POST GAME [Round 12, 2024] Broncos vs Titans

[Galah]

I imagine as a hooker, having a very painful wrist injury would be one of the worst injuries to try and play through given you pick up the ball almost every play and are constantly tackling. I get it too, Billy must be worried about said young gun taking his opportunity with both hands and not getting his spot back but this is where his dead probably needs to step in and pull him out like he has done with Kotoni.

Again brings up my point about dad…

now I’m going to give Kev the benefit of doubt that he will in fact do what needs to be done for the team. but so far either billy is gone to shit and it’s not because of the injury and needs a rocket, or he shouldn’t be playing because of the injury but is because of favouritism. If Kev doesn’t think the media will start to question, he’s got another thing coming.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Problem is even in those games you could see something like this coming.

The Eels game for example. If they had Moses and Gutho, we don't win. In fact, they blow us away. We don't control the ruck, we don't move up in defence to give our opposition as little time as possible and we don't wrap up the ball.

We are going to get killed if we don't change that.

Our line speed on defence is a huge issue for us. If we don't fix that nothing else will really matter.

 

[Foordy]

Again brings up my point about dad…

now I’m going to give Kev the benefit of doubt that he will in fact do what needs to be done for the team. but so far either billy is gone to shit and it’s not because of the injury and needs a rocket, or he shouldn’t be playing because of the injury but is because of favouritism. If Kev doesn’t think the media will start to question, he’s got another thing coming.

a) it's a stupid point. It ignores the fact that he is still our best hooker option. At most you could possibly swap him and Smoothy. Go back and read the post game thread for Mozer's appearance, he didn't blow anyone away, in fact the consensus seemed to be that he wasn't ready for regular NRL footy yet

b) the last thing that Kev should consider when making decisions is what the media will say

 

[BroncsFan]

So...how long should Billy be given to turn this around? I am sure this would probably open up to the usual suspects going to town with told ya so's which will make no sense given how good he was last year but this year, as mentioned above, he has been WAY down. I know he is injured but if he can't maintain the level as a result of it, he shouldn't be playing. How long does Kevvie give him?

There has been a complete change in how we defend at the moment.

Last year Billy was being praised for his defence because he was cutting guys in half. He was the preferred hooker across the forum because his defence is better than the other options and he had to be there for the opening 20mins when everyone was fresh to hold the middle.

All that physicality in defence has disappeared this year... across the squad... whatever has caused that needs to be resolved.

I dont think it's just Maguire is the new wrestling coach either... because he's been there for like 2 weeks and 1910 said he's only going to come in every now and then... you cant impact that kind of change that quickly, so it's something from preseason.

Either that or the squad is totally gassed from the opening to the year and they dont have the energy to bend their back and hit in defence.

 

[BRC088]

Losing this game last year lost us the minor prem. WTF, new bogey team.

 

[Brett Da Man LeMan]

I was wondering why Walsh didn't repeat his opening 10 mins where he just ran around everyone on the kick returns, then I realised it was because we didn't make them kick for field position for hardly any of the game. It was all mistake, into penalty, into try.
Once they got the ball in our 20m, it was 95% of the time a try, that's shocking

 

[BroncsFan]

I was wondering why Walsh didn't repeat his opening 10 mins where he just ran around everyone on the kick returns, then I realised it was because we didn't make them kick for field position for hardly any of the game. It was all mistake, into penalty, into try.
Once they got the ball in our 20m, it was 95% of the time a try, that's shocking

Conversion rate inside our 20m must've been insanely high.

It was literally anytime they started a set inside our 50m they basically came up with a try or we scrambled them into defence at the last second.

 

[winslow_wong]

I remember Billy saying last year he was doing extra tackling drills on Jensen after every training session. Is this still happening? Guys might be getting a bit complacent

 

[Swordfish]

What I observed is, when Kobe came on, he played in the back row & Riki played middle.

Apart from few tackles, Kobe was basically non existent. Agreed that he’s a workhorse but sadly, he’s not up to his name majority of the season thus far.

I would question Billy & Walsh’s places in the team yesterday. We could have struck with Mozer & Cobbo. If Billy’s not 100% like Staggs is, he shouldn’t have played. Extra time off had been good for Billy.

Kev have lot of thinking to do as to who makes it to 17. More so, he should emphasise more on our interchanges.

Given we’re into Origin now, Kev’s job will become much complicated but I want him to come out of this period with fantastic outcomes.

 

[McHunt]

So...how long should Billy be given to turn this around? I am sure this would probably open up to the usual suspects going to town with told ya so's which will make no sense given how good he was last year but this year, as mentioned above, he has been WAY down. I know he is injured but if he can't maintain the level as a result of it, he shouldn't be playing. How long does Kevvie give him?

Guess this is my cue.

Same as I've been saying like a stuck record since preseason 2023: Billy won't be dropped unless the team is down to one wheel and he's the last player to take the fall. His old man has put himself in this position. He has to dig himself out of it.

I disagree about how "good" he was last year. He was an underdog who outperformed expectations to the point where he went from underrated to bizarrely overrated. He was fine in that gun team when it was firing on all cylinders. We didn't need any vision from dummy half, and Billy delivered enough to feed those guns.

Hard truth was he was only ever good for 20 minutes, and occasionally he looked very good within those 20 minutes. This year is no different, but he's been given some longer stints. When he's played more minutes, like yesterday, those occasional flashes of better than average have been outnumbered by the stench of mediocrity.

The even harder truth is no matter how better than average he can look in a 20 minute spell, 20 minutes is not enough from any player, let alone the one who handles the ball the most.

This is his father's problem now.

But back to yesterday's match, Billy did look pretty ordinary, but our less ordinary hooker (in my firm opinion) didn't reverse our descent into the maelstrom of shit.

We didn't lose that game because of Billy.

 

[McHunt]

I think some of us are being a bit hard on second gamer Karp.

100%. The kid oozes class but needs experience. Those of us with functioning memories might remember the first games of Isaako, Niu, Mariner and Cobbo. I think it's impossible to tell at this stage whether he's our next superstar like Selwyn, or whether he has Niu like deficiencies that cancel out his freakish talent. Even Mariner still has some question-marks.

Either way, I'd be inclined to extend his contract by two years and take a punt. I'd test on the wing in place of Oates, and then let him fight it out with Jesse when his jaw recovers.

 

[Swordfish]

That try Walters let in before half time is a disgrace.

It’s not just him. There are 3 others around him.
As much as I love Walsh play, he’s not defensively good. He basically stood around watching that try being scored. No effort at all. It looked ugly that they all let that try being scored.

 

[McHunt]

I imagine as a hooker, having a very painful wrist injury would be one of the worst injuries to try and play through given you pick up the ball almost every play and are constantly tackling. I get it too, Billy must be worried about said young gun taking his opportunity with both hands and not getting his spot back but this is where his dead probably needs to step in and pull him out like he has done with Kotoni.

I haven't read last week's game thread, but I thought we looked somewhat more coherent in the first twenty with Smoothy starting. Mozer, I thought, came on too soon, and although he failed to sync with our middle immediately, he clearly has a football brain and is ready for NRL.

We should have repeated that combination this week. We weren't exactly missing Billy that much we needed him to play with an injured wrist.

 

[Swordfish]

For the 1st time in this season, Patty got a breather in the first 40 while Payne played full 80. It’s either one of them that ends up playing full 80 each week.
They both are humans at the end of the day and it can’t go on forever. It’s a pity that we can’t find capable interchanges that can cover middle 10-15min on either side of 1st half.

 

[thenry]

For the 1st time in this season, Patty got a breather in the first 40 while Payne played full 80. It’s either one of them that ends up playing full 80 each week.
They both are humans at the end of the day and it can’t go on forever. It’s a pity that we can’t find capable interchanges that can cover middle 10-15min on either side of 1st half.

Agreed. I remember the Dragons game last year when Kev held Payne back until the final 15-20. He came on and destroyed them.

That's the sort of impact he can have when he has a rest!!

 

[Totally Unr3al]

Honestly makes me feel sick
Do the players even care
We are crazy to resign Walsh, he is the most expensive liability in the history of the NRL

Neither our defence nor the officiating was NRL standard today.

I would like to know one thing though ... Regarding the knock on rulings against Jock and Cobbo, have they officially changed that interpretation or is it one of their usual one-off game changes .... Because in those situations they have for the last 5 years been ruling that if a tackler makes contact with the ball while attempting a tackle it is not played at hence play on. Not how they ruled today

Bunker ruled the ball had been ‘released’
Whether we agree or not is a different story
But the rule was applied correctly

 

[Broncapz]

The worst thing about this game...

Optimism for 2024 just dissapeared. If you can't hold out the Titans in front of 40,000 fans, I mean what can you get up for. :(

Thought we might have handled our ability to defend leads and come out on top in close games after Manly..but we still don't have that clutchness.

We're 4 points up with 10 minutes to go against Storm or Panthers, you'd almost certainly bet on Storm or Panthers. That's where we're at still.

 

[Foordy]

Optimism for 2024 just dissapeared. If you can't hold out the Titans in front of 40,000 fans, I mean what can you get up for. :(

how about a GF where we went within a whisker of defeating the best team of this generation

We lost to the Titans at Lang park by 6 points in front of 42,000 fans on a sunny Sunday afternoon in 2023