PRE-GAME Round 11 - Broncos vs Roosters

[Porthoz]

There's probably no way we could ever know your thoughts about Wayne Bennett

Here, I'll help:

https://broncoshq.com/threads/the-bhq-honesty-session.34519/#post-2932475

 

[PerthBrissy987]

Bird is gone for 6 weeks

 

[winslow_wong]

Bird is gone for 6 weeks

Gee that long? Wonder if he'll come back a prop forward or a lean outside back...

 

[Alec]

Bird is gone for 6 weeks

I think it's pretty safe to call him the biggest dud signing this year. Hopefully he turns it around the next.

 

[Morkel]

Or he comes back healed and fit AF and inspires us to late-season glory.

 

[Rellum]

I think it's pretty safe to call him the biggest dud signing this year. Hopefully he turns it around the next.

If he continues on his current path he will be up there for the biggest dud signing ever by the club. Hopeful he can turn it around.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Or he comes back healed and fit AF and inspires us to late-season glory.

 

[Wolfie]

Bird is gone for 6 weeks

Article says he could do with 6 weeks off, but he might not actually take it. Same article also sadly says Shiba might not even be in the 17 after all

 

[roo-ted]

I think it's pretty safe to call him the biggest dud signing this year. Hopefully he turns it around the next.

With the money we've paid him taken into consideration he could possibly be the biggest dud signing in the history of the bronco's... So far

 

[Broncs_Fan]

He's going to come back as big as a horse.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

He's going to come back as big as a horse.

Can he come back looking like a Bronco, perhaps?

 

[roo-ted]

Can he come back looking like a Bronco, perhaps?

Can he just not come back?

 

[winslow_wong]

What a horror season so far.

 

[ZTop]

Article says he could do with 6 weeks off, but he might not actually take it. Same article also sadly says Shiba might not even be in the 17 after all

You got a copy of that article bro

 

[Wolfie]

You got a copy of that article bro

I dont have a clue how to link it so you can see it on here

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...y/news-story/5fd3aa124bcfb37da2f7ff046c387b2f

 

[Thelmus]

This is absolutely Wayne's one and only game plan, which is normally good enough to make a team competitive and finals bound without a doubt.
It is also almost a guarantee to be cannon fodder against the top teams, especially in the finals, where said top teams will have the same defensive toughness as us, but a much bigger tactical variety.

In regards to the bold. This team and our halves is the exact opposite of that. We have the players for expansive football and the halves to take advantage of it.
What we definitely don't have is the individuals or collective to play Wayne's grinding defensive and controlling waiting game!
We don't have a plan B or a collection of superstars that mitigates our lack of tactical nous, nor the players to grind the opposition into the ground like the Dragons of 2010.

Name one time a defensive weakness has been exploited mid-game. A time when Milford or knik have identified a weakness and exploited it. They look a million dollars when our opponents tire. Running around tired players in front of you is one thing. Isolating a fresh defender is beyond their skill set. As for expansive play, for it to consistantly work we'd need to know when to use inside balls and when to spread it.
Don't get me wrong . We do it and sometimes it works, but it usually is the result of something hatched pre-game, because when they wake up to it, our halves keep trying the same thing.
When I talk about an expansive game, its not just throwing the ball wide and getting Roberts or Oates on the ball. We do that. The problem is they are usually well marked (unless their opposites are asleep). That's when you want your half to have a plan b or a joker up his sleeve. Milford made an amazing try out of nothing last week but it wasnt anything more than brilliant individualism.
There was neither the skill nor the intent to use it as a consistent game tactic. They (Milford and knik) play what is front of them.
Contrary to what people seem to think, I think we have the makings of a good pack. It's still pretty raw and there is a lot of injuries snd They have, and will continue to make mistakes, but they will make less of them if they are fresh.
You say the good teams will score regardless. This much is true. But they will more readily exploit tired defenders than we can because they have the players to spot them, or a positional weakness (Melbourne comes to mind, but there are others).
Our forwards are creative players. Tpj, thaiday, lodge, glen, even sims can all offload. They just need to do so with a retreating defense. Our forwards can put the their opposition on the back foot and have.
They can't do so when they are effectively tackling machines for a side constantly constrained to its own half. Sure Roberts or oates can make a break in our own half. Sure we will throw the ball wide to get out, but how often has our expansive play been the result of a deliberate effort to break out of our half and not just some individual skill born of desperation.
We need to wear our opponents down for those reasons.

 

[Porthoz]

Name one time a defensive weakness has been exploited mid-game. A time when Milford or knik have identified a weakness and exploited it. They look a million dollars when our opponents tire. Running around tired players in front of you is one thing. Isolating a fresh defender is beyond their skill set. As for expansive play, for it to consistantly work we'd need to know when to use inside balls and when to spread it.
Don't get me wrong . We do it and sometimes it works, but it usually is the result of something hatched pre-game, because when they wake up to it, our halves keep trying the same thing.
When I talk about an expansive game, its not just throwing the ball wide and getting Roberts or Oates on the ball. We do that. The problem is they are usually well marked (unless their opposites are asleep). That's when you want your half to have a plan b or a joker up his sleeve. Milford made an amazing try out of nothing last week but it wasnt anything more than brilliant individualism.
There was neither the skill nor the intent to use it as a consistent game tactic. They (Milford and knik) play what is front of them.
Contrary to what people seem to think, I think we have the makings of a good pack. It's still pretty raw and there is a lot of injuries snd They have, and will continue to make mistakes, but they will make less of them if they are fresh.
You say the good teams will score regardless. This much is true. But they will more readily exploit tired defenders than we can because they have the players to spot them, or a positional weakness (Melbourne comes to mind, but there are others).
Our forwards are creative players. Tpj, thaiday, lodge, glen, even sims can all offload. They just need to do so with a retreating defense. Our forwards can put the their opposition on the back foot and have.
They can't do so when they are effectively tackling machines for a side constantly constrained to its own half. Sure Roberts or oates can make a break in our own half. Sure we will throw the ball wide to get out, but how often has our expansive play been the result of a deliberate effort to break out of our half and not just some individual skill born of desperation.
We need to wear our opponents down for those reasons.

We don't have the players to wear our opponents down. We are not a team that will grind the opposition into submission, we are a team that can score more than the opposition, rather than a team that can make the opposition score less.

On the rest of your post, I am not sure we disagree, except perhaps on the reason why it isn't happening.
Not knowing when to use inside balls, kick or spread it comes down to one thing: coaching.
Not being able to execute a set play to break our of our half with an expansive play comes down to one thing: coaching.

Of course, you need vision to do it, and I think Milford has it. He can certainly exploit defensive weaknesses, and has done it many times. Kodi is more of a runner who can take advantage of tired defenders, which is why he shouldn't be in the halfback position in the first place, and why I'm ready to take almost anyone there in his place.

We have no variation in our attack, making it easy for the opposition to prepare for us, mainly by restricting Milford's and Roberts space, because when neither of those two has the ball, we have zero creative threat.
We need to make them worry about who is going to break the line, not just wait in the knowledge that the ball will eventually end with Roberts, Oates or Milford in the hope of an individual effort, or Boyd for a sweep and overlap play, all of it after a set of one out hit-ups.

I agree we have the makings of a good and creative pack, yet we don't have a tactic to exploit it.
We have speed and agility to exploit that pack's creativity, but those players are being bogged down trying to follow a game plan that doesn't suit them, instead of for example, sniffing around for an offload from a TPJ, Lodge, Gillo, run lines with multiple players, keeping the opposition guessing who will actually get the ball, set plays with multiple outcomes with both halves participating and opening holes for our players to run through, kick a grubber behind the defensive line after getting the fullback out of position, compress the opposition defense to leave the winger isolated and vulnerable to a cross kick, etc...

We do almost none of that in a structured way, and that is not only because we lack a halfback, but also and mainly, because we don't train for it.
Look at what we were doing in 2015 with two running halves without a kicking game to speak of. We did exactly that to most teams, even when we still lacked the polish a good organising halfback would've given us.
Why aren't we doing it now that we have a roster even less capable of playing a grinding awaiting defense and no halfback to steer us around the park and control the game tempo?

 

[Huge]

Everything will be fine. TAGA is in and likely to play 40 minutes. He'll score and whack a couple guys as well. I'm forecasting that he'll stay in the team after Friday night, WB just won't be able to drop him such will be the standard he'll set ! Ok, that's probably all bullshit but I hope some of it comes true.