POST GAME [Round 10, 2024] Broncos vs Eels

[Bucking Beads]

Yeah it’s a position we have decent depth in so it isn’t the end of the world. I was thinking last night how lucky we are to have Smoothy able to play big minutes. If it was Mozer or Paix on the bench I’d be concerned giving them so much game time.

Mozer plays 60 in Q cup and Paix must be playing similar if not more. These types of blokes are some of the fittest in the side so are usually capable of playing big minutes if needed. Sometimes their defence drops off a bit though

 

[LittleDavey]

I was really impressed by Smoothy's 70-odd minutes. I know he can play big minutes (he's had to when we lose Reyno and Billy has gone to #7) but he was really good lastnight.

 

[thenry]

Meh. It'll do. Played shitty, still won.

Not what I was looking for but slightly improved.

 

[BroncsFan]

This pisses me off so much so that I almost went onto break my tele today. Our goal line defence is good(almost). But opposition teams are given way too much room to offload & they’re exploiting that at will. We’re not locking & slowing the play down. Either cheap meters or free offloads are given away.
I hate seeing this & to my disappointment, this is becoming a common thing every week.

I read the other day that Moose has come into the coaching department & wonder all this silly defence from our guys is a byproduct of Mooses’s signing .

I for one, like to the see the kind of defence & attack we displayed against cheat grubs Storm during last year finals. We would flog any team with that sort of effort.

Yep we're back to no linespeed and catch and wrap... but there's no point with catch and wrap if you aren't wrestling them to the ground.

I feel we're better when we're just cutting blokes in half

 

[Bish]

I’m concerned with Billy’s wrist, I broke mine years ago and it hurt but thought I was alright. Went to drive and realised I couldn’t change gears so had to use my other arm. Was only a tiny fracture in the end. Hope he hasn’t done the same.

I can think of worst things I’d be unable to do without good wrist movement :)

 

[Super Freak]

Not sure if anyone is watching fox sports, Parker said they do have an extra spot left in their squad, they did keep it for Tevita but no longer want him and are keeping it for someone else… but wouldn’t say who, that’s going to be interesting.

Kevvie has said he hasn't closed the door on Tevita yet.

We can't sign him yet because we can't afford him yet, but when that time comes and he's still available, I think we're going to make an offer.

 

[Jedhead]

I thought Hopgood tucked the arm in as well.


I thought the call was right, but the explanation was poor. If he simply ruled it a loose carry with no clear attempt to strip at the ball, most would have lived with it.


Did those players maintain their balance? It was the right ruling since Staggs fell after playing the ball, but the officials have been lax on this in recent months.

Re: the Cobbo strip. I have looked at it again and it was a blatant attempt to strip and there was more than one in the tackle so I still think the bunker in trying to back up the on-field decision has made himself look pretty ridiculous. It is also evident from his outlandish explanation (which incidentally I have never heard before. I mean since when did they start discerning between attempting to lock the ball up and "playing at the ball"? If you're attempting to lock the ball up, it axiomatically means you're "playing" at the ball.) Unless of course, you are restricting the player's arm carrying the ball which is understandable and of course totally exceptable).

Re: Staggs, eels players not only fell after playing the ball, they actually played the ball before being fully to their feet. And when I say played the ball I use that loosely as it is more tunnel/roll ball than playing it. Pete, all I want is consistency. These 'discretional' rulings are fair driving me away from this game. This season I can barely get through a full game if it's not our boys running around. The standards are slipping dramatically.

I think one reason for this is people becoming more aware of the discrepancies due to multiple camera angles and TV 'commentators' pointing things out for the sake of sensationalism. And I mean some of the stuff they analyse is genuinely interesting and it does give the armchair pundit a deeper insight into the game, but some of the comments are hyperbole designed to increase 'interest' . Some games this season have been diabolical because the way the officials have intervened to try and create a 'product', i.e. a game worth watching. The NRL got sick of the 60 and 70 point scorelines (albeit because we simply cannot field enough talent over the whole comp.) So, instead of encouraging teams like the Broncos/Penrith to invest more and rewarding them for bringing more talent into the game, they went the opposite way and decided the officials would 'manufacture a product' that resembled two evenly matched teams fighting it out.

About the only time we really see this is Origin, and even then when we the ref does get involved it can have disastrous implications. Not sure what game it was but a few years ago we had a real hard fought game and then Klien sin binned one of our guys for a minor infringement and the whole complexion of the game changed and the Blues ended up running amok. Totally ruined what was shaping up to be a cracker of a game.

 

[Sproj]

I can forgive on field refs for getting it wrong in the best of the moment, though this can also have massive implications on results if they get a bug bear with a side. I can’t forgive the bunker constantly screwing it up, I think this is the real issue.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I can’t forgive the bunker constantly screwing it up, I think this is the real issue.

^^This^^

 

[Swordfish]

Kevvie has said he hasn't closed the door on Tevita yet.

We can't sign him yet because we can't afford him yet, but when that time comes and he's still available, I think we're going to make an offer.

We’re good until R16 with 2 byes in between. Perhaps, up until R17 is where he should be putting away his boxing shit and focus on getting footy fit.
But the time R17/18 rolls around, he’s brought into the 17 to lessen the efforts on Payne & Patty post Origin.

I actually love this plan of Kev.

 

[_wwong]

We’re good until R16 with 2 byes in between. Perhaps, up until R17 is where he should be putting away his boxing shit and focus on getting footy fit.
But the time R17/18 rolls around, he’s brought into the 17 to lessen the efforts on Payne & Patty post Origin.

I actually love this plan of Kev.

I’m not sure where tpj fits into the team currently. Last night we were pretty much full strength in the forwards with the best rotation. It’d only be for injury cover.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

I reckon Billy Walters is not at 100% the last few weeks. Reckon he's pushing through, worried he will lose his spot if smoothy takes over.

I really like what Walters did last year but although he is slightly more consistent then last year now, his overall performances have been below his best from last year. I wouldn't say he's gone backwards, but he hasn't proved the way I anticipated SO FAR. Smoothys long pass is honestly among the best, if not the best, in the nrl. He can pass 3 or 4 players wide, straight to the chest, taking advantage of a haas or carrigan defender skittle and quick ptb. Suits walsh and mam perfectly. His running game is non-existent though and Walters defence is definetly more beneficial to us (leads the line well).

If mozer plays I would like him to take 4 or 5 runs, listen to his halves and Walsh and not try to outsmart them. Put in 3 or 4 inside balls to a big prop like he does with Te kura and you have a good compliment to smoothy with a 20 min stint.

 

[Sproj]

I reckon Billy Walters is not at 100% the last few weeks. Reckon he's pushing through, worried he will lose his spot if smoothy takes over.

I really like what Walters did last year but although he is slightly more consistent then last year now, his overall performances have been below his best from last year. I wouldn't say he's gone backwards, but he hasn't proved the way I anticipated SO FAR. Smoothys long pass is honestly among the best, if not the best, in the nrl. He can pass 3 or 4 players wide, straight to the chest, taking advantage of a haas or carrigan defender skittle and quick ptb. Suits walsh and mam perfectly. His running game is non-existent though and Walters defence is definetly more beneficial to us (leads the line well).

If mozer plays I would like him to take 4 or 5 runs, listen to his halves and Walsh and not try to outsmart them. Put in 3 or 4 inside balls to a big prop like he does with Te kura and you have a good compliment to smoothy with a 20 min stint.

Agreed. Billy is fantastic but Kevvie needs to tell him he is getting a week or more off to get that wrist right.

 

[Fernando]

Still games to be played this round but right now Brisbane are leading the league for Errors, Ineffective Tackles and Handling Errors.

 

[broncoscope]

Agreed. Billy is fantastic but Kevvie needs to tell him he is getting a week or more off to get that wrist right.

The way Billy came reeling out of the tackle holding his chest looked to me he was carrying a sternum problem..
He definitely looks like he's carrying injuries and needs time off.. good time to blood Mozer.

 

[mstreet]

On a positive note, I thought our kick chase was excellent

 

[Foordy]

Still games to be played this round but right now Brisbane are leading the league for Errors, Ineffective Tackles and Handling Errors.

what's your point.

we're still winning games. which really is impressive given we haven't been able to get any consistency with our team due to injuries.

hell, in pretty much every loss we've had, we've lost key players mid game due to injuries.

what really matters at this point of the season is getting ourselves enough wins to be thereabouts at the end of the season heading into finals

 

[Aldo]

The Staggs "plant the ball" was a joke. Happens 20 times a game but ref decided to pull it out at that moment. ****, Nelson has made a career out of the ball plant and probably never been pinged.

I thought the ref did his best to keep Parra on the front foot in the first half. To Parra's credit, they moved the ball really well which asked plenty of questions and were up for the contest. I thought defence was pretty good from us for most part but we're just missing that one tackle or allowing an offload here and there that is undoing the decent defence up until that point.

Rogers was pretty good and that try to Mariner where he burnt them on the outside was really nice half play from Rogers to set that up. Madden is obviously in front of him but I don't think there is that much between the two to be honest.