Round 15 - Warriors vs Broncos - Post-Match Discussion

[Mister Wright]

It's a shame that Hunt's best kick of the game led to the Wareiors last try. If we could have kept them deep in their half after that kick we were a real shot of winning. But, I guess that's just the Warriors, they can turn nothing into something.

 

[theshed]

It really grinds my gears when the refs keep an inconsistent 10. Their whole team was able to get a massive wind-up before hitting our line because we were being marched 12 or 13 metres back on every ruck. Switch possession and the other ref was moving the Warriors back 8 or 9. I bitch about this a lot but if they're going to have two refs, the simplest thing is to have one look at the ruck and the other keep the 10.

The broadcasters should look into implementing the first down effect they have in the nfl. That way any inconsistencies in the 10 metres will be easy for everyone to see.

 

[Donald]

Thought Barba was great at the back. If you watch him when we are defending our line he is the main organizer which makes me think he could be good at 5/8 next year if we need him too. Granville was ok but our attack was nowhere near as good without McCollough especially when we were attacking the warriors line.

 

[Jason Simmons]

He is getting better but I disagree with him being solid at the back. He still has many defensive flaws and struggles in defence non stop.

He was solid under the high ball, his kick returns were at least acceptable, his goal line defence was outstanding for the most part, with attacking players held up and kicks knocked dead when they needed to be. His positional play is excellent and he is right up there with the best fullbacks in the game in terms of try saving tackles.

If that doesn't count as solid, not sure what it could possibly be that counts as solid...

 

[Mr Fourex]

Granville is gone to the Cows next year anyway.

That's what I thought.....

So in the spirit of how we dropped Norman last year, why are we bothering with Granville?

Has to be someone else coming through the ranks who we see more in the long term. Something's still pretty wrong with recruitment & retention if Granville is still seen as our number 2 for a vital spine position.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Hoffman at 5/8 is really starting to bite us on the bum. At this level, you have to exploit both sides and the fringes, and create opportunities on both sides with clever kicking. We don't have that, and Hunt is still short of the mark with his kicking game.

Not having 2 genuine halves showed again tonight how our left side was compressing.

Yeah...it's becoming obvious that even as a running 5/8, Hoffman just isn't cutting it. Maybe if Barba was in form and providing something in attack we might be able to keep fudging it. But that's still not happening.

Progress on Kahu.....? How is Strasser going ....?

I'd like Griffin to give this some serious thought before the season slips too far away.

 

[Alec]

Sent from my GT-I9000

That sounds like a calculator.

 

[Morkel]

Hoffman made some really important one-on-one tackles last night. In saying that, Hunt is incredibly strong defensively every week, so attack & defence aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Despite having a left foot step, maybe Hoffman would be better on the right where he can pass the ball more naturally.

 

[Alec]

Hoffman made some really important one-on-one tackles last night. In saying that, Hunt is incredibly strong defensively every week, so attack & defence aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Despite having a left foot step, maybe Hoffman would be better on the right where he can pass the ball more naturally.

True, and then you could get Hodges and Gillett adding some ball playing too.

 

[CaptainHook]

That's what I thought.....

So in the spirit of how we dropped Norman last year, why are we bothering with Granville?

Has to be someone else coming through the ranks who we see more in the long term. Something's still pretty wrong with recruitment & retention if Granville is still seen as our number 2 for a vital spine position.

yeah, I agree. I like Granville and think he's a quality player but if he has no future here I can't see the sense in playing him. It's a real shame to lose him. I think he's more talented than McCullough but the club has decided to throw their lot in with Macca and I have no qualms with that.

Just imagine though, if we didn't sign Prince we could have put Hunt in the halves with Wallace. Granville comes onto the bench as our back up hooker and really adds something to the team. Give them all of last year to develop and who knows... we may have even challenged for the premiership. OK, back to reality....

 

[Fozz]

That sounds like a calculator.

 

[Morkel]

707

 

[Socnorb]

yeah, I agree. I like Granville and think he's a quality player but if he has no future here I can't see the sense in playing him. It's a real shame to lose him. I think he's more talented than McCullough but the club has decided to throw their lot in with Macca and I have no qualms with that.

Just imagine though, if we didn't sign Prince we could have put Hunt in the halves with Wallace. Granville comes onto the bench as our back up hooker and really adds something to the team. Give them all of last year to develop and who knows... we may have even challenged for the premiership. OK, back to reality....

Huh!

 

[Splinter]

Hunt may not have had the best of games last night because our forwards were getting pounded.

 

[Alec]

Granville isn't better than McCullough (at least yet), but he still does show how McCullough has a long way to go to be a top tier hooker. His service is arguably the slowest in the comp. Well, maybe not if we count Stagg as a hooker now.

 

[rnabokov]

Hoffman made some really important one-on-one tackles last night. In saying that, Hunt is incredibly strong defensively every week, so attack & defence aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Despite having a left foot step, maybe Hoffman would be better on the right where he can pass the ball more naturally.

Hoffman did make some excellent and important tackles, and I suspect that is one of the reasons behind Hook's motivation in putting him at 5/8.

Having him on the right side is for mine, a HUGE no-no. Hoffman is not a natural ball player, he doesn't have a half's instincts, and his passing game is rudimentary at best. He looks awkward a lot when he passes.

Gillett and Hodges need a real play maker who knows how to pass, feint, accelerate: set up a play (sadly still way not enough on the right) and put a runner through a hole after exploiting a weakness in defence to create the hole. Hoffman can't do that. He doesn't think, he reacts. He is a finisher end of story. His left foot kicks also imo are better served on the left hand side.

Better still, Hoffman should be on the wing where he has proved his worth as a fine try scoring winger and good defender, and for mine, better still, at FB with Barba at 5/8.

 

[Foordy]

Noddy reckons Hunt was excellent in this game.

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[Alec]

Listening to Kimmorley's commentary over the recent years, he always struck me as someone who understands rugby league a lot better than most. I dunno about Hunt having an excellent game though, but he does say that Hunt has to carry the team creatively on his own, maybe he factors that in too.