PRE-GAME Round 11 - Broncos vs Tigers

[Huge]

Training this morning.

Excellent news....he should make a difference to the team.

 

[Rhino1001]

Broncos now running 1-17. Kodi at halfback, with Benji and Hunt on the reserve grade side. James Roberts has taken his place inside Jordan Kahu. Running with a bench of Sam Thaiday, Joe Ofahengaue, George Fai and David Mead. From CourierMail.


Looks like they might be giving a Hunt a practice game in Qcup before he comes back, or it might be mind games. Then Bench doesn't make sense then as where is Sims playing.

EDIT: McGuire was training seperate to the main group

 

[Kyall]

I think Hunt should come back first as 14 instead of just dropping Niko.

 

[Foordy]

I think Hunt should come back first as 14 instead of just dropping Niko.

If Hunt is fit he should come straight back into the starting lineup ... no better team than the Tigers to get rid of the rust from some time off.

Nikorima should then go back down to the ISC.

FTR, this isn't a dig at him, he has performed well in certain area's while he has been filling in, but playing off the bench for the rest of the year won't do us or him any good.

It seems increasingly likely that Nikorima will be our halfback in 2018. there are certain area's that he needs to improve on (namely kicking and game management) playing 15 minutes a week off the bench won't help him with those area's. he needs to be playing 80 minutes in the halves. That can't happen in the NRL, but it can in the ISC

 

[Battler]

I'm still convinced bird will be lock long term.

I like the thought of him as a ball playing lock, but imo we'd need a second rower in the Papa mould to shore up the middle of the park. TPJ is the obvious candidate.

Excited about Roberts' return for this one, the Tigpies backline has been as soft as water the past few weeks in D.

 

[Morkel]

If Hunt is fit he should come straight back into the starting lineup ... no better team than the Tigers to get rid of the rust from some time off.

Nikorima should then go back down to the ISC.

FTR, this isn't a dig at him, he has performed well in certain area's while he has been filling in, but playing off the bench for the rest of the year won't do us or him any good.

It seems increasingly likely that Nikorima will be our halfback in 2018. there are certain area's that he needs to improve on (namely kicking and game management) playing 15 minutes a week off the bench won't help him with those area's. he needs to be playing 80 minutes in the halves. That can't happen in the NRL, but it can in the ISC

+1 to all of this.

 

[theshed]

he needs to be playing 80 minutes in the halves. That can't happen in the NRL, but it can in the ISC

It can happen in NRL. We haven't lost a game since Kniko has played and he came into a team that had only won 50% of their games. Our average points scored was 18 with Hunt in the team and 26 with Kniko. Kniko has scored a try in 3/4 games that he's started. Kniko has made less errors than Hunt (0 - 2), Kniko has run more metres, missed less tackles, and conceded less penalties than Hunt.

Is Hunt a better player right now? Sure, but Kniko is getting better each week, has done nothing to deserve being dropped and will actually be at the club next year. I think it's time for Hunt to go back to bench utility for a while before giving Kniko a rest in reserve grade.

 

[Porthoz]

If Hunt is fit he should come straight back into the starting lineup ... no better team than the Tigers to get rid of the rust from some time off.

Nikorima should then go back down to the ISC.

FTR, this isn't a dig at him, he has performed well in certain area's while he has been filling in, but playing off the bench for the rest of the year won't do us or him any good.

It seems increasingly likely that Nikorima will be our halfback in 2018. there are certain area's that he needs to improve on (namely kicking and game management) playing 15 minutes a week off the bench won't help him with those area's. he needs to be playing 80 minutes in the halves. That can't happen in the NRL, but it can in the ISC

I'd rather see Hunt in the 14 for the rest of the season, unless Kodi goes to shit.

With Hunt in the team, our right side attack is going to become nonexistent again, except for the individual Roberts explosions.

 

[Unbreakable]

I'm 50/50 on this whole Hunt / Kodi for the remainder of the season thing. I think it's undoubtable that Hunt is a better player, but there's several reasons we could make for persisting with Kodi, the foremost being that we haven't lost a game with him at Halfback and the extra time for him to develop in the role may help him big time for next season.

 

[Foordy]

we haven't lost a game with him at Halfback

He also didn't come up against the same quality of teams that Hunt did.

regardless, it is inevitable that Hunt will regain the starting 7 sooner rather than later. so the question then becomes whats best for Nikorima and the Broncos for 2018 and that is Nikorima playing 80 minutes in the halves in the ISC not 15 minutes of the bench in the NRL

 

[Unbreakable]

He also didn't come up against the same quality of teams that Hunt did.

regardless, it is inevitable that Hunt will regain the starting 7 sooner rather than later. so the question then becomes whats best for Nikorima and the Broncos for 2018 and that is Nikorima playing 80 minutes in the halves in the ISC not 15 minutes of the bench in the NRL

The whole "Nikorima hasn't lost a game" argument isn't a sleight against Hunt, it's more of a "Oh, I guess we aren't completely shit with Kodi, maybe we should just roll with it."

Everyone is well aware that we came up against the best teams in the first month of the season.

 

[Spike]

If Hunt if fit then he comes straight back to half. Kodi will be dynamic off the bench in the role he had for NZ. Therefore three forwards off the bench. I can see a significant bottleneck of forwards gunning for the bench. This weeks team.

1. Boyd
2. Oates
3. Roberts
4. Moga
5. Kahu
6. Milf
7. Hunt
8. Sims
9. McCullough
10. Blair
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. McGuire
14. Kodi
15. Thaiday
16. Ofa
17. Ese'ese (last chance as TPJ back soon)

 

[Foordy]

If Hunt if fit then he comes straight back to half. Kodi will be dynamic off the bench in the role he had for NZ. Therefore three forwards off the bench. I can see a significant bottleneck of forwards gunning for the bench. This weeks team.

1. Boyd
2. Oates
3. Roberts
4. Moga
5. Kahu
6. Milf
7. Hunt
8. Sims
9. McCullough
10. Blair
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. McGuire
14. Kodi
15. Thaiday
16. Ofa
17. Ese'ese (last chance as TPJ back soon)

TPJ should replace Ofahengue not Ese'ese

 

[Unbreakable]

Yeah Ese'ese is better than Ofahengaue, even though he hasn't been in great form for the last month or so. I still think we need to make the call on Glenn, he's been mediocre at best, yeah he's reliable.. But honestly we could be using this time to develop other prospects. This would be my 17 fully fit for the remainder of the season.

1. Boyd (c)
2. Oates
3. Roberts
4. Moga
5. Kahu
6. Milford
7. Hunt
8. McGuire
9. McCullough
10. Blair
11. Thaiday
12. Gillett
13. Arrow

14. Nikorima
15. Pangai Jr
16. Ese'ese
17. Sims

 

[Danoz Direct]

I would prefer we had someone like Su'A in the team over Glenn.

 

[Foordy]

Yeah Ese'ese is better than Ofahengaue, even though he hasn't been in great form for the last month or so. I still think we need to make the call on Glenn, he's been mediocre at best, yeah he's reliable.. But honestly we could be using this time to develop other prospects. This would be my 17 fully fit for the remainder of the season.

1. Boyd (c)
2. Oates
3. Roberts
4. Moga
5. Kahu
6. Milford
7. Hunt
8. McGuire
9. McCullough
10. Blair
11. Thaiday
12. Gillett
13. Arrow

14. Nikorima
15. Pangai Jr
16. Ese'ese
17. Sims

Not a bad side ... but i still believe it would be beneficial to have Nikorima playing his trade for a full 80 in the ISC preparing for next season... playing Hunt of the bench was a big complaint of nearly everyone on here.

I also think we need to get rid of Moga .. Opacic would be my choice if we want to leave Kahu on the wing

 

[Unbreakable]

Not a bad side ... but i still believe it would be beneficial to have Nikorima playing his trade for a full 80 in the ISC preparing for next season... playing Hunt of the bench was a big complaint of nearly everyone on here.

I also think we need to get rid of Moga .. Opacic would be my choice if we want to leave Kahu on the wing

I'm not completely against either of those ideas, Niko on the bench is purely because I think he helps us win games, so if we're gunning for a premiership this year, he's in our best 17.

Moga and Opacic are both replaceable, it's really just whoever is in better form. I haven't watched any of Opacic this season, but if he's still as slow as he was last year, he's not exactly a "must have" in the team.

 

[Danoz Direct]

I wonder could Isaako be an option at left centre over Moga? I know he is playing fullback for Souths Logan at the moment but have heard he is a freak player at centre and would like to see him get a shot in first grade.