POST GAME Round 1 - Dragons vs Broncos

[007]

I actually thought Glenn and Gilette tried hard and were reasonably effective. Lodge went okay considering how much weight and pressure he has endured. I'm certain they will come right up throughout the season. Issako was good and will certainly get better. When Bird is right he will boost the team but it will take him a bit of time. McCullough will be better too after a few more runs, he isn't a focal point for attack but to his credit, a fine defender.

I thought Thaiday was a spent force last year and he has continued as he left off. After 5 games we'll know a lot more and I expect we will still have a strong season. I'm hoping Tagatese gets a bench spot next week to keep the roll on and he's a solid hitter as well bringing plenty of calm experience, he'll do a good job for us. Offa and TPJ will keep getting better too so although tonight was crap things will get much better.

There is however a lot to be concerned with Boyd, Kahu,Mil,Knik and to a lesser extent Oates. He stays on the wing for mine. McGuire will get into rhythm soon enough. Don't lose hope guys, we will still have a great season, we just need some improvement from the four I mentioned in that cluster.

I agree,

However i would like to add - our forwards did very well considering there was no direction out there. Someone should be barking control - moving the team around the field. Avg 110m+ with no focus is good.

 

[Painin the Haas]

As a side note I would have lost my shit and probably murdered someone if Hunt had landed that field goal against us.

That would have hurt worse than anything. How the future would be different if he could have kicked a few for us and yet with no pressure and in front he still couldn't do it

 

[Allo]

Kahu also needs to stay on the wing. Bad reads aside, he’s just not big enough to cope with the big centres or second-rowers running at him. We need Opacic (an actual centre) there, Oates can move to the bench over Thaiday/Su’A if Isaako stays with Boyd having the mortgage at fullback.

On that note though, wtf was Oates doing all the way back on almost the goal line for Aitken’s try? It was bad all round, but that made it far too easy for a one-one vs Kahu.

People may think my posts sound a bit chicken little, especially post-rd 1 loss, but they’re what I believe we should be running with regardless

 

[Porthoz]

In my opinion, we're doing Milf and ourselves a serious disfavour by asking him to be what he'll never be, while taking away from his strengths.

And no, I don't care about his price tag, because a high salary does not equal having to be the controlling and organising half.

Milford needs a good defender on both sides. Glenn isn't a bodyguard and Kahu is not built to take Milford's slack and Oates positioning issues on the wing. Maybe Su'a, once he comes back from THAT (awesome) shoulder charge, can do a job with Bird and Isaako on the edge, while Kahu returns to the wing next to Roberts.

I'll wait and see on Boyd for a few weeks, but afraid we saw his best in 2010 and 2016.

The rest was something very "unBronco-like" with a high number of errors, lost ball, incomplete sets that wrecked us.

 

[Painin the Haas]

Thaiday and Boyd are a worry and kahu shouldn't play centre that is quite clear but other than that it was only round 1.

Won't be surprised if the forward pack is slightly different next week or someone is made an example of like in 2015 with Thaiday. Need webke and the sandpit to fix a few things

I am not a nikorima fan but he deserves more time but dare say there are 4 ISC halfbacks looking to impress over the next few weeks. Milford needs no responsibility for game management just let him run free and leave it to a halfback

 

[Super Freak]

Broncos seek improvement following disappointing round 1 loss

March 8, 2018

The Brisbane Broncos believe they can easily improve on their horror 34-12 opening round loss to the Dragons in coming weeks, while coach Wayne Bennett and captain Darius Boyd have backed controversial prop Matt Lodge to benefit from getting his return to the Telstra Premiership out of the way.

Brisbane stuttered along with a sub 50 percent completion rate for a large slab of the match, gifting their opponents a mountain of quality ball.

Lodge, who has been in the headlines in the lead-up to his NRL return, had an unhappy outing. Some strong carries and team-high 137 metres were countered by a high-tackle penalty and a few errors, including a pass that resulted in former Bronco Ben Hunt scoring a 50m intercept try.

The halves pairing of Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima also failed to have any impact in attack but Bennett blamed the completion rate and loss of the forward battle for that.

"That first half was poor. We had no momentum, couldn't get anything. Our ball control was 45 percent at half time," Bennett said.

"The halves can't play if the other guys aren't doing their job.

"From our point of view, there was a lot of dropped ball, [poor defence] came on top of that. At one stage, they had two tries and 20-odd points with penalty goals."

Of Lodge, he added: "You have to start somewhere. We got him on the footy field tonight and got him playing football.

"He just needs to play football, he played football tonight. First game back in the NRL for three years. It's the best thing that's happened to him."

Boyd described the game as "clunky" but said it would count for little moving forward.

"Dropped ball. Execution was poor. You're not going to win any games like that. I'm not losing any confidence out of it," Boyd said.

"In patches we defended well. We threw on some good shapes, in patches again, but we just didn't have the ball for long enough in the right parts of the field."

Asked about the influence of his former teammate Hunt, Boyd was happy to give the No.7 credit where due.

"He played well. He kicked well. He was in everything," Boyd said.

"He was their chief playmaker and scored a nice try for them too."

Source: NRL.com

 

[Browny]

The only positive I can think of is we couldn’t have played any worse

 

[Purple Pills]

Should have kept Benji... [emoji20]

 

[Super Freak]

Should have kept Benji... [emoji20]

Why? He wasn't exactly crash hot himself.. He was mostly average.

 

[Super Freak]

Watching a replay, is Gillett having problems with the shoulder still? Perhaps it's weakened considerably since the surgery.

His first contact at times just isn't good enough. Sims was able to bump him off too much for my liking. That's something he needs to fix. He missed a considerable amount of tackles last season as a result.

Hit and stick.

I would like to see him change up his style a bit. Go in under the ribs.

 

[Sproj]

I didn't mind the starting props but were I picking the team Tagatese would bave been picked and he would have been solid in the middle coming on after 20. I think if he gets through the weekend okay he will likely get a bench job. Pretty sure he would have anyway as WB had him in the 19 man squad.

I’d prefer Haas get the shot BUT that said, one of Sims or Thaiday (preferably both) need to go, they offer between jack and all.

 

[theshed]

At the moment we have no heart of the team. When things get hard, no one is there trying to drag us back into it like their lives depend on it. It was an issue last year too.

We used to have Parker, and Hodges. They were so competitive that they would literally look offended that their team was playing shit, and they would angrily grab the Lachlan Maranta’s, and the quiet achievers like Glenn of our team by the collars and force them to play well.


From what I’ve seen, Jack Bird is that player. I don’t know where he plays, or what skill set he really brings to the table, but there is a lot of Hodgo in Jack’s on field character. I think he will do big things for this team, and it’s a real shame he wasn’t able to be there during the preseason.

Jack Bird will be our next captain. I put my
money it.

 

[winslow_wong]

The only positive I can think of is we couldn’t have played any worse

Jimmy the jets second try was a positive. the way he was set up rather than relying on his individual brilliance

 

[Old Mate]

Should have kept Benji... [emoji20]

I agree, should’ve definitely kept Benji Hunt.

 

[Socnorb]

S

sorry MR English. If you take it this serious your in for a long yr champ because this team FUCKING SUCKS. Did I spell that right hahaha

You're

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

Our team isn't smaller any more, our pack just isn't aggressive apart from Pangai and McGuire (although he was massively off last night). Gillett can be defensively but seemed off last night as well. Sims and Thaiday can be once every 7 or 8 games and that's when the pack follows. Ofa and Glenn are great players but they are taking up spots that we need aggressors in with the inconsistency of the others. We need every pack person to fire or the whole pack looks woeful, like last night.

 

[mieko]

That was a pretty awful game. No control, no direction and definitely no management. What's with our forwards thinking they are all ball playing halves. Someone still needs to tuck the ball under and run forward!

I know it's only round 1 but gee, what happened to hit the ground running. We can only get better from that I guess.

 

[broncsgoat]

I’m involved in way to many shit talking group chats to put up with that performance last night.

I’ve had my nuts on the line all offseason and they turn in that shit. **** me dead I’m getting slaughtered..

If we got punished so severely by the dragons pack I shudder to think what McLean, LoLo and Scott are going to do to us...

Need a fucking attitude adjustment during the week