Round 1 - Bulldogs vs Broncos - Post Match Discussion

[Big Pete]

Discuss

 

[Unbreakable]

Good win, was impressed with several players, unimpressed by several more, will do a more in-depth write up a bit later, just enjoying the win atm.

 

[Splinter]

Copley shut down Morris

 

[Russell Coight]

barba was good, maranta was surprisingly decent, the halves were abysmal. I don't think we would have been able to hold out a decent team for that long overall 4.5/10

 

[Alec]

Positives:

The new signings. Barba was excellent, Vidot was good in the first half, and so was Kennedy.

Maranta had a excellent game too.

Some good work by Copley at the end as well.


Negatives.

The halves. Hoffman is killing us out there, and Hunt has been absolutely shocking too.

Griffin use of the bench. Why even bring Wallace if he isn't going to play and when one of your players has to sit out because of a head collision?




For next game, Hoffman has to be in the 3/4 line, Parker has to be at lock with one of Gillett/Glenn on the bench, and Griffin will have to rotate the forwards a lot better (can't see the last one happening though, as he never has).


Still, happy with the win though.

 

[Harry Sack]

That was Phil Gould bias at it's most pure...regardless of how you interpret the rule, I've heard that wank argue heaps of times for those Trys to be allowed. Fucking douchebag....

Onto the game, we showed a heap of character to hold out. Hunt was uninspiring, Hoffman was pointless...the experiment won't work, Barba was decent but I think we asked too much of him. Copley was fantastic and looks to be living up to the hype. Vidot was as solid as I expected. Even gumby nuts Maranta was good. Our biggest issue, by far, remains the halves. Keep Hunt if you have to but at least give him a proper fucking partner.

Defense - 8/10
Attack - 4/10

 

[Bucking Beads]

Great defence got us the win. Copley was brilliant. Hunt had a pretty poor game. Kicking game was woeful. Hoffman was terrible as a 6 but it is what it is. Kennedy needs to run harder imo.

 

[Foordy]

Barba - good first game for us. some brilliant touches and good runs. also saved several tries.

Maranta - His best game for us in a long time (possibly ever). safe at the back, saved our asses several times a couple of good runs and finished with a well deserved try (that he didn't bomb for once)

Vidot - Some strong runs out of our own end. a strong effort to score. looked good, could be an absolute bargain for us.

Hunt - ordinary for the most part, IMO, especially his kicking.

Hoffman - meh.

Gillett - was pretty good tonight, strong runs.

Macca - had a good game tonight. hopefully in for a big year.

Kennedy - showed some aggression and had some good runs.

are we doing POTS this year. if so:

3. Barba
2. Maranta
1. Gillett

Vidot unlucky to miss out

 

[Russell Coight]

Barba - good first game for us. some brilliant touches and good runs. also saved several tries.

Maranta - His best game for us in a long time (possibly ever). safe at the back, saved our asses several times a couple of good runs and finished with a well deserved try (that he didn't bomb for once)

Vidot - Some strong runs out of our own end. a strong effort to score. looked good, could be an absolute bargain for us.

Hunt - ordinary for the most part, IMO, especially his kicking.

Hoffman - meh.

Gillett - was pretty good tonight, strong runs.

Macca - had a good game tonight. hopefully in for a big year.

Kennedy - showed some aggression and had some good runs.

are we doing POTS this year. if so:

3. Barba
2. Maranta
1. Gillett

Vidot unlucky to miss out

I agree with most of that, however i just find macca is way to predictable.

 

[Ari Gold]

I'm honestly stunned we won, not just because of the second half but because of my feelings about the team. Thought the boys were very courageous in defence, as that's definitely a game we'd have lost last year. A lot of positives to take from this:

++ Barba has added another dimension. His kick for Copley was class, and his ball playing as 2nd man down that left edge was great. He put Glenn through a hole who only just got held up and he put Reed into a gap but the ranga couldn't hold on to the ball. He's a terrific signing though, and in many ways you could see just how much the Dogs were missing his presence too.
++ Vidot was phenomenal. He did have that one error coming out of own half but his runs out of our own 20 were powerful and honestly, none of our forwards bent the line as much as he did. He's the type of winger we've not had since the Sailor/Tuqiri days.
++ Team showed a lot of heart in defence.
++ Maranta didn't put a foot wrong (or over the sideline). I've written him off and on past performance he in no ways deserved to be there, but tonight he started to rectify that. His overall contribution to us is still very much in the negative because he was so shit last year, but I'll lay off him for a few games to see if he can keep it up.
++ Copley was great. That run in the second half was critical. If anyone was as maligned as Maranta in the past it's old Mr Dropley, hopefully they can both prove us wrong like Darius.

Despite these positives though, I still think we are in for a very long season. We have nothing in attack really, other than what Barba is able to provide for us. Hoffman is an awful choice at five eight and whilst he did do some good things, they were things he could have done at centre. Our kicking game was awful, we had no real combinations going, our last tackle options were poor and in general we still looked just as clueless in attack when Barba wasn't involved. Very happy with the win, but still not convinced our season is going to be that great.

Defence: 8/10
Attack: 3/10
Overall: 5/10

 

[vertigo]

TOP 4 BITCHES

 

[Viti]

Everything we do at training for the next few weeks has to be under fatigue. We're still losing all our shape and structure in both attack and defence as soon as the opposition gets a bit of momentum. In saying that I'm stoked we got the 2 points and got over the Bulldogs.

 

[Russell Coight]

I'm honestly stunned we won, not just because of the second half but because of my feelings about the team. Thought the boys were very courageous in defence, as that's definitely a game we'd have lost last year. A lot of positives to take from this:

++ Barba has added another dimension. His kick for Copley was class, and his ball playing as 2nd man down that left edge was great. He put Glenn through a hole who only just got held up and he put Reed into a gap but the ranga couldn't hold on to the ball. He's a terrific signing though, and in many ways you could see just how much the Dogs were missing his presence too.
++ Vidot was phenomenal. He did have that one error coming out of own half but his runs out of our own 20 were powerful and honestly, none of our forwards bent the line as much as he did. He's the type of winger we've not had since the Sailor/Tuqiri days.
++ Team showed a lot of heart in defence.
++ Maranta didn't put a foot wrong (or over the sideline). I've written him off and on past performance he in no ways deserved to be there, but tonight he started to rectify that. His overall contribution to is still very negative because he was so shit last year, but I'll lay off him for a few games to see if he can keep it up.
++ Copley was great. That run in the second half was critical. If anyone was as maligned as Maranta in the past it's old Mr Dropley, hopefully they can both prove us wrong like Darius.

Despite these positives though, I still think we are in for a very long season. We have nothing in attack really, other than what Barba is able to provide for us. Hoffman is an awful choice at five eight and whilst he did do some good things, they were things he could have done at centre. Our kicking game was awful, we had no real combinations going, our last tackle options were poor and in general we still looked just as clueless in attack when Barba wasn't involved. Very happy with the win, but still not convinced our season is going to be that great.

That is spot on.

 

[Danoz Direct]

To be fair Hunt setup a try and Hoffman and some nice runs and came close to scoring.

They can only get better.

 

[Super Freak]

I'm predicting calls for Parker to be sacked as captain if Broncos lose.

However, they won't lose. Mark my words, Broncos WILL win. The Bulldogs aren't exactly crash hot themselves...

Nailed it :).

 

[FaithinHook]

Guys am still yet to fully digest tonites proceedings but what a relief to get the first game out of the way. Not a pretty win, but really gutsy nonetheless.

Bloody hell am really proud of young Lachie though, and despite still not being convinced of Hooks new strategy, it certainly worked wonders with Lachie's game tonite. He may very well have felt like slappin Hook after the mouthful he received yesterday afternoon, but no one can argue that it didnt make a difference to hes game. Hook challenged him with some really harsh words, but it certainly inspired Maranta to achieve great things tonite.

Interesting to hear others thoughts. Also interest to see if there has been any moves in the premiership betting. Dare say weve moved up a couple of places may be.

 

[Foordy]

Macca MOTM ...

 

[Alec]

Hoffman and some nice runs and came close to scoring.

They can only get better.

Yeah, and he can do it in the 3/4 line too. We need a ball player who can actually kick the ball too.

Hunt isn't very good either, so 3 ball players is very important, not 2 ball players and an inside centre.