POST GAME Round 11 - Cowboys vs Broncos

[Porthoz]

Hunt's long range kicking is not the issue, but his short kick, accuracy and timing are pretty crap. Milford is already better than him in that department.

Yes, he gets rushed, like most halfbacks do, but not more often than others. I think he needs to learn to take advantage of it with his running game, in the same way that it was never a good idea to rush Locky.

 

[FAS33]

Hunt's long range kicking is not the issue, but his short kick, accuracy and timing are pretty crap. Milford is already better than him in that department.

Yes, he gets rushed, like most halfbacks do, but not more often than others. I think he needs to learn to take advantage of it with his running game, in the same way that it was never a good idea to rush Locky.

He hasn't been the same since last year after the Grand Final. Before that he was killing it. It seems to be on his mind still. He needs more confidence. He shouldve taken those drop goal attempts. Not Milford.

 

[Big Pete]

He hasn't been the same since last year after the Grand Final. Before that he was killing it. It seems to be on his mind still. He needs more confidence. He shouldve taken those drop goal attempts. Not Milford.

Before Friday, Milford had the best drop-goal of anybody in the competition. Nobody expected him to miss in that position, let alone his own team mates so that should be forgiven. I could understand the criticism if Hunt didn't take a shot himself, but he did and he only just missed.

Hunt's lack of form is the biggest beat up in the game.

 

[Porthoz]

He hasn't been the same since last year after the Grand Final. Before that he was killing it. It seems to be on his mind still. He needs more confidence. He shouldve taken those drop goal attempts. Not Milford.

Hunt's kicking has never been his strength. Even when he won the U20's best halfback title, his partner in the halves (Corey Norman), was by far the better kicker.

He didn't start the season well, but I think he's back to his usual level now, just hasn't really had a blinder yet.

 

[Big Pete]

Hunt's kicking game was really uneven in the NYC. Over long distances he wasn't anything special but inside the opposition 20 he caused plenty of headaches. His combination with Jharal Yow Yeh was something to behold, they had a wonderful understanding of each other's games.

He achieved all of that with Jared Kahu (Jordan's older brother) as his number six.

Norman arrived a year later. By the end of the year, Corey was upstaging Hunt, but by that point Ben had well and truly established himself in the NYC.

 

[Alec]

A few of Hunt's kicks in the first half looked terrible because of McCullough. Seriously, by the time Macca got him the ball, the defence was almost on him. It was disgusting to watch.

I'm not defending his kicking game, it's clearly his weakest area by far, but that did not help at all.

 

[FAS33]

Hunt's kicking game was really uneven in the NYC. Over long distances he wasn't anything special but inside the opposition 20 he caused plenty of headaches. His combination with Jharal Yow Yeh was something to behold, they had a wonderful understanding of each other's games.

He achieved all of that with Jared Kahu (Jordan's older brother) as his number six.

Norman arrived a year later. By the end of the year, Corey was upstaging Hunt, but by that point Ben had well and truly established himself in the NYC.

And now Norman has one of the best kicking games in the Comp playing with the wrong team. Talk about the one that got away.

 

[Big Pete]

There's more to footy than having a great kicking game. Norman has two plays, giving it to Jennings or giving it to Radradra. Without them, he's a middle of the road half.

Correction, a middle of the road half with baggage.

If having a kicking game meant anything, Joe Williams would have had an amazing career. Will always remember this game he had against Brisbane, Round 8 2007, where he was completely and utterly out-performing Lockyer on last tackle kicks. He couldn't have been more on point in that regard. But it didn't mean anything because his playmaking was god awful.

Norman isn't THAT bad, but Hunt has him covered in most categories.

And Milford, his actual replacement is a class above.

 

[rnabokov]

Before Friday, Milford had the best drop-goal of anybody in the competition. Nobody expected him to miss in that position, let alone his own team mates so that should be forgiven. I could understand the criticism if Hunt didn't take a shot himself, but he did and he only just missed.

Hunt's lack of form is the biggest beat up in the game.

Hunt's "lack of form" is a beat up. His lack of consistent high level form isn't.

He plays in fits and starts. When he is on say for 2/3 of the game, he is brilliant. His passing game is great, his running game is great but he needs to attack the line more and .... however for mine, his short kicking game needs to return to where it was as you posted. How many tries have we scored this year from consistent, varied short kicks behind their defensive line in their red zone and, yet again, why why why don't we grubber/short kick for Roberts and Milford consistently in the middle 3rd and their red zone? Not bombs but set play kicks

I just can't get my head around the fact that we have 2 of the fastest players in the game and we don't kick for them in tight spots.

 

[Waynesaurus]

The positive thing that did come out of Fridays loss is that we have exposed (as the Storm sis the week before) how to beat the Cowboys and that is to play direct, punch back in, around and behind the ruck to work their big forwards.

The other is to exploit Thurston and hit that left defensive side by either passing to a fast and/or big man running back in at Thurston or go wide as their defense gets sucked in to protect him.

We may have actually also given NSW the heads for State of Origin.

 

[Renegade]

I predicted a close loss and while I'm a bit disappointed, I'm not surprised and I don't think we really need too much of a post mortem.

imo...

1. Milford was poor and this was what I was referencing in the thread the other day about Milf being the best 5/8th in the NRL. He isn't, he's a good young player and will probably be the best 5/8th eventually, but not yet. Morgan outpointed him in general and Milf fluffed his lines when he had a chance to make an impact. Not to worry. but hopefully this puts to rest the aforementioned for a little bit. I think Smokin' Joe said he'll learn a lot more in this than he will when he's nailing everything, and he's right - true champions respond in the best way, let's see what Milford can do.

2. Thought our kicking game was really poor, in particular our short kicking. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. Sure it worked in the first half under Feldt a couple of times but there's no variety in our play, we really need to improve here as it is a glaring weakness for mine.

3. The turning point came on the back of a lucky bounce. Coote kicks, gets a rebound and dives over - 18-12 and game is well and truly on. Their momentum combined with us running out of troops turned the game in their favour. It's disappointing because at 18-6 you're thinking shit we're doing well here and have really kept them quiet, then all of a sudden it's 18-18. That's the most disappointing aspect of the loss imo, that we were ahead and playing well (and forcing the cowboys to make errors, everyone brushes off the error count but Brisbane have to play well defensively to force some of these, so it's not entirely a case of the cowboys playing badly on their lonesome), and we managed to lose in the end.

Still, as I said pre-match, a one point loss to the defending premiers at their stadium? Nothing to get upset about.

 

[Big Pete]

Hunt's "lack of form" is a beat up. His lack of consistent high level form isn't.

That's always been the case with him - his form post-GF isn't new.

 

[FAS33]

Let's have Cowboys Broncos GF MkII 2016. Bring it on. If the game pattern is the way it currently goes its your turn. But moneys on the Cowboys still.

 

[Alec]

Kicking game's value changes depending on the opposition's forward pack. Cowboys steamrolled us with Taumalolo, Tamou and Scott, would have been nice to have it more on point.

 

[Super Freak]

I'm wondering, with the wrap around play, does the player receiving the ball have to receive it after he runs behind the player passing the ball? Or can he receive it before and still run behind him?

Granville did that in the last try.

 

[Morkel]

I'm wondering, with the wrap around play, does the player receiving the ball have to receive it after he runs behind the player passing the ball? Or can he receive it before and still run behind him?

Granville did that in the last try.

The one passing the ball doesn't matter, because they are part of the play. It's only if it's a decoy who's only purpose is to get in the way.

 

[FAS33]

I'm wondering, with the wrap around play, does the player receiving the ball have to receive it after he runs behind the player passing the ball? Or can he receive it before and still run behind him?

Granville did that in the last try.

Try every day of the week.