POST GAME Round 12 - Broncos vs West Tigers

[Art Vandelay]

Re: Post Game discussion - West Tigers

Ben hunt ran towards the side line on the 4th and missed the kick. It was 100% his fault

Yeah it was a terrible decision. That being said, he actually created an overlap and we could have scored if Maranta was moving and didn't cut inside after taking two steps. We didn't deserve to win though. Any game where you hear the phrase "Kyle Lovett has been one of their best tonight" you know you're in trouble.

 

[Pushkin]

Every team start target Milford. As soon as he gets the ball. They don't gave him any kind of room. I like Alex glenn but is combination with Milford is not working both in attack and defense. I think Sam Thaiday perform better with Milford left hand side. That is wrong with Adam Blair. Last year when Maguire get injured. Blair was beast the remain season. But this season he don't do the hit ups like Maguire do. So fair there some player very disappointing. Ben hunt, reed, James Robert, Adam Blair, Alex Glenn.

 

[Maroon4life]

Probably because Hunt is 26 years old, and has 150 games under his belt, while Anthony is 21 years old with half the games played...

He's a great halfback when he can run the ball and play like a 5/8, but as soon as a real halfback is required, he only dishes out poo. Hunt has no excuse for what he dished up tonight, absolutely none! His one good kick was an accidental result of kicking the ball out of balance, or it would probably have landed in the 5th row.

Again, I have said this a million times:
Hunt is a really good 5/8, but we have a better one already, and we need someone actually capable of finishing 5th tackles and control a game, like... I don't know... oh wait... how about a ****ing halfback?

That said, Anthony was also poor despite trying his hardest. Still he was imo by far the better half.
Like the other kids out there, he was not to blame for this loss. That rests solely on most of our senior players, especially Hunt and Blair, but I though Glenn was pretty poor too, in conjunction with Reed and Eden. The latter more because he has no clue how to carry a ball and avoid being pushed back as far as he ran forward.

On the other side, Maranta regressed to his 2013 form. Both the floating passes from Hunt should've been his, but his indecision cost us big time. I hope it's just jitters after a long injury absence, but he better get his act together quick!

Yes, we lost the forwards battle, but I will not blame the youngsters. Arrow, Ese'ese, Su'a, Wallace, Pangai (****ing monster of a kid, hopefully he will become our Taumalolo) and Ofahengaue (why didn't he come back?) did what they could to stop a much more experienced pack, and were let down by their senior players, except Macca, who had an acceptable game.

That last play, with Blair literally walking around like a headless chicken, Kodi going in the wrong direction and Hunt being clueless... if I was Benny, I would lose it in the dressing room.

Kahu was head and shoulders the best Bronco, and I feel sorry for him, for having to deal with that cluster**** in front of him!

P.S. Don't even come with the bullshit excuse of having nothing to play with. A good halfback will come to the rescue of a faltering pack, controlling the game, slowing it down, turning the opposition around, kicking for corners and making the opposition work hard to get out of their half. Hunt is utterly incapable of that!

I registered because this post needed to be liked and read by others.

Well said.

 

[lionred]

Bazza bazza bazza.. do not blame the young guns... our spine needed to answer questions.. they did not create. Pangai... esesese... arrow... never brought into game... SuA better than most.. and why was he left for 80... because he was doing his job well... our senior players should hav been better and our juniors respected more and given more opportunity tbh

 

[Broncoman]

I actually was a bit concerned during the week about this game. With our origin players missing our youngsters and non representative players needed to stand up and deliver and that didn't happen tonight. We weren't good enough and really should've lost that game by a lot more.

Halves need more composure to close out big finishes. Hunt really folds under pressure at times and he didn't have a good game tonight, kicking game was well off. Milford really needs to find some form, he has dropped pretty worryingly over the last 2/3 weeks.

 

[Maroon4life]

Pretty much this, Hunt is leading the NRL in try assists this year, but he's not a conventional Halfback, his kicking game and game control is really below average, probably in the bottom half of the league in terms of Number 7's, his saving grace is that he's a great runner of the ball and (usually) a good passer of the ball, with great players around him capable of finishing off the tries.

When we released Ash Taylor we passed the point of no return, we're going to just have to put our faith in him and Milford continuing to improve individually and as a halves pairing, because god knows we need them to be the best versions of themselves if we're going to be winning a premiership(s) in the small window that's open right now.

I'm finding more fans are running out of patience with Hunt with each game. I hope we have an eye on getting Taylor back for the 2018 season.

All Broncos fans will acknowledge that Hunt's 2015 form was the reason we made the Grand Final & we aren't seeing any of that this year. What we are seeing each week is an unimproved kicking game, missed field goals & no indication he is maturing into a halfback that can organise the side when in front or behind.

As good as he can be on his night, I wouldn't question the decision to move him on to get Taylor back in 2018.

 

[Kaz]

I'm sick of the hate and blame directed at Hunt..

I only read this part of your post. (because it was too long for my eyes & concentration)

Hunt has to take control of games, which he's not doing. And I am afraid that he may not be able to do this.

Last two games, he cost us a win. (Missed/fucked up field goals that even some of us here could have kicked.) Don't know if he is panicking or not, but it's not good enough.

His kicking game in general is shit. He isn't organising play etc.

I could go on & on about it, but I am tired & going sleepy byes.

 

[FAS33]

You guys lost to the Tigers. At home. With a depleted team but still............Tigers?????

 

[Alec]

Probably because Hunt is 26 years old, and has 150 games under his belt, while Anthony is 21 years old with half the games played...

Milford is also on twice Hunt's money...

Hunt was shit, but he tried.
Milford was pretty shit because he didn't really try.

I know Milford is clearly more talented than Hunt, but I would have liked more from him. His diving was annoying too.

 

[Alec]

As for positives, I agree with the rest. TPJ is a huge fucking talent. Su'a was mostly good, but you could tell it was his first game of FG. Still very impressive for an 80 minute performance.

Wallace was great. I definitely rate him quite a bit above Ofa at the moment.

Kahu was brave, pretty good defensively, but he will never be an attacking dynamo. Too many knee injuries.

 

[Porthoz]

Milford is also on twice Hunt's money...

Hunt was shit, but he tried.
Milford was pretty shit because he didn't really try.

I know Milford is clearly more talented than Hunt, but I would have liked more from him. His diving was annoying too.

I certainly hope he is on twice the money... at least!

Do you expect consistency from a 21 y/o Half over an experienced 26 y/o one, just because he is on a higher salary...?
Besides, it's not like he hasn't been consistently better than Hunt over this season, including in this game.

I don't buy the "he tried" excuse. First of all, Milford tried too, and while Hunt tried hard, he failed... again. Like he always does under these circumstances. Or have you ever seen Hunt control a tight game, or get us out of trouble with his organisation and kicking game?

 

[Porthoz]

As for positives, I agree with the rest. TPJ is a huge fucking talent. Su'a was mostly good, but you could tell it was his first game of FG. Still very impressive for an 80 minute performance.

Wallace was great. I definitely rate him quite a bit above Ofa at the moment.

Kahu was brave, pretty good defensively, but he will never be an attacking dynamo. Too many knee injuries.

We definitely disagree on pretty much everything...

Wallace failed to even get close to Elijah Taylor in their first try, but I admit he did work hard to redeem himself after that.
Ofa was very good until he was subbed, but never came back... I wish I understood that one.

Did you even notice Kahu's involvement in all of our tries? Surely you saw DAT pass to Eden, no?
He doesn't have Boyd's experience and leadership, but he is a quality player with well above average playmaking ability.

 

[Kimlo]

That said, Anthony was also poor despite trying his hardest. Still he was imo by far the better half.!

Based on what?

Higher missed tackle %, more errors, kicking game was equally shit, no try assists (vs 2), he didn't make any line breaks or put anyone through a hole IIRC. What part of his game last night do you think made him "by far" the better half?

Hunt put that beauty through to Maranta, and he also set up Roberts for a try, Milf did **** all, and wasn't even in a position to kick the FG. If he's the better FG kicker, which it seems like he is, then he should have been directing the team and getting in position for a FG. It's not school yard footy, he's a professional with an amazing skillset, he should use it when he's the better option. I doubt Hunt enjoys taking those pressure kicks, but he kind of has to when the ball is shoved to him and Milford is on the wrong side of the field.

I'm not going to get into detail about your Hunt criticisms, but there's no reason why Milford can't pick up the slack, Lockyer was one of the best in the world at game management, and he did it from the 6, Thurston managed it just fine too from the 6 for a long time. If Milford's kicking game was top notch, I'm sure he'd take on the majority of the kicking.

Anyhow, I'm not arguing against Milford, he's a star, and I think he has a ton of improvement in him, but there's so many things he needs to work on, being a potential star shouldn't mean he's immune from criticism and in the interest of fairness, Hunt has only been playing as a lead playmaker since 2014, a little over 2 seasons now, he's not a veteran halfback with 5+ years experience in the role. Milford has played 80 games now, all in key positions on the field and if we we're going to drill it down further, Hunt has really only had one season more in the halves than Milford has.

 

[Alec]

We definitely disagree on pretty much everything...

Wallace failed to even get close to Elijah Taylor in their first try, but I admit he did work hard to redeem himself after that.
Ofa was very good until he was subbed, but never came back... I wish I understood that one.

Did you even notice Kahu's involvement in all of our tries? Surely you saw DAT pass to Eden, no?
He doesn't have Boyd's experience and leadership, but he is a quality player with well above average playmaking ability.

With Kahu, I meant his running game. His pass for Eden was quality. I mainly said that because I'm disappointed he'll never burn players with speed or footwork like he might have before his injuries.

 

[Porthoz]

Based on what?

Higher missed tackle %, more errors, kicking game was equally shit, no try assists (vs 2), he didn't make any line breaks or put anyone through a hole IIRC. What part of his game last night do you think made him "by far" the better half?

More errors? Seriously?

Do you mean the 3 kicks gifting the Tigers 7 tackles, the miss queued bombs, the kick out on the full after the Tigers third try, the floaters intercepted by Addo-Carr (shared blame with Maranta here), the missed field goal, or the generally absolutely crap game management and even worse kicking game?
His "beauty" to Maranta was luck, even if intentional, as he was clearly out of balance when he kicked it.
I mean, even Jarrod Wallace's kick put him to shame!

Milford's kicking was spot on most of the time, in fact most kicks that put the Tigers under pressure came from him. He also took on the line, creating half breaks a few times, but by no means is he free from criticism, because his game in general was poor, compared to his lofty standards.

Now, comparing a 26 y/o with 152 FG games with a 21 y/o with half that, and then saying that there's no reason with the 21 y/o can't pick up the slack of the other guy, while comparing him with the best halves the game has seen... desperate much?
Give him time to develop. Neither Locky, nor Thurston were masters at 21 y/o.

And let's be clear about this. It's not just this game, it's all the games where the Broncos need halfback's qualities other than a running game, and he fails miserably. He is NOT a halfback!
He is a very good 5/8 though, just not better than the one we already have.

 

[Porthoz]

With Kahu, I meant his running game. His pass for Eden was quality. I mainly said that because I'm disappointed he'll never burn players with speed or footwork like he might have before his injuries.

That's probably true, although Boyd is not exactly known for his blinding speed and footwork either. His qualities are more in his play-making and directing the play, both in defense and attack.

 

[winslow_wong]

Old Bennett called it after the Sharks game. We were on the verge of a form slump and it has now arrived. Hopefully it turns around in time for the finals. Another post origin slide out of the top 8 would be a tragedy

 

[Sproj]

Boyd is pretty quick when he wants to be.