POST GAME Round 12 - Broncos vs West Tigers

[Morkel]

My biggest issue was with the fact that he didn't drop to the ground when he caught the ball. Which allowed Tigers to just drag him back.

Unless the chasers are nowhere near you, just drop to the fucking ground so they can't push you back.

It happened at least 4 times, maybe more. Even when he caught the ball and ran for a good 5 metres before meeting the defence. Most wingers/fullbacks in that position are able to position their bodies or use footwork to get between defenders, and are able to get relatively clean PTB's without just having to surrender meekly. Maybe it's an inexperience thing, without constantly coming up against NRL defence which is adept at "catching" runners, not just simply tackling them to the ground, it leaves them ripe for being halted and driven back.

 

[Foordy]

I have been a fairly strong supporter of Ben Hunt but I am also starting to get a bit concerned as well. I have to say I have almost jumped aboard SS Porthoz in believing that we should have kept Ash Taylor. If Hunt continues to stink it up, I hope down the track we can entice Taylor back because he looks to have the goods.

How is Hunt stinking it up ... He is leading (or very close to leading) every key stat for halfbacks.

 

[Sproj]

I agree that Hunt is playing well, yet he has room to improve still, it's a pretty good situation to be in. That said, I do wonder if Taylor may end up being the Thurston we let go to keep Sherwin (please understand I am completely aware how much better than Sherwin Hunt is).

 

[2ndPhase]

Yes about Eden. I was yelling at the TV telling him to get low. Yeah, he wasn't listening.

 

[Organix]

Well, after reading through all the comments in this thread, I have to make a few points.
1. There is a lot of negatives towards Hunt. He is just not that bad. He does have his brain-fart moments and his kicking is a bit lacking still (I agree this should be rectified) but he is shouldering a lot of the load. Milford is fantastic when he is enjoying the game but he has yet to learn how to deal with the pressure that comes with being a strike player. As many have said before, Ben Hunt is well known to be the primary kicker on the last and because of this it is very predictable and he is struggling for time and his placement/power is severely affected. When Macca kicks from dummy-half it looks fantastic because he has time and can place it because no-one expects it (he did that in the 12th min). But he rarely kicks. Milf barely kicks on the last and Boyd never does. This should be a key area to address in the team for Bennett. But Ben Hunt seems to be the half that is actually really striving out there and trying something. Unfortunately, when you try to do everything yourself sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The times it doesn't stand out a lot more due to human nature.
2. James Roberts seems lazy to me. He looks as though he doesn't know his role and doesn't know when to inject himself and because of that decides to just hold back instead of offering an option. In defense he often looks like he gives up trying early in the piece and can make some poor defensive reads as well. I do think that kicking early for Roberts should be used more. The only problem is that if it fails then you are effectively giving away the ball and field position.
3. The Ben Hunt "knock-on" that effectively saved a try was punished and lumped pressure on Brisbane. This (as someone pointed out earlier) was a key turning point in the game in the first half.
4. Oates' carries at the start of the set are vital but someone else should have stepped up there. I don't see using light wingers like Eden and Maranta in the same capacity as any sort of tactic. It would have made more sense to set the second rowers into that role instead. That was a silly coaching error.
5. Milf and Hunt need to start enjoying their footy again. They look frustrated a lot and are getting bogged down trying to force plays rather than just playing naturally.
6. Those ridiculous intercept passes (one was from Milford btw) were out of desperation if nothing else and Roberts and Maranta both didn't show any tenacity in maintaining control. Poor effort.
7. Milf needs to get himself off the ground faster when he gets tackled.
8. The young fellas played reasonably well but the Tigers were just the better side on the night.

I have not lost hope but it does look troubling through this Origin period. The key is for Hunt and Milf to soak up the pressure and enjoy it not let it fluster them as it has so far. Hunt looks like he is trying too hard to make clutch tackles on the line and win games on his own. Probably gets enough niggle from other team's supporters and doesn't need his own team's fans to pile it on him as well. We all know his potential, let's back him to find it again. Taylor has moved on, so should the rest of us.

 

[broncos4life]

Well, after reading through all the comments in this thread, I have to make a few points.
1. There is a lot of negatives towards Hunt. He is just not that bad. He does have his brain-fart moments and his kicking is a bit lacking still (I agree this should be rectified) but he is shouldering a lot of the load. Milford is fantastic when he is enjoying the game but he has yet to learn how to deal with the pressure that comes with being a strike player. As many have said before, Ben Hunt is well known to be the primary kicker on the last and because of this it is very predictable and he is struggling for time and his placement/power is severely affected. When Macca kicks from dummy-half it looks fantastic because he has time and can place it because no-one expects it (he did that in the 12th min). But he rarely kicks. Milf barely kicks on the last and Boyd never does. This should be a key area to address in the team for Bennett. But Ben Hunt seems to be the half that is actually really striving out there and trying something. Unfortunately, when you try to do everything yourself sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The times it doesn't stand out a lot more due to human nature.
2. James Roberts seems lazy to me. He looks as though he doesn't know his role and doesn't know when to inject himself and because of that decides to just hold back instead of offering an option. In defense he often looks like he gives up trying early in the piece and can make some poor defensive reads as well. I do think that kicking early for Roberts should be used more. The only problem is that if it fails then you are effectively giving away the ball and field position.
3. The Ben Hunt "knock-on" that effectively saved a try was punished and lumped pressure on Brisbane. This (as someone pointed out earlier) was a key turning point in the game in the first half.
4. Oates' carries at the start of the set are vital but someone else should have stepped up there. I don't see using light wingers like Eden and Maranta in the same capacity as any sort of tactic. It would have made more sense to set the second rowers into that role instead. That was a silly coaching error.
5. Milf and Hunt need to start enjoying their footy again. They look frustrated a lot and are getting bogged down trying to force plays rather than just playing naturally.
6. Those ridiculous intercept passes (one was from Milford btw) were out of desperation if nothing else and Roberts and Maranta both didn't show any tenacity in maintaining control. Poor effort.
7. Milf needs to get himself off the ground faster when he gets tackled.
8. The young fellas played reasonably well but the Tigers were just the better side on the night.

I have not lost hope but it does look troubling through this Origin period. The key is for Hunt and Milf to soak up the pressure and enjoy it not let it fluster them as it has so far. Hunt looks like he is trying too hard to make clutch tackles on the line and win games on his own. Probably gets enough niggle from other team's supporters and doesn't need his own team's fans to pile it on him as well. We all know his potential, let's back him to find it again. Taylor has moved on, so should the rest of us.

Without a doubt the best post in this thread. Agree with every word.

 

[Organix]

Without a doubt the best post in this thread. Agree with every word.

Do you also agree that the Josh Addo-Carr try was off a forward pass?

 

[Spoon]

I was at the game, it was a metre forward

 

[broncos4life]

Do you also agree that the Josh Addo-Carr try was off a forward pass?

110%

It was well forward, and while I'm not losing any sleep over it because you see those passes let go all the time, it does highlight how incomplete our touchies are. I mean how could they not see that. I can forgive slightly forward passes nut Addo-Carr was about a metre in front of the passer, there is no way he could catch the ball if it weren't passed forward.

 

[Morkel]

Well, after reading through all the comments in this thread, I have to make a few points.
1. There is a lot of negatives towards Hunt. He is just not that bad. He does have his brain-fart moments and his kicking is a bit lacking still (I agree this should be rectified) but he is shouldering a lot of the load. Milford is fantastic when he is enjoying the game but he has yet to learn how to deal with the pressure that comes with being a strike player. As many have said before, Ben Hunt is well known to be the primary kicker on the last and because of this it is very predictable and he is struggling for time and his placement/power is severely affected. When Macca kicks from dummy-half it looks fantastic because he has time and can place it because no-one expects it (he did that in the 12th min). But he rarely kicks. Milf barely kicks on the last and Boyd never does. This should be a key area to address in the team for Bennett. But Ben Hunt seems to be the half that is actually really striving out there and trying something. Unfortunately, when you try to do everything yourself sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The times it doesn't stand out a lot more due to human nature.
2. James Roberts seems lazy to me. He looks as though he doesn't know his role and doesn't know when to inject himself and because of that decides to just hold back instead of offering an option. In defense he often looks like he gives up trying early in the piece and can make some poor defensive reads as well. I do think that kicking early for Roberts should be used more. The only problem is that if it fails then you are effectively giving away the ball and field position.
3. The Ben Hunt "knock-on" that effectively saved a try was punished and lumped pressure on Brisbane. This (as someone pointed out earlier) was a key turning point in the game in the first half.
4. Oates' carries at the start of the set are vital but someone else should have stepped up there. I don't see using light wingers like Eden and Maranta in the same capacity as any sort of tactic. It would have made more sense to set the second rowers into that role instead. That was a silly coaching error.
5. Milf and Hunt need to start enjoying their footy again. They look frustrated a lot and are getting bogged down trying to force plays rather than just playing naturally.
6. Those ridiculous intercept passes (one was from Milford btw) were out of desperation if nothing else and Roberts and Maranta both didn't show any tenacity in maintaining control. Poor effort.
7. Milf needs to get himself off the ground faster when he gets tackled.
8. The young fellas played reasonably well but the Tigers were just the better side on the night.

I have not lost hope but it does look troubling through this Origin period. The key is for Hunt and Milf to soak up the pressure and enjoy it not let it fluster them as it has so far. Hunt looks like he is trying too hard to make clutch tackles on the line and win games on his own. Probably gets enough niggle from other team's supporters and doesn't need his own team's fans to pile it on him as well. We all know his potential, let's back him to find it again. Taylor has moved on, so should the rest of us.

Agree too.

On the bolded, the commentary (again, 9) said that Roberts was furious that he was not chosen for Origin. I don't know what to think of that but it doesn't sound good. He hasn't done enough to demand a spot, so either he thinks he is going better than he really is, or he's pissed off that the Broncos haven't given him enough ball to showcase his skills. However, everyone who's been calling for Roberts to get more ball, well as you would have seen he was given plenty of ball on Friday night. But it was without momentum, without our forwards having done their job. As expected, he was ineffective in such a situation. The try he scored was out of perseverance and even then it was through broken play, and afterwards he still looked disappointed because he didn't have to run 50 metres and evade 3 defenders to do so. And like you said, [MENTION=8187]Organix[/MENTION], he and Maranta showed no desperation in those two occasions where the ball was flung out and ultimately intercepted. Maybe he's not a talker, maybe he's not a team player.

 

[rnabokov]

Agree too.

On the bolded, the commentary (again, 9) said that Roberts was furious that he was not chosen for Origin. I don't know what to think of that but it doesn't sound good. He hasn't done enough to demand a spot, so either he thinks he is going better than he really is, or he's ****ed off that the Broncos haven't given him enough ball to showcase his skills. However, everyone who's been calling for Roberts to get more ball, well as you would have seen he was given plenty of ball on Friday night. But it was without momentum, without our forwards having done their job. As expected, he was ineffective in such a situation. The try he scored was out of perseverance and even then it was through broken play, and afterwards he still looked disappointed because he didn't have to run 50 metres and evade 3 defenders to do so. And like you said, @Organix, he and Maranta showed no desperation in those two occasions where the ball was flung out and ultimately intercepted. Maybe he's not a talker, maybe he's not a team player.

Am I wrong in recalling that Gillett was roundly criticised for not running good lines, didn't know when to inject himself yet now, he is being praised - and rightly so, for running good lines, and injecting himself so to speak, and defending to the point where our right hand side is virtually leak proof more or less.

I would venture to say most of that is because he and Hunt are now working together and communicating, they have deliberately worked on their combination, and that obviously, Bennett has had a lot to do with that, and with Gillett's defence.

I am not trying to excuse legit criticism of Roberts, just saying that often, a player's performance has as much to do with the development of combinations/communication with play makers, and the coaching he/they get, as it is with personal attitudes.

I still don't think there is enough of a serious combination developed with Roberts although Milf has done some nice things across the right hand side with Roberts although not nearly enough yet. At the same time, our whole team, especially with Roberts, is still very much a work in progress.

I just certainly hope that Roberts isn't a victim of his own, or the media's hype ... meaning, he's not up himself to the point the team is suffering.

 

[Morkel]

Am I wrong in recalling that Gillett was roundly criticised for not running good lines, didn't know when to inject himself yet now, he is being praised - and rightly so, for running good lines, and injecting himself so to speak, and defending to the point where our right hand side is virtually leak proof more or less.

I would venture to say most of that is because he and Hunt are now working together and communicating, they have deliberately worked on their combination, and that obviously, Bennett has had a lot to do with that, and with Gillett's defence.

I am not trying to excuse legit criticism of Roberts, just saying that often, a player's performance has as much to do with the development of combinations/communication with play makers, and the coaching he/they get, as it is with personal attitudes.

I still don't think there is enough of a serious combination developed with Roberts although Milf has done some nice things across the right hand side with Roberts although not nearly enough yet. At the same time, our whole team, especially with Roberts, is still very much a work in progress.

I just certainly hope that Roberts isn't a victim of his own, or the media's hype ... meaning, he's not up himself to the point the team is suffering.

I'm not writing Roberts off either, moreso presenting some 2+2's and 3+1's that can potentially explain the hypothetical 4's that a lot of us are seeing.

 

[Super Freak]

I think they need to give Roberts free roam.

Tell him to do what Hodges did. Come in field, look for the ball, link up with players on the left side. Or just take a chance and put him on the left and see if that helps him.

Because right now, he is not earning his price tag.

I could forgive him earlier in the season because he just came to the club, but it's been 12 weeks (12 weeks should be enough) and we're still not seeing enough improvement.

Time to change things up.

 

[Culhwch]

Or just take a chance and put him on the left and see if that helps him.

I'd love to see that switch, but I fear it won't happen. Bennett is just too stubborn.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

110%

It was well forward, and while I'm not losing any sleep over it because you see those passes let go all the time, it does highlight how incomplete our touchies are. I mean how could they not see that. I can forgive slightly forward passes nut Addo-Carr was about a metre in front of the passer, there is no way he could catch the ball if it weren't passed forward.

I'm willing to bet it wasn't that they didn't see it, they're just too gutless to make a call that may deny the Tigers a try

 

[LittleDavey]

Everyone saw it lol. They were right on the 10m(?) line. It was as clear as day.

But not to our multiple, esteemed officials.