POST GAME Round 1 - Dragons vs Broncos

[Viti]

Isaako is Maranta 2.0 but can't catch.

Sorry but that is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read on this forum

 

[kat00]

To think that WB once said that MILF was another Locky.

 

[rnabokov]

There is no structure or organization around the heart of the team: the halves.

Widdop looks and plays like a 5/8, Milf didn't.

There's the key to the utter lack of combinations.

 

[Taylor1921]

Edit: Flaming.

 

[Battler]

Kahu can’t play centre (he cost us at least two tries), and Isaako can’t get dropped on that performance tonight. Just move Oates to the bench and look at bringing in Haas for sims/ offa.

 

[Foordy]

I'd probably go something like this for next week ...

1. Boyd
2. Kahu
3. Roberts
4. Opacic
5. Isaako
6. Milford
7. Nikorima
8. Lodge
9. Murphy
10. TPJ
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. McGuire

14. McCullough
15. Oates
16. Ofahengue
17. Thaiday

Macca needs a few more weeks before he is ready to start again

Kahu spent the entire pre-season on the wing, it is unfair of him to be thrown into a specialist position rusty ... plus he is a classy winger

Isaako doesn't deserve to be dropped, so give Oates hus shot off the bench (still would do more than Sims and Su'A combined)

----

If the Milford/Niko combo isn't working when Bird comes back, i would be temp to move Boyd to 5/8 and Bird or Isaako to fullback

 

[Rellum]

Broncs were terrible tonight. Constant dropped ball, forward passes, no idea fielding short kicks, missed tackles galore and some woeful defensive reads by players like Kahu and Slammin Sam.
Pangai Jnr, Roberts, Isaako and Lodge were the only players to turn up for mine. Hopefully it is just early season rust.

I wonder how long it will take before some of the young gun forwards get a game if performances like that continue.

 

[Taylor1921]

It's round 1, calm down abit. I expected a loss tonight. We will get better, guarantee a top 8 finish still. Round one doesn't mean shit.

 

[Jedhead]

Few points to give us hope. You need your forwards to get forward before the halves can do anything but even when we did have field position both were clueless. Jeez they need to do a lot to improve. Thankfully they can only get better. The cows will run amok next week if we try dishing that slop up.

 

[Maddy1to9]

Will this be a season to remember or a season to forget? It's still early stages but, geez that's terrible

 

[talanoa]

Kahu can’t play centre (he cost us at least two tries), and Isaako can’t get dropped on that performance tonight. Just move Oates to the bench and look at bringing in Haas for sims/ offa.

poor bastard had to tackle for milford as well. you cant blame kahu for that

 

[Taylor1921]

What's up with Kahu always having brain fades lately, he was such an intelligent footballer a few years ago. Wtf

 

[Viti]

Edit: Quoted edited post.

 

[Super Freak]

Hunt leads Dragons to win over Broncos

March 8, 2018

St George Illawarra's million-dollar man Ben Hunt has produced a virtuoso performance to lead his new club to victory against his old club on a night where controversial prop Matt Lodge made a forgettable return to top flight rugby league.

Hunt set up the opening try and scored a brilliant intercept in the 34-12 victory while Lodge – booed every time he touched the ball – produced a number of errors and penalties plus the pass that was intercepted for Hunt's 50-metre try.

He did produce some strong carries in his team-high 137 metres and should be better in the long run.

The Broncos completed at just 50% in the first half and their forwards comfortably lost the battle in the middle against the likes of James Graham, Paul Vaughan, Jack De Belin, Tyson Frizell and Tariq Sims.

The biggest difference between the two teams though was in the halves as Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima each struggled to find anything resembling a dangerous attacking kick while their opposites had the ball on a string for most of the contest.

Though positives were few and far between for the away team, rookie Jamayne Isaako had a fine game on the right wing, creating one of James Roberts' two tries, while Tevita Pangai Junior – promoted to the starting side – was strong and heavily involved.

While the opening was scrappy from both teams, the Dragons improved while the visitors did not, giving up a 10-2 half time lead while completing just eight of their 16 first half possessions.

After a mini penalty goal shoot-out put the home side up 4-2 after 17 minutes, a forward pass from Darius Boyd cost Corey Oates the first try of the season.

Cold drops from Lodge and Oates inside their own territory gave the Dragons a heap of attacking ball and it was a beautiful grubber from Hunt that inflicted more pain on his old team as Tyson Frizell won the race to the ball against Anthony Milford just inside the half-hour mark.

A stunning chip back inside to Widdop looked to have extended the Dragons' lead on the stroke of half-time but the skipper was correctly ruled offside.

The Broncos started repairing their horror completion rate in the second half and scored the next try through James Roberts after an uncharacteristic Jason Nightingale drop from a down-field kick.

That was as good as it got for Brisbane with Hunt's 51st-minute intercept followed by a penalty goal for a 12-point buffer, then a powerful Euan Aitken try to make it 24-6 with 20 minutes to play.

Roberts bagged his double courtesy of some soft defence to close the gap to 12 points with just under 15 minutes left but the Broncos continued to produce untimely errors.

When De Belin motored his way up the middle, shrugging through Pangai, Thaiday and Lodge to plant the ball next to the posts, the contest was officially sealed. Nightingale's ungainly grounding off a beautiful Widdop cut-out ball sealed the 34-12 result.

St George Illawarra Dragons 34 (Frizell, Hunt, Aitken, De Belin, Nightingale tries; Widdop 7 goals) defeated Brisbane Broncos 12 (Roberts 2 tries; Kahu 2 goals) at UOW Jubilee Oval. Crowd 14,457.

Source: NRL.com

 

[mitch222]

I think opacic needs to come in next week over Kahu in the centres
dragons exploited that left hand side like nothing
Boyd and Macca look way underdone and I’m actually going to criticise TPJ here, he needs to work on his defence. He is our version of Bryce Cartwright. He isn’t a good defender and you need good defenders starting. Also, I think our forwards just need to tuck it under the arm and run up the middle a bit more

 

[Waynesaurus]

We sure did look underdone...........its only round 1 tho, but that was pretty terrible and a little concerning.

 

[Cult]

Sorry but that is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read on this forum

He had the try line free in front of him, hiccuped and almost got taken out. Perfectly Maranta-like. He's just lucky he got the offload away

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

I'd probably go something like this for next week ...

1. Boyd
2. Kahu
3. Roberts
4. Opacic
5. Isaako
6. Milford
7. Nikorima
8. Lodge
9. Murphy
10. TPJ
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. McGuire

14. McCullough
15. Oates
16. Ofahengue
17. Thaiday

Macca needs a few more weeks before he is ready to start again

Kahu spent the entire pre-season on the wing, it is unfair of him to be thrown into a specialist position rusty ... plus he is a classy winger

Isaako doesn't deserve to be dropped, so give Oates hus shot off the bench (still would do more than Sims and Su'A combined)

----

If the Milford/Niko combo isn't working when Bird comes back, i would be temp to move Boyd to 5/8 and Bird or Isaako to fullback

I agree with this except Sua was good off the bench, especially considering the circumstances. Thaiday needs to go, it's that simple. I don't care if we have 2 second rowers on the bench, Thaiday needs to go full stop