Round 15 - Cowboys vs Broncos - Post Match Discussion

[user_nat]

I have to say, I don't think making McGuire play so many minutes in a row really worked out.

Whilst yes he got through a ton of defensive work, it clearly took a lot out of the other side of his game. Less than 100m in huge minutes isn't great. Seems it would have been better had he actually be rotated.

That said they clearly targeted us up the middle and it worked, their props dominated.

 

[Nashy]

He went off at 65 or so I think it was.

But yeah, how has there been 50+ comments on here and not a single one had commented on mcguires powerhouse performance!? 50 odd tackles, something like 20 hitups, a few offloads....what more can he do to get an origin jersey? He was an absolute machine out there. He is exactly what QLD need to win this series, and hopefully that game finally shows griffin that he needs to give McGuire 60+ minutes.

I was very happy with that effort despite the loss. We were just too tired from the constant defends, and JT and Bowen were just all class. Bowen certainly threw his hat right into the ring for game 3.

bad miss by Gillett on Bowen for that first try too, hey porthoz?

Ask Civo to retire. Unless that happens before Game 3, he's not playing. Loyalty means sticking with Civo. Even if he's far too old and slow.

 

[Bucking Beads]

The article on foxsports about the game. Some very enjoyable comments mad by fans.

North Queensland big guns Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen combined to orchestrate just their third home victory over Brisbane in a hard-fought 12-0 win on Friday.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...f-the-nrl-season/story-fn2mcuj6-1226397142286

 

[noisetheory]

The article on foxsports about the game. Some very enjoyable comments mad by fans.

"Well done 9 for showing the most boring game of the season as a live friday night game."

haha gotta love people with absolutely no idea. IF THUR R NO TRIEZ DEN IT MUST BE BORING

 

[Anonymous person]

I have to say, I don't think making McGuire play so many minutes in a row really worked out.

Whilst yes he got through a ton of defensive work, it clearly took a lot out of the other side of his game. Less than 100m in huge minutes isn't great. Seems it would have been better had he actually be rotated.

That said they clearly targeted us up the middle and it worked, their props dominated.

noone in the broncos side made big metres though - you cant just point out his <100m and say its not good when if you compare it to the other guys it is:

McGuire: 94m in 66 minutes
Hannant: 112m in 60 minutes
Glenn: 94m in 80 minutes
Teo: 63m in 64 minutes
Gillett: 40m in 62 minutes

so not only did McGuire get our second most metres, he got that while making 60 freaking tackles. he also made the most hitups out of all of our forwards. in fact, Tamou was the only one of the forwards from both teams who made more hitups.

McGuire didnt let a thing get past him all night. he tackled himself to a standstill, yet still did the most work in attack out of our forward pack. he was gallen-esque out there last night, and without him we wouldve lost by 20+ id say.

 

[Bucking Beads]

McGuire is a powerhouse. I can't wait till next year when he and Hannant are playing 60+ mins every match and absolutely dominating.

 

[user_nat]

noone in the broncos side made big metres though - you cant just point out his <100m and say its not good when if you compare it to the other guys it is:

McGuire: 94m in 66 minutes
Hannant: 112m in 60 minutes
Glenn: 94m in 80 minutes
Teo: 63m in 64 minutes
Gillett: 40m in 62 minutes

so not only did McGuire get our second most metres, he got that while making 60 freaking tackles. he also made the most hitups out of all of our forwards. in fact, Tamou was the only one of the forwards from both teams who made more hitups.

McGuire didnt let a thing get past him all night. he tackled himself to a standstill, yet still did the most work in attack out of our forward pack. he was gallen-esque out there last night, and without him we wouldve lost by 20+ id say.

I fully realize that he got through a ton of work, that was fantastic. I was just questioning the value of letting him get through that much work. 6.2m per hit up is pretty poor, we all know he can do much better than that. You could see towards the end of the game he was exhausted, he would go take a hit up and the leg drive was non existent.

Surely I'm not the only person who thinks giving Dodds more than 15 minutes and allowing McGuire to get a breather would be good overall?

That said, other plays should have stood up and done more work also. Really missed Parker's work.

 

[Anonymous person]

McGuire doesn't need a breather though. Dodds certainly needs more minutes, but I think it should come from Glenn and gilletts time. No need for Gillett to play 60+ minutes especially in his current form. taking glenn back to 60-65 and Gillett back to 40-45 max would be best IMO

 

[Alec]

McGuire and Woods are both very similar. I wonder who'll make it big in rep footy first.

 

[rnabokov]

This match told me that at this stage of the season, we don't have enough points in us to trouble the best defensive sides, and by that, I am not talking about some individual feat of magic, I am talking about well constructed attacking plays which is mostly the job of dare I say it, the "spine".

Put it another way, Wallace, Norman and Macca just aren't creating enough, often enough against top defence, and sorry, but not having Hoffman as an extra ball player, or still not being able to time his runs up front properly, is a big liability, which puts extra pressure on the 6, 7 & 9.

All you have to do is look at the top sides: they all have a busy, creative full back, and in my view, that largely separates the best from the rest.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I really think you tend over think how bad our attack is. We always create plenty of opportunities it is just our execution that lets us down. We do rely too heavily on Hodges but all teams are like that with their best players.

 

[noisetheory]

i agree the attack is a work in progress (i've been banging on about our flat attack since last year) but its slowly improving. early on last night we showed good signs and then sort of got stuck. there were a few good passages. a couple of plays that, bar JT's hand poking out, as well as another play where hoffman was pulled down by his shorts.. could of easily led to tries.

saw norman get caught with the ball last night and after he played the ball he got up and was SCREAMING at the players behind him for obviously not supporting. so i dunno who's not communicating or not listening enough but i hope it all comes together at the right time ;)

 

[Dexter]

I think Griffin is all about getting our basic play nailed down and if last year is an indication we will start to see a bit more variation in the run to the semis particularly with some short passing from our forwards. I agree our lack of variety and penetration is frustrating at times.

Norman looks like he is trying to develop his passing game a lot more the last month or so which he needs to do then find that balance between taking on the line and passing.

 

[rnabokov]

I agree guys. That's why I said at this stage of the season, and while the team is definitely a work in progress, one issue becomes: what are our (realistic) expectations for this season?

 

[Dexter]

Grand final appearance at least is my expectation.

 

[Alec]

I'm hoping we make the prelims like last year. I think we are too much like the Roosters in 2010 though, great side but lacking creativity to win the whole thing.

 

[rnabokov]

Grand final appearance at least is my expectation.

Well that's certainly possible, but I'll reserve judgement till we beat the teams that have beaten us, which i guess has to happen anyway if we are to get there, and yes, it means a lot more variety in our attack.

 

[Broncoman]

We will learn a lot from this game. We defended amazingly well to restrict the Cowboys to just 2 tries and we able to attack with the little possession and territory we got. Silly stuff from the Courier mail bagging the Broncos and saying JT had found his mojo when he only controlled the last 20 minutes when the Broncos had run out of puff. Hold your heads high boys.