POST GAME Round 14 - Storm vs Broncos

[Mr Fourex]

his brilliant try saver on Vunivalu where he was somehow able to hold him up over the line

If its the one I'm thinking of....that was more Milford than Boyd.

 

[Morkel]

Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to take it earlier to gain the momentum to send it wide? Or get away an early kick. We can’t structure our sets purely to get a solid platform for a 5th tackle kick

Many times that does happen, unfortunately from the posts in here you'd think McGuire took it on the 4th tackle every single set, which is of course not the case. McGuire is simply our insurance. Depending on the set, the first 1-3 runs have been taken by outside backs, the remaining runs by forwards who are trying to create that space, but if they can't get the defence on the back foot, McGuire or someone else will use the 4th to simply gain more ground and get a quick PTB to allow the kicker the best chance to end the set properly.

A lot of the times it looks like our halves are "clueless" or the plays break down on the last, it's because they've spread it without earning the field position and space, and the halves are therefore rushed.

 

[Foordy]

If its the one I'm thinking of....that was more Milford than Boyd.

Milford did help ... but all the work was done by Boyd

 

[Foordy]

Credit where it’s due; Boyd played probably his best game of the year this weekend (IMO, he still has a long way to go to get back to his best though).

But that miss was not a simple mistake, it was a lazy and unforgivable effort. Sadly, such an effort isn’t an isolated incident in 2018.

Lockyer definitely missed tackles, but not because he had either switched off or didn’t bother to try like Boyd did yesterday. Further; absolutely no player is perfect, but for every try Lockyer directly missed a tackle in, he probably set up 10. Boyd sure-as-day isn’t doing that.

Lockyer was the ultimate competitor. Boyd just isn’t. To compare the two in this context is just wrong.

you don't need to keep ramming home my point ...

nearly everything you said after your first line is flat out agenda driven crap ...

Remember Boyd is the fullback, so by definition Munster had to beat several people before Boyd could get a crack at him, but people are just happy to put all the blame for the worlds ills on Boyd.

the only way for Boyd to stop Munster from that far out would have been to be defending in the line, but that would have meant yourself and others whinging that he was defending in the line.

Hell, Boyd could score a hattrick, set up a couple of other and save a try and people would forget all of that and focus on the one perceived mistake he made

 

[something]

Boyd is defending in the line for the muster try....?

 

[PerthBrissy987]

Boyd is defending in the line for the muster try....?

With that he spent his week doing tackling drills with Bryce Cartwright

 

[Huge]

Many times that does happen, unfortunately from the posts in here you'd think McGuire took it on the 4th tackle every single set, which is of course not the case. McGuire is simply our insurance. Depending on the set, the first 1-3 runs have been taken by outside backs, the remaining runs by forwards who are trying to create that space, but if they can't get the defence on the back foot, McGuire or someone else will use the 4th to simply gain more ground and get a quick PTB to allow the kicker the best chance to end the set properly.

A lot of the times it looks like our halves are "clueless" or the plays break down on the last, it's because they've spread it without earning the field position and space, and the halves are therefore rushed.

Depending on the set you wrote and I agree, all too often the first 3 to 4 hitups are by guys who shouldn't really have to. I made a suggestion a few times in the past about forwards dawdling back towards the ruck after the balls been kicked through. I see it time and again, a lost opportunity that no one seems to have identified. Your fullback or winger hits it up, usually stopped dead by a gang tackle, the next hitup, either fullback or other winger hits it up and is easily smashed as he's usually the marker or the one and only other player in sight.

Meanwhile your forwards are still strolling back, hands on hips and this happens on the first set of the game ! It just gets worse and takes longer as the game wears on. Why the hell are we letting this happen ? Why not have the first tackled player waste time by taking an age to get up while simultaneously demanding our forwards run their arses flat out back on side ? Then after the second slow ptb by the other winger or fullback we'd have a hard charging forward(s) ready for third, fourth and fifth tackle options.

It's bullshit to suggest that lone fullbacks or wingers, facing set defences can make big gains and run people onside, it just doesn't happen generally. Most of the time the first decent hitup with options to pass or offload etc happen on the fourth or fifth. We keep cheating ourselves trying to play this uptempo bullshit which is totally counterproductive as it plays directly into the set defences greatest strength, the fact they don't have to make a decision on who to take out.

 

[pagey]

Was joe not the worst offender in the Munster try?

Boyd is running the ball a lot better recently

Both terrible

 

[Socnorb]

When The daily telegraph article is mostly dedicated to ref blunders, you know it must be bad.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

I really think the lack of good kicking game/halfback who controls the side instead of Milford are the root of our problems. Everything else sort of feels linked to that.

Like, we have a pretty inexperienced side. They all need confidence to play well. If we can't construct sets, can't finish them off well more often than not etc., you'd think it would mentally affect the younger players. Then the lack of confidence might contribute to giving up in defence too. A lot of the tries we score are very individualistic, more than any other side in the comp IMO. That can't be right. I mean, it shows the players do have talent, but you want to see creative/structured attack tries being scored, you can't rely on guys like Roberts, TPJ or Oates to get us out of trouble all the time.

Now, I could be wrong, but if many, many league fans point at our halves or the spine when talking about our problems, it must be a pretty big deal.

We said we needed an organiser last year and the year before, next minute ben hunt leaves and every media person and fan of a sydney team is claiming ben hunt is a world class organising halfback. Marshall as well for that matter. Marshall has continously stated that bennett taught him more about organising then any other coach in fact, which is crazy considering we are supposedly so poor in that area. We score structured tries all the time, all 3 of our tries last night were planned moves that werent down to individual brilliance. When forming my opinion i try to block out the opinions of “many, many league fans” as they often dont even watch our games but form their opinions off of what the boys on channel 9 tell them. We dont have the cattle to organise golden age maroons-like structure in our attack, not even the storm do, but sadly i think thats what it is often compared to. Teams go through golden periods where things go right for them and they look like they are more structured, winning always looks like its planned haha take ash taylor for example, he is meant to be the greatest organiser of his generation, what has that got the titans? A 35% win record with him there. Defence always wins out...

I am not saying its great or doesnt need improving, but if you gave me the choice between improved defence and a kicking game or structure i would choose defence every day of the week atm. Improved defence will also put less pressure on our kicking game (better field position, turn defence into attack, frustrate the opposition into mistakes).

 

[KnToad]

Bellamy has Wayne figured out.

They talk all nice and what not, but Smith (plus Slater) have nothing but contempt for Boyd's game, as well as Wayne's tactics.

Sounds familiar..... like when I'm talking to myself.

 

[Jedhead]

thanks for providing a timely example of my point ...

you must have been extremely busy yesterday since you only appear to have watched about 10 seconds of the match.

because if you had watched the full match you would have seen:

his good try
his brilliant try saver on Vunivalu where he was somehow able to hold him up over the line
his 133 running meters, which for the record was the most from any team (equal with TPJ)
the several times he was able to save us from a repeat set by getting the ball out of the ingoal (and not getting pushed into touch)

Hang Foordy his running metres largely made up with kick returns but as soon as he got to the line he was laid out most every time. He was good for perhaps 30 minutes of the game. But that is just unacceptable fro any Bronco let alone the captain. He is by a country mile the worst fullback running around in the NRL at the mo. Since his hammies went he's bottomed out. Time and time again he offers up touch footy defence or no defence at all. My patience has run out with the guy. Of course he has family to feed and needs to make a living but ffs at least act like you are trying to earn it.

 

[KnToad]

That said, I also understand Bennett has so many runs on the board and knows more than anyone else in RL when it comes to coaching. Hopefully he knows something we don’t or has a plan that we’re not aware of.

The old "he's the most experienced coach in history" line is wearing a bit thin for me.

Fact is he hasn't won a comp since 2010 and his results at Newcastle were diabolical.

Our game plan is busted and we are missing a #7.

We have a busted #1 and we are trying to force Milf to play a game that's not in him...

We have let a bunch of good players go while keeping players who are well past their prime...

We play a conservative, BORING brand of football that is as predictable as it is ineffective.

Hitup, hitup, hitup, hitup, kick and hope
rinse,
repeat.

In the meantime we hope some individual piece of brilliance will get us home.

Greatest coach in history seems to think if he keeps doing to same thing over and over it will start working?

definition of insanity.......

 

[Super Freak]

I think if we had Roberts, we probably win.

We had a couple of chances to put on more points, but we blew them. One of them was Kahu dropping the ball when the Storm defence was stretched. No offence to Kahu but he just doesn't have the speed and elusiveness that Roberts had. If it were Roberts, we score. I think the confidence we would have got from going into break with a bigger lead and on the back of being the last to score points, we play better in the second half.

We're a confidence team. We play well when confidence is high.

 

[_wwong]

I think if we had Roberts, we probably win.

We had a couple of chances to put on more points, but we blew them. One of them was Kahu dropping the ball when the Storm defence was stretched. No offence to Kahu but he just doesn't have the speed and elusiveness that Roberts had. If it were Roberts, we score. I think the confidence we would have got from going into break with a bigger lead and on the back of being the last to score points, we play better in the second half.

We're a confidence team. We play well when confidence is high.

Doesn't take much for this team to drop their heads though.

 

[animal eater]

Correct me if I'm wrong but everyone is sick of the ground hog day we see game after game that doesn't get fixed. We have a 7 who is not a 7. We have a fullback does not play 80 minutes. Most everyone else was semi average for the most part. Second half was a shocker but that doesn't change the fact that we arguably have the worst 1,6,7 combo in the comp and a coach that refuses to change anything...and I don't want to hear that Boyd had a good first half. Guess what, it isn't enough.

 

[tommy]

We had a couple of chances to put on more points

Or when Thaiday sent the ball to the left wing when we had a mile of space on the right.

 

[Porthoz]

Boyd improved again ... actually was one of our best last night ... although i'm certain some people's agendas and egos will never allow them to admit this even to themselves.

Cummins must have been nervous at halftime, since given his performance in the second half, he clearly bet his house on the Storm

Boyd was quite good in the first half, arguably his best of the season, but he reverted to the standard mediocre Boyd of 2017/2018 in the second as soon as things got tough, which is completely unacceptable of a captain. Compare that to Smith's captain knock!
This was not only visible for anyone with a minimum of objectivity, but also by Boyd's own admission. Of course, don't let that get in the way of your own agenda...

Yes, Cummins was responsible for a few decisions which went the Storm way and no doubt influenced the momentum of the match on those occasions, but blaming the loss on him is like trying to block the sun out with a sieve.

P.S. There is no doubt I have a negative bias in regards to Boyd. I've never denied it, and I think he is one of the most overrated fullbacks ever, even taking his stellar 2010 and 2016 seasons into account. I also won't deny it will colour my evaluation of the bloke on a weekly basis, especially given the fact I demand excellence from the Broncos captain (which I maintain was deserved at the time he got it), but I try hard to be as objective as I can under said constraints. Can you say the same?