PRE-GAME Round 11 - Broncos vs Tigers

[pagey]

Ben hunt will not get demoted to the bench for knik . He is by far the better player atm

 

[Broncos Maestro]

Can someone tell me for the love of all things Broncos why oh F#%@en why we continue with Moga? Naiqama would use him as a portable turnstile!

 

[Alec]

If we don't think we are a chance of winning this year, I guess we can go and dump Hunt.
If we want to be premiership contenders, he has to be the halfback and Kodi off the bench. Kodi can have a full offseason there next year

 

[Stix]

If we don't think we are a chance of winning this year, I guess we can go and dump Hunt.
If we want to be premiership contenders, he has to be the halfback and Kodi off the bench. Kodi can have a full offseason there next year

I wouldn't count us out... we've come through a hard start to the season pretty well as well as losing our starting halfback. The quality side we have is capable and if Milford and the likes start tearing it up at the pointy end of the season anything is possible.

 

[Morkel]

We're a genuine premiership chance THIS YEAR. Hunt is our halfback. Unless he starts carrying on like Norman there is no way he won't be our halfback throughout the rest of the year.

Kodi has done great and if he gets the gig for next year, I'll be both proud for him and excited as to what he can bring. But for now, Ben Hunt is better, the moment we're officially out of contention for the title we can look to blood next year's players over those who won't be here.

 

[pagey]

We're a genuine premiership chance THIS YEAR. Hunt is our halfback. Unless he starts carrying on like Norman there is no way he won't be our halfback throughout the rest of the year.

Kodi has done great and if he gets the gig for next year, I'll be both proud for him and excited as to what he can bring. But for now, Ben Hunt is better, the moment we're officially out of contention for the title we can look to blood next year's players over those who won't be here.

Well said !!

 

[Porthoz]

We're a genuine premiership chance THIS YEAR. Hunt is our halfback. Unless he starts carrying on like Norman there is no way he won't be our halfback throughout the rest of the year.

Kodi has done great and if he gets the gig for next year, I'll be both proud for him and excited as to what he can bring. But for now, Ben Hunt is better, the moment we're officially out of contention for the title we can look to blood next year's players over those who won't be here.

We're a premiership chance because of Kodi. Won all he games with him in the halves, played better and were more of a threat on both sides of the field.

This doesn't mean Kodi is a better player than Hunt, and while he doesn't have what we need either, he is definitely a better player for Roberts and Gillett, whom have been woefully under-utilised in attack.

Besides, unless we unearth some hidden gem out of nowhere, Kodi will likely be Milford's pair for 2018, and having a good partnership with him, might make us premiership threats next year as well.

 

[Harry Sack]

Personally, I'm just happy that there's pressure on the position.

 

[Number6]

Well said !!

How has Hunt been better than KNik this year? Yes he brilliantly carried us to a grand final and was amazing in 2015 despite his intrinsic weaknesses and then 's*** the bed' and has not cleaned up the stink yet. He is a now a million dollar half who couldn't organise a p*ss up at a brewery, can't close a game, has an average kicking game and has the yips so bad if we get to a grand final will likely drop it. 'Poor' bloke needs a shrink, a packet of baby wipes and an oversized money bag more than a number 7 jersey. While KNik has a long way to go and is yet to be convincing as an organising half, he actually knows how to use our one attacking side of the field given Moga is so brilliantly sabotaging the other side.

 

[GCBRONCO]

We're a premiership chance because of Kodi. Won all he games with him in the halves, played better and were more of a threat on both sides of the field.

This doesn't mean Kodi is a better player than Hunt, and while he doesn't have what we need either, he is definitely a better player for Roberts and Gillett, whom have been woefully under-utilised in attack.

Besides, unless we unearth some hidden gem out of nowhere, Kodi will likely be Milford's pair for 2018, and having a good partnership with him, might make us premiership threats next year as well.

We were a premiership chance before that doing extremely well with the toughest opening 4 round period of any side in the competition, we beat the premiers first round, pushed both the Cowboys and the Storm right to the end. Beat the Raiders, one poor loss to the Dogs and an outstanding win against the Roosters. During that period Hunt was outperforming Milford form wise and was improving and gaining confidence, injury gave Kodi the opportunity but Hunt deserves to reclaim his spot.

Now look who we have played in Hunt's absence, an injury ravaged Titans who we just beat in the dying minutes. A controversial field goal win against the Rabbitohs. A solid win against the Panthers but guilty of conceding a lot of points in the second half, And the 2nd half escape against Manly after a dire first half. Sure we have scored a good amount of points in that period, but we have also conceded a lot of points and at times looked directionless and structureless in attack as well. Take things into consideration, we have to lift our game and consistency. Kodi has done well but we can't lose sight of the chaotic rep period and business end approaching where experience will be critical and the pressure will really start to mount and you won't be afforded the luxuries of inconsistency over the match as a whole.

 

[Porthoz]

We were a premiership chance before that doing extremely well with the toughest opening 4 round period of any side in the competition, we beat the premiers first round, pushed both the Cowboys and the Storm right to the end. Beat the Raiders, one poor loss to the Dogs and an outstanding win against the Roosters. During that period Hunt was outperforming Milford form wise and was improving and gaining confidence, injury gave Kodi the opportunity but Hunt deserves to reclaim his spot.

Now look who we have played in Hunt's absence, an injury ravaged Titans who we just beat in the dying minutes. A controversial field goal win against the Rabbitohs. A solid win against the Panthers but guilty of conceding a lot of points in the second half, And the 2nd half escape against Manly after a dire first half. Sure we have scored a good amount of points in that period, but we have conceded a lot of points and at times looked directionless in attack as well.

I can only say that I think we look much better and threatening in attack with Kodi than with Hunt, and albeit with hiccups, are improving with each game.

We had a good win against Cronulla, and then barely averaged 13 pts a game. Our defense kept us in those games mostly... not exactly Hunt's merit.
After Kodi came back, we averaged 27.4, but in fairness, our defense also slid down a few notches.

As much as it's easy to say our games with Kodi were easier than with Hunt, I don't agree.

Souffs won 4 of their 6 away games, and our defense had a really bad day.
We had Penrith put away, but put the queue in the rack too early, and their "**** it, we are too far behind anyway, so let's just chance our lucky hand" footy paid off.
Tits are an exceptionally gritty team, and just beat the Storm.
Finally, Manly had the second best attack of the comp coming into Suncorp, and are imo a top 4 threat (with Turbo out, admittedly less so), more so than Chooks or Faders imo.

 

[Big Pete]

As tough as the opposition was, if there's one stage of the season where you'd want to play them, it's at the start of the year. Especially a team like Cronulla who despite winning a premiership were without two vital cogs from that side.

Let's review those games...

Cronulla dropped their bundle badly during the second quarter (20-40 minutes) of the game, turning the ball over and giving Brisbane ample opportunity. They came back at Brisbane around the 50th minute, but a flukey penalty to Josh McGuire gave Brisbane the opportunity to extend their lead through Milford.

The Broncos v Cowboys game was delicately poised when the Cowboys suffered two severe body blows. First they lost Antonio Winterstein, forcing a reshuffle in their backline and then their star front row Mat Scott leaving the Cowboys very skinny in two key positions. Furthermore in extra time they lost their fullback, it was an extremely gutsy effort from them to come away with a win and a dead-set embarrassing loss all things considered for the Broncos.

Melbourne had Brisbane by the horns, but for the life of them could not execute to save themselves. It was Slater's first game after a significant absence and he played with plenty of rust that evening. In the end, they were lucky to steal it at the death, but even a poor Melbourne effort was far too good for Brisbane.

Then Brisbane were lucky to walk away with a win that the Raiders essentially gifted them. The Raiders struggled to handle the conditions and made critical error after critical error. Despite having numerous opportunities, in the end Brisbane scored mostly through weight of possession and fatigued defensive reads than through daring slight of hand.

That isn't to say I don't think Hunt should come straight back into the team. I believe he's done enough to deserve an instant recall. However in saying that, Nikorima has also done enough to show that if Hunt fails, Ben should not be shown too much patience.

 

[Wild Horse]

Hunt and Roberts back . Where does Kodi play ? Kid hasn`t done too much wrong .

Agreed. I like his confidence.

 

[Kyall]

If Hunt does play this week Niko will go back to bench and Mead will drop out. Niko was originally brought back into the 17 to add spark off the bench.

 

[Wild Horse]

Is it a Friday night game?

When it comes down to it, I do hope Hunt is put straight back to 7 this game actually, it will be interesting.

Odds on that Roberts should be back. Love having that guy in the team. It's like the old Renouf days. ya just want em to swing him the ball as much as possible. What a gun. hope the injury hasn't hampered that form he and we were enjoying.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

As good as it would be to have hunt back fighting fit this week I won't be too upset to see Kodi get one more game at halfback. I feel he's definitely been improving every week and Even though our opposition aren't the highest quality it would be good to see what he can do if we get on a roll.

Even if he does end up back on the bench I think the last month would have done wonders for his confidence and hopefully he takes his game to a new level coming off the bench.

 

[1910]

Hunt won't play ISC, he is either playing against the Tigers or not at all.

Training this morning.

 

[Huge]

If fit I'm pretty sure Hunt will resume in his normal position. With KNik you'd have to think he'll come off the bench. Is there any reason or rule which prevents him from playing ISC immediately after playing a few minutes in the top grade ? I'd like to see him playing a big chunk of halfback to hone his skills this season but I'd also want him to continue to be rewarded for his excellent contributions to the Broncos.