Round 11 - Bulldogs vs. Broncos - Post Match Discussion

[rnabokov]

Yes ...it's Brisbane at their worst when they dissolve back into their shells and dish out this crap. One out flat footed running......

They've seen what happens when we stand deep. We score points and win........we get the momentum shift and we work very well on the back of that.

We just seem to go away from that depth far to often and far too quickly. There is a distinct lack of organisation and direction out on the field.

I know the jokes about RL player's intelligence, but ffs.....these blokes just don't seem to get it.

Indeed, and it also says something about the coaching - learning from mistakes for instance, and drilling it into the squad.

Damn how we really miss our on-field coach, leader and organizer

 

[Dexter]

Sure, we should employ more of it but last night the boys couldn't have really done much more given how much defence they had to do. Defence was where they lost it and it should be the focus.

Throwing the odd tip on or cut-out here or there would be nice but it isn't going to solve all of our problems.

I don't want them to throw the odd tip on or cut out, I want them to make that the basis of how they ruck. If we aren't spending so much energy belting it up 1 against 3 we wouldn't be so tired in D. Honestly we look exhausted after 20 mins.

As far as solving all our problems I have never said that and it's not what I think. I just think this one out style drains us and kills our efforts in other parts of the game. We are a NRL side with a lot of quality players but our structures which lay the platform of our attack are little better than under 16 level.

 

[Big Pete]

The point is Dex, that's all you're focusing on - it's always about the offence. Not that there is anything wrong about that, just a mind-set about the fans - I think if we were losing but scoring some entertaining tries the criticism wouldn't be so harsh.

By saying we should employ more of it - I believe I was speaking of your vision of doing it basically every set, because I feel the Broncos do throw it around more than what they're given credit for on here. Could you be right? Sure - anything that puts the defence under pressure is well worth exploring but it's going to take time.

And this period right now, isn't going to be a great time to try and develop that.

Mind you, it'd be bloody nice if we could play some day-time dry weather footy too.

 

[rnabokov]

I don't want them to throw the odd tip on or cut out, I want them to make that the basis of how they ruck. If we aren't spending so much energy belting it up 1 against 3 we wouldn't be so tired in D. Honestly we look exhausted after 20 mins.

As far as solving all our problems I have never said that and it's not what I think. I just think this one out style drains us and kills our efforts in other parts of the game. We are a NRL side with a lot of quality players but our structures which lay the platform of our attack are little better than under 16 level.

Oh YES YES YES

And wouldn't it be a nice change if on the first carry we actually got it out to the back line, just for fun, with Norman making up the extra man

 

[Alec]

Our whole bench played 71 minutes combined. You'd think if the starting forwards were tiring and not making the impact, the bench players would be getting more to help out. But no, Griffin's plan is seemingly to burn out the starting pack by Round 19 or 20. Granville was taken off after 14 minutes, because he gave away a penalty or something. Guess we'll never see him again, just like with the others Griffin gave up on after a game. I just really, really disagree with his style.

 

[Dexter]

To be fair he wasn't going well enough to turn the game and the game wasn't a lost cause at that stage, better to have your regular hooker under the circumstances.

 

[Alec]

I'd be having them both. Late in the game a dummy half runner is better than a running forward.

 

[Mr Fourex]

To be fair he wasn't going well enough to turn the game and the game wasn't a lost cause at that stage, better to have your regular hooker under the circumstances.

I thought Granville wasn't working out......couple loose passes & got himself hammered when Tolman ran over him to score.

Granville still has a ways to go....the experience of these couple games will do him good. I'm not that opposed to dropping Hunt back to Qcup for Granville once Prince is fit.

 

[Mr Fourex]

The point is Dex, that's all you're focusing on - it's always about the offence. Not that there is anything wrong about that, just a mind-set about the fans - I think if we were losing but scoring some entertaining tries the criticism wouldn't be so harsh.

We did score a couple of nice tries last night.

Much to BHQ's annoyance ........... Corey Norman played a significant role in most of them.

Some of our forward's goal line defence/awareness needs a kick in the arse. What the **** was Thaiday looking at when Kasiano wandered in to take the hit up? Surely he had to see McC on his own and realised Kasifutcunt was going to get the ball.

Tolman's walk over was the same kind of thing.......most disappointing last night was the forwards being fucked over by the Bulldog pack.

Those tries killed it for us.

 

[Big Pete]

Norman is a frustrating player. He was unlucky not to have more than two try assists to his name but then he comes up with that terrible error which pretty much killed whatever pressure we were building early in that second half.

A shame, because before that play, I thought he was one of our better players on the night.

I noticed that too about Thaiday. He was ball-watching when he should have been looking at how the Dogs were spread out. Both those tries though came off the back of the Dogs exploiting Kahu in defence - not much we could have done there - if injuries were kinder, he wouldn't have been playing.

 

[Huge]

Granville did no wrong and hardly got much of an opportunity. I cannot understand Griffins use of him to be honest. Also his use of Hala surprised me. A heavy forward like him needs to start and give his best until he tires. Thaiday is a second rower and never has been a decent prop. Like him but don't want him up front. We do need a better blend with hard graft up the centre and a little more spreading out wide. The best play of the game was a Melbourne like effort right on half time. More of that please !

 

[Bucking Beads]

The thing with Norman is when we win he has a pretty big hand in those wins. He just has no consistency and he is no fullback.

 

[Coxy]

I'm perplexed by Big Pete constantly saying the attack isn't the issue. Maybe if he's only thinking about the attack inside 20, yes, because the Broncos have shown they can produce a try in that situation.

The issue is the other 80m of the field. Far too much one out stuff. That in itself isn't bad if you do it well, but it's very easy to defend. Simple variations in the ruck can make all the difference. Two offs, inside ball, 2nd man ruck.

Going one out as the Broncos do 90% of the time simply means defenders can gang up on you and force a slow play the ball. Even worse, because nobody pushes up in support there's no risk of an offload, so the rest of the defence can get back early and be set to rush up.

It's abysmal. And that's entirely coach and game plan, and it's been that way since long before Bennett left.

 

[Alec]

Our attack isn't particularly good in the opposition 20 either.

 

[Big Pete]

Admittedly, I got too caught up in my 'leave the playmakers alone' stance, I'll clarify my position.

1. I believe we need to change our approach to the ruck. Throw in some variation, some better lines, have runners on both sides of the play the ball and give the dummy half some options.

2. But let's keep in mind that our defence was the bigger concern of the night and we couldn't maintain any pressure on the Dogs as they'd chew through too many easy metres.

 

[nopatience101]

Admittedly, I got too caught up in my 'leave the playmakers alone' stance, I'll clarify my position.

1. I believe we need to change our approach to the ruck. Throw in some variation, some better lines, have runners on both sides of the play the ball and give the dummy half some options.

2. But let's keep in mind that our defence was the bigger concern of the night and we couldn't maintain any pressure on the Dogs as they'd chew through too many easy metres.

The forwards are soft and lack punch, they need some mongrel to toughen them up a bit.

 

[hayseed]

Obviously weak goal line defense cost us a couple tries but strong GLD on other occasions and some ambitious Doggie second phase play is what kept the scoreline from being a blowout. The 2 forward packs on paper looked like a complete mismatch and that certainly was proven last night and the Dogs didn't exactly have a great game, it just looked like they did. The fact that the Bronx kept it to a 10 pt margin is a slight positive.

Other positives included the progression of Jordan Kahu who will be a force in our backline in the years to come, Josh Hoffman is quickly becoming one of the premier wingers in the comp and Corey Parker can hold his head high yet again, he did all he could. Macca had a strong game for a change as his service was much quicker and he even got fired up on occasion, hopefully this will help his low level of confidence. Norman made his customary blunders but he set up two tries and saved three. We would be much worse off without him.

The halves did a couple good things but are severely restricted by their limitations, Princey will be a welcome addition next week, McGuire had an outstanding 2011 (especially the second half) but has done very little since and the talk of him being an Origin bolter is as comical as it is ludicrous, will never happen. Granville and Hala deserved more playing time but then what else is new? Overall, a horrendous performance at a stage in the season where it has to be a lot better.

The signs were all there in the last 2 months of 2012 and with limited recruitment in the off season meant that this campaign was always going to be a struggle. I don't know the answers, I am only a fan but a couple things I am certain of is that the Broncos will not make the playoffs and A Griffin and P Wallace (among others) will not survive the summer.

 

[Big Pete]

Preaching to the choir np.