Round 13 - Dragons vs Broncos

[Midean]

Turned it off with 16mins to go. After not bothering with the second half last week. This is new, I have finished watching every game I have started watching, in my living memory. I usually watch a couple games each week but I haven't since magic round.

I'm done with the stupid mistakes from our overpaid pretenders. I'm done with the rampant one-sided officiating. I'm done with Vlandysball. After the high of my first live game (v Titans) in many many years, something has switched off in my head tonight. Honestly I think I'm done. I am too emotionally invested for my own good and as someone who has fought with depression and anxiety, I'm feeling triggers so I gotta distance myself for a bit. Nights like tonight literally have me shitty for days and it's just not worth it. For me, it IS just a game, after all.

Some of these guys on our team need a real good sports psych. Idk what the club is doing in that space but since 2015 we have been weak mentally, and new players coming in have seemed to pick up on it. It's become a trend and it has got to stop.

Anyway. Didn't mean to make this about me. **** the NRL for ruining something I have dearly loved for 30 fucking years. I think that's what upsets me the most.

mate you are 100% not alone in this line of thinking, im right there with ya.

 

[nopatience101]

Yet to see any improvement in our defence from last year despite having far less injuries and the competition being far worse. I have no faith in Kevvie to make changes.

 

[thenry]

This was the equivalent of our Tigers loss last year for mine.

 

[BroncsFan]

This was the equivalent of our Tigers loss last year for mine.

Round 14:

 

[bronx89]

Isaako is not a fullback

 

[Big Pete]

It was just like the Gold Coast Titans game, neither team wanted to tackle.

Brisbane well and truly in it but that period right before and after half-time cruelled them. Firstly the mistake from Farnworth who is always good for at least one bad mistake a game and then the complete brain fade by Isaako.

I have no issue with the Robati sin-bin, he was standing far too upright in the tackle and I suspect he'll face a week for it. It's different to the Kerr on Isaako tackle where Jamayne was falling in the tackle, his initial target zone was correct whereas Terui was always going to get him high.

I didn't think Cecchin had a good game but it went both ways. I thought Turpin's pass to Kelly in the lead up to Mead's try was suspect and the first Robati try looked forward as well. I thought St George got away with a few knock ons and forward passes of their own but it was pretty consistent.

I noticed a lot of head assessment stoppages from the Dragons usually right as the Broncos had 'won' the set. It's a tactic that's crept into the game, same with the offsides which only get called if a team needs to be bailed out like Cobbo was.

I thought Kelly played very well and I like the work he and Gamble are providing. It isn't a long term option but they're making good decisions with the footy.

The key is not to take any of this to heart. The season ended a long time ago, it's now up to the club to experiment and see who is worth persisting with and who can be moved on. I thought there were actually some good signs out there tonight and if the Broncos can build on those they'll finally have a competitive team.

They're playing like individuals because that's the way it's fallen apart. Key cogs have been taken out of the team, some players have pulled up stumps and they're all on different pages. It's going to take time and with all these new rules there's going to be bumps on the road.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Think it’s going to take a slash and burn to be honest. There are far too many duds in this squad. Milford is a good start but Isaako needs to go, as does Glenn, and Flelger.

Turpin needs to go back to being depth and a couple of others such as Farnsworth should be put on notice.

Kelly and Gamble aren’t going to last, so keep them there til their time is up. Gamble can drop down to depth, Kelly can hold his head high that he put in an effort and played well, in a shockingly poor team.

 

[Emanon]

I wish Flegler would run it straight. Don't jink, just run straight. Get to your front, quick play the ball. Job done.

How much more simple does Kev have to go with these guys?

I agree. It shouldn't be that hard for them to work out, but somehow it is. Maybe they are simply over coached these days?

Flegler is a Prop, all he has to do is get a run up, catch the ball and charge at the line hard. If Cobbo (and every other back) can do it, there's no reason a prop or second rower can't. If you break the line then offload it provided somebody is there to offload it to.

 

[Accept]

I knew they were no chance of victory tonight but even my darkest nightmares aren't as scary as this shitty StG side scoring 50+ pts against my beloved Broncos.

But this is the modern day version of the Broncos. This once iconic club are now the butt of jokes and unfortunately there doesn't appear to be an end of the despair in sight.

But we as fans have to ride it out as we know eventually this club will rise again. It could be another fucking decade before that happens though.

 

[Nerd]

Killed ourselves with too many errors yet again. Is there a game this year where Isaako hasn't made 2-3 unforced errors? Surely that is Isaako's last game in a Broncos jersey as he is most definitely nowhere near NRL standard. With Flegler, there isn't a game where he doesn't drop the ball cold taking a hit up or gives away a moronic penalty that lets the opposition off the hook. He has the ability to be a decent player but needs at least a season in the ISC to sort himself out. Turpin also didn't help as some of his passes out of dummy half were just ordinary. Anyway season is gone so time to kick start some experimentation for next year.

Halves look ok, some of the forwards are going ok but some are struggling and need to be dropped (Flegler and Glenn), fullback is a major concern and losing Walsh to the Warriors is looking worse by the hour. Time to keep trying players at fullback like was done in the halves till we get someone who can get the job done.

 

[NSW stables]

We can all say our players are spuds (which they mostly are) and bring in new players in, but if we bring them into our current defensive structures we will still be fucked.

They are an absolute mess. Despite it being shown to be a completely useless tactic, we continue to have no line speed and very often even running backwards! We just give away metres and field position. Our edges dont know if they are sliding or coming in so the edges are in shambles and when team shift it wide with any decent ball play they are very likely to come away with points.

The best teams have aggressive line speed that do not stop and wait. They overwhelm teams and stifle the attack. Teams like melbourne have the halves move up very quickly (just ahead of their centres) stopping the ball from getting wide which enables them to compress their defence in the middle making it more secure.

It just shits me watching this club become a laughing stock on the field and punching bag for the media off it.

 

[the_next]

I get this year is well and truely over and we are needing to prepare for 2022. However, the disappointing thing is for the last 3 years we have said the exact same thing.
As a supporter it is getting super hard to believe what this club is trying to sell to us loyal fans.
We have bought Reynolds and Lee for 2022. We have re-signed Staggs, Riki, Cobbo, TC & Piakura however we are still left with no answers to the key spine positions; 1, 6 & 9.
Getting flogged by 50 two years ago felt like a massive ‘oh shit’ moment however this club has unfortunately turned it into a regular occurrence.
And if I’m being 100% honest, I’m not seeing much improvement this year on what Seibold managed over the last 2 and thats very worrying.

 

[Huge]

There basically wasn’t a press conference.

He felt Isaako and the team needed a break, hence why Isaako was hooked and he was asked about Dufty.

That was pretty much it.…

Yes, I watched it live.

 

[Allo]

Disgraceful

 

[Skyblues87]

Needed a break from Isaako continuing to f*ck up…

That’s what KW meant

 

[BroncosFever]

Dufty played like a bloke looking for a contract.

They've already said they will look within for a fullback, Isaako obviously isn't that guy. On tonight's game you'd have to say Selwyn Cobbo looks a real talent, 18 years old and he was making good metres and actually looked like breaking the line a few times.

St George had every motivating factor to put us to the sword and they did, about half a dozen ex-Broncos, Jack De Belin returning after years out of the game, their most potent player in attack looking for a contract and being handed every opportunity to set up camp in our red zone, it was always going to be a beating.

It was actually a good game until Isaako decided that he didn't want to play footy anymore, I suspect Kevvie will drop him. That play on the cusp of half-time, I don't know how anyone can explain that. He obviously didn't think the half-time siren was about to go but even so, why would they be kicking from a scrum on play 1?

This game sucked for a few reasons but the biggest reason being you could see how much it meant for Cobbo on debut to get his jersey and he played like it really meant a lot to him too. Isaako played like he didn't give a single **** about it, Kevvie has to drop him on that effort leading into half time.

 

[Aldo]

What is the rule with head highs and the sin bin? I thought the contact with the head had to be forceful for it to be a sin bin, otherwise it is put on report and a penalty given.

 

[Aldo]

It all comes back to the error rate. I think we look pretty good with the ball (way better than what we did last year) when we can hold onto it.

Just way too many dumb errors in our own half, which then puts too much pressure on our defence. If we can just get our error rate down, hopefully it will help our defence.

It felt like we didn't have the ball for most of the second half because we kept dropping it and our defence just doesn't have the fortitude to repel repeat sets.

I like what we are doing with the ball but we need to stop dropping the fucken thing.