don't last.

 

[Renegade]

Hoffman is a great ball returner and runs with the ball well, but I don't know if that's the same thing as being a great ball runner. Like, if Josh Reynolds runs the ball, he can throw a dummy and create doubt. Not sure if defenders are going to fall for a Hoffman dummy the same way they do a player like Reynolds or Sutton.

Agreed, there is a difference in kick returns where you've usually got time and space to wind up, and running at the line with less than 10m's and people flying out at you, not to mention the defense is usually set and coming up as a line rather than broken play.

Ball running is more than just running hard, you've got to isolate players who are on the back foot, run lines that scythe the gaps between players, draw and pass (which Hoffman struggled to do for years when running the second man play) at the right time and probably a lot of other things that I can't think of at the moment (hey it's early). You can't honestly sit there with a straight face and go, yeah Hoffman is good at all of these - he's not.

But, let's see how he goes, he might surprise me.

 

[broncos4life]

CF, I really appreciated your reply and reading your thoughts. From past experiences on this forum, YOU are certainly one of the most open minded and diplomatic subscribers when it comes to 'agreeing to disagree'.

Look ,I by no means 100% agree with this new, and IN my opinion, high risk strategy that Hook has employed in 2014 in terms of using this reverse psychology ploy to fire the lads up. It could backfire very badly. Apparently one of the young guys had to be held back after yesterday afternoons session when Hook told the guys "gees I dont know if it is even worth my valuable time turning up to the stadium tomorrow night as i reckon Canterbury are gonna rack up plenty of points against us". I mean i can understand how that kinda talk could be taken the wrong way by some players, right?

Anyways, the time for talking is over and lets just wait and see how the lads respond tonite.

I'm so glad your back :)

 

[animal eater]

Win or lose I will back the Broncos. That said, when you watch the quality of play of last nights game between Souths and the Roosters, you really get a sense of just how far away we are from being a top side. The talent on the field last night was borderline staggering.

 

[subsbligh]

Agreed, there is a difference in kick returns where you've usually got time and space to wind up, and running at the line with less than 10m's and people flying out at you, not to mention the defense is usually set and coming up as a line rather than broken play.

Ball running is more than just running hard, you've got to isolate players who are on the back foot, run lines that scythe the gaps between players, draw and pass (which Hoffman struggled to do for years when running the second man play) at the right time and probably a lot of other things that I can't think of at the moment (hey it's early). You can't honestly sit there with a straight face and go, yeah Hoffman is good at all of these - he's not.

But, let's see how he goes, he might surprise me.

Don't run it. Just pass to Barba. Early.

Simple.

 

[Waynesaurus]

I'm really hoping Hoffy does ok tonight but basically he is on a flogging to nothing. Our 5/8 whoever we pick is always going to be compared to Locky, those shoes are pretty big to fill.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Despite my negativity there is quite a bit to be excited about tonight. Several of our better players are primed for break out years IMO. We also get to see Barba in a Broncos jersey in the NRL for the first time. I hold out hope Ben Hunt can be a decent halfback for us. I think if he can do a job for us and not make too many mistakes we will go ok. Seeing what McCullough can deliver is what I am really looking forward to. He has a lot of responsibility this season and I am interested to see how he responds to that. Hunt and McCullough are they keys IMO. OUr forwards SHOULD hold their own most the time so it is up to Macca and Hunt to produce the points with the help of Barba of course. McCullough really needs to control the team and Hunt needs to get his kicking game spot on.

I can see McCullough, Kennedy, McGuire and Copley all having break out seasons this year. I also look forward to seeing how our players like Gillett, Thaiday, Glenn and Reed bounce back after not having great 2013.

Lets hope we can have a win tonight despite the finishing ability of Maranta.

 

[Big Pete]

Hopefully the game doesn't turn out to be anything like my dream.

Brisbane hit a sweet early 12-0 lead on the back of two awesome 60m Glenn tries which featured these awesome out-balls from Hunt. Then Copley bombed an absolute sitter by trying to ground the ball like he was Feldt for absolutely no reason and we were basically defending for the rest of the game.

Then with a 10 seconds to go, Brisbane hold a skinny 2 point lead when Thaiday decides to lose the ball on purpose to wind down the clock and when he realises the new rule is in effect, gets angry and punks out Josh Jackson.

Typical Sam.

 

[Broncoman]

I'm really hoping Hoffy does ok tonight but basically he is on a flogging to nothing. Our 5/8 whoever we pick is always going to be compared to Locky, those shoes are pretty big to fill.

Since when has Hoffman or any five-eighth we've had since 2012 been compared to Lockyer :noidea:

 

[vertigo]

We will win, dogs have enough players out to swing it in our favour.

I have McCullough in my fantasy side so I'll be cheering him on for a signature dummy try.

 

[Kimlo]

Man I cant wait for the game tonight, it's been too long. A win would be so sweet.

 

[subsbligh]

We will win, dogs have enough players out to swing it in our favour.

I have McCullough in my fantasy side so I'll be cheering him on for a signature dummy try.

I reckon he's primed for a couple of try assists. Short ball to Kennedy on the line or chip and chase to Barba, Perrett out of position.

Let's go boys!!

 

[Unbreakable]

You've gotta think there's just as much pressure on Glenn & Gillett tonight as there is on Hunt, those 2 guys are keeping Hannant & Kennedy out of the starting line-up, I think our go forward would be MUCH better with one of those two guys coming off the bench, and one starting.