POST GAME Round 11 Broncos vs Storm

[rnabokov]

For mine, the single biggest difference between the sides last night was Smith. He showed me why he is so damn good. He is the Storm. We were competitive in the 1st half. Our energy and good tackling took the Storm aback. They dropped the ball, they looked less than stellar. We put on some decent attacking moves. Could have had 3 extra tries. However, after half time, Smith just lifted his game to the next level, and just took over. Total control. He was in everything, directing and controlling everything. His 40-20 cruelled us. Milford kicking the ball into the fence said it all. Separate to his undoubted skills, his presence on the park is immeasurable to how well the Storm go.

If only we had a leader like him, it would make such a huge difference.

 

[Dazza 92]

watch what Cam Smith was doing after we scored...

Ive not seen that from us at all this year.....

Says it all really....

 

[something]

Player Ratings up to the 55th minute.... after that, everyone gets 3/10 or less

1. Milford 1/10 ... Milford was my favourite player, but he needs to be dropped.
2. Farnworth 7/10 Solid without doing anything flashy, showed good game awareness and positioning
3. Staggs 6/10 quiet on the right hand edge but always looks threatening
4. Boyd 5/10 few good moments, few dumb moments, went to jelly at the end
5. Coates 6/10 much the same as Staggs, better defensively tonight
6. Croft 4/10 defensively great but his attack is soooo lacklustre. Seibs was right in saying the end of sets was the difference, Storm created opportunities, and Crofts kicking game didnt.
7. Dearden 6.5/10 underplayed his hand but he looks composed, and he has time when he gets the ball.
8. Haas 7.5/10 subpar by his standards, but still our best. They shut him down though.
9. Paix 7.5/10 took the right options and defended well, gassed at the end but so was everyone
10. Flegler 7/10 best game in a while, not many mistakes and put in solid runs
11. Offa 7/10 i thought this was his best game in ages. Punishing in defence
12. TPJ 3/10 didnt show up, he could have been a real difference last night. So disappointing
13. Carrigan 7/10 solid performance again, a lot to like. Just keeps on coming

Subs
Gamble 5/10 very tired very fast but was willing defensively
Teo 3/10 didnt really see him
Hopoate 3/10 momentum died when he came on, offered nothing except a few 'big' hits that didnt really do anything
Kennedy 6/10 showed heart , should have come on way earlier

 

[animal eater]

OK, first the obvious. Sadly last night wasn't a 30 minute game or we would have won. The entire club needs a shakeup from the top down. We have poor administrators, a coach that can't communicate, motivate or create a game plan and especially can't make the hard call. Our players are never on point for 80 and that all leads me to my main point....

Whoever is in charge of both conditioning and rehab is doing a horrific job. In terms of rehab, nobody seems to get on the field as quickly as stated. In terms of conditioning (which I have been doing for a living for 20 plus years) what I see is shocking! It's shocking in how the Broncos can't come close to playing 80 hard minutes when other teams can. It's shocking when I look at the physiques getting worse and worse. Milford is an easy example but let's take a look at Pangai Jr.'s body fat levels a year or two and then look at him now. He is carrying way at least 5 percent more body fat and the result is poor endurance.

It's so poor as a whole, that oddly I don't even wake up pissed off the next morning because I expect a loss all week.

 

[rnabokov]

OK, first the obvious. Sadly last night wasn't a 30 minute game or we would have won. The entire club needs a shakeup from the top down. We have poor administrators, a coach that can't communicate, motivate or create a game plan and especially can't make the hard call. Our players are never on point for 80 and that all leads me to my main point....

Whoever is in charge of both conditioning and rehab is doing a horrific job. In terms of rehab, nobody seems to get on the field as quickly as stated. In terms of conditioning (which I have been doing for a living for 20 plus years) what I see is shocking! It's shocking in how the Broncos can't come close to playing 80 hard minutes when other teams can. It's shocking when I look at the physiques getting worse and worse. Milford is an easy example but let's take a look at Pangai Jr.'s body fat levels a year or two and then look at him now. He is carrying way at least 5 percent more body fat and the result is poor endurance.

It's so poor as a whole, that oddly I don't even wake up pissed off the next morning because I expect a loss all week.

I take your point about fitness, however I can't go past what for me is the single biggest problem for our side - the lack of true leadership on the field. It's been downhill since we lost Lockyer (obviously), then Hodges, Parker, Gillett and to an extent, Thaiday. It's been a one way street. We lack a leader pure and simple. It's fatal and we are seeing that.

It's almost as if the club has focused on recruiting individual brilliance as opposed to building excellence in a team. The old adage about a star team as opposed to a bunch of stars. The Storm are a great example of this. A bunch of mostly good, not great players except for Munster and maybe Papps, but with Smith pulling the strings and inspiring them, keeping it all together.

I guess the club wanted to rely on Boyd and Milford but what a huge mistake! The writing was on the wall about that when Bennett was punted, which seems to show that any resolve Milford and Boyd had was also punted. With the end result that now we have nothing to fall back on when the going gets tough.

What depresses me most is this. I can't see us being truly competitive, giving our all for 80 minutes until we have a true leader on the park. Maybe I'm wrong. The next few weeks will really tell

 

[WASSHHH]

It is clear to me that Seibold wasn't lying when he said we were taking the 9’s seriously this year.

Unfortunately, it is also clear that he hasn’t yet told our players the tournament is over and they need to play for more than 18 mins each week.

 

[McHunt]

Player Ratings up to the 55th minute.... after that, everyone gets 3/10 or less

7. Dearden 6.5/10 underplayed his hand but he looks composed, and he has time when he gets the ball.

Honestly, I thought Dearden looked verging on dangerous every time he was ball in hand. That Pies didn't forsee that is a massive indictment on his coaching. Paix improved as well. I'd be partnering this pair in the halves when Turpin returns. Croft to the bench.

 

[Alec]

Dearden really impressed me. He wasn't 10/10 or close to it, he was missing at times, but he came into an awful team, no match fitness, still 19 years old, and looked far better than Crofty and Milly combined. The pass to Farnsworth in our own half who then put Boyd away would have been an excellent play if the rain didnt **** us. He's still got a long way to go but he might be a shining light to still get excited about in this shit year.

 

[abashii]

I guess the club wanted to rely on Boyd and Milford but what a huge mistake! The writing was on the wall about that when Bennett was punted, which seems to show that any resolve Milford and Boyd had was also punted. With the end result that now we have nothing to fall back on when the going gets tough.

It's interesting, from most of your posts it reads like you're blaming the players for this. In my experience culture comes from the top down, not from the bottom up. There's been a lot written, by plenty of different people, about Milford and Boyd ruining the culture of the team, not even trying, infecting the rest of the squad and so forth.

I'd see it more as a player like Milford being a canary in the coalmine sort - when the team is no good he'll be no good, when the culture goes south then his will too. Again from my personal experience, being in a team where it all goes off the rails is infectious and turning over staff didn't help - it actually made it worse as nobody wants to take any accountability when all that means is getting moved on, so everyone focused on keeping their heads down and avoiding the blame for any failure. What changed things in the end was a new manager who actually thought about strategies to best use the staff at his disposal and held himself and others to account for what they were supposed to do without throwing anyone under the bus. I'm undoubtedly coloured in some way from my experiences but I would expect to see far better performances from Milford under a better coach.

 

[rnabokov]

It's interesting, from most of your posts it reads like you're blaming the players for this. In my experience culture comes from the top down, not from the bottom up. There's been a lot written, by plenty of different people, about Milford and Boyd ruining the culture of the team, not even trying, infecting the rest of the squad and so forth.

I'd see it more as a player like Milford being a canary in the coalmine sort - when the team is no good he'll be no good, when the culture goes south then his will too. Again from my personal experience, being in a team where it all goes off the rails is infectious and turning over staff didn't help - it actually made it worse as nobody wants to take any accountability when all that means is getting moved on, so everyone focused on keeping their heads down and avoiding the blame for any failure. What changed things in the end was a new manager who actually thought about strategies to best use the staff at his disposal and held himself and others to account for what they were supposed to do without throwing anyone under the bus. I'm undoubtedly coloured in some way from my experiences but I would expect to see far better performances from Milford under a better coach.

For the reasons you state at the start of your post, I don't usually like blaming individuals as the single, or main reason for a team's poor performances. Of course, that contributes, but in isolation, it has insufficient explanatory power. I always look for the bigger picture, as do you, if I read you correctly.

As far as Milford and Boyd are concerned, the "smaller" picture is really important because it affects any big picture solutions. it's a question of them taking personal responsibility for the problems they have publicly acknowledged, and actually doing something about it, at the personal level. It's as much about them as individuals as the coaching, or the culture.

My thoughts now are that their poor performances can in large part be traced back to Bennett's departure, and the way that happened. Also, in Milford's case, I wonder if there is also something rooted in his personality, to explain his fall from grace, for example, when he refused to be mentored by Lockyer. Maybe a kind of arrogance, or maybe just insecurity. No matter, they do not seem to be supporting Seibold whatever one thinks of him and his methods. Both Milford and Boyd to me seem stuck in the past and refuse to adapt to the present. Or can't.

In any case, my issue with them is that change won't happen unless they acknowledge that they need to change. Without that, there is no chance of change happening, and change it must. We can all see that. So far, I have detected nothing from either of them that they know what their problems are. Or are prepared to even acknowledge specific challenges. They talk about being disappointed by their form, yet offer no concrete solutions. It seems to me they are in some kind of denial, which prevents change from happening. They offer only lip service. That is why I am being hard on them both. They are both well paid professionals with a special standing in this team as senior players, as leaders. They can't just withdraw and do nothing.

Because of that, their negativity remains, and proliferates, and percolates, throughout the team, affecting everyone, especially our young brigade.

I wonder, if the club brought in a psychologist (which I reckon they ought to, ASAP) whether Milford and Boyd would be honest about what bugs them, what to them, explains their stated poor performances. I wonder if in fact they would not only acknowledge they have issues but want to deal with them.

You can lead a horse to water ... and then count the skeletons around the well

 

[Scorchie]

What a fucking cop out
He is choosing his media commitments over his coaching role. He isn’t helping the cause what so ever

I’d choose media too if it’s paying probably twice what my part time coaching role was??

 

[Cavalo]

The Broncos need to be questioning why Farnworth’s first try was not given. The bunker says the ball is not grounded when his foot touches the line. It’s sliding along the ground and over the line. On field decision is try. I just don’t get it....Also some explanation on the actual infringements that lead to those six agains and Melbourne continually walking off the mark.
Get in their ear and demand a fair go.
Our team is shot on confidence and need every chance they can get.

 

[rogerwilco]

What a fucking cop out
He is choosing his media commitments over his coaching role. He isn’t helping the cause what so ever

Of course Corey Parker chose earning a living over getting paid peanuts to coach The Broncos.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

Did everyone see Walkers post about croft.

Petro burned him for posting it haha.

 

[Big Del]

 

[K-Style]

The Broncos need to be questioning why Farnworth’s first try was not given. The bunker says the ball is not grounded when his foot touches the line. It’s sliding along the ground and over the line. On field decision is try. I just don’t get it....Also some explanation on the actual infringements that lead to those six agains and Melbourne continually walking off the mark.
Get in their ear and demand a fair go.
Our team is shot on confidence and need every chance they can get.

Yeah I went back and watch the 6 again before the Brom try and I cannot work out what it was for. It definitely wasn't slow and the markers were square.

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah I went back and watch the 6 again before the Brom try and I cannot work out what it was for. It definitely wasn't slow and the markers were square.

Farnworth was deemed to be holding down in the tackle.

It was Herbie who eventually chased down Addo-Carr and he was a little slow to release the tackle. In that instance, Cummins gave Herbie the benefit of the doubt and deemed Addo-Carr had locked him in the tackle. The next tackle on Papenhuyzen, Herbie is on the tackle player about a second after the call of release and when they come up off the ground, Herbie still has his hand on the ball.

It was a soft penalty in isolation, but I think the prior tackle contributed to it. Also another golden example of being rewarded for playing the ball off the mark.

The one that did my head in was the flop from Staggs not long after Coates was denied. It didn't help the broadcasters were a tackle late so I had no idea originally what it was originally for, but there had been so many obvious flops to call one then was so out of touch with the rest of the game.

 

[McHunt]

Did everyone see Walkers post about croft.

Petro burned him for posting it haha.

Good to see Payne Haas sticking up for his teammate:

Former Broncos winger apologises after sparking spat with Payne Haas over Croft’s ‘crocodile tears’

Former Broncos winger apologises after sparking public spat over Croft’s ‘crocodile tears’

www.foxsports.com.au