Round 17 - Broncos vs Sharks - Post Match Discussion

[Bucking Beads]

Hook won't move Norman unless it is his long term plan to keep him in the centers.

 

[Hamm.0]

Tough break

Well played old chap

 

[Dexter]

No, Beale or Copley to centre Maranta or Whitchurch to wing

 

[PETERN]

Gerard Beale once again showed he brings much more to the team playing at fullback as opposed to wing/centre or Hoffman.

Hoffman is a great player; but my personal opinion is that Beale has a creative side (decent kicking game) and solid passing game. He's actually going to be a big loss.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Hoffman is a very good footballer but IMO Beale is a much better fullback. Such a shame we went with Hoffman over Beale IMO.

 

[Bucking Beads]

This. Beale at FB offers more to the team than Hoffman.

Did Reed really break his fibula? God our outside backs are wearing thin now. Not good for our premiership hopes.

Saw it on twitter so not sure how true it is but the journo is usually pretty good.

 

[user_nat]

Hoffman and Beale are different more than one being straight up better than the other. Other people have suggested ways to take advantage of both players strengths (Beale plays FB in attack).

Hoffman never broke Lockyer's cheek, so maybe he wins.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Hoffman and Beale are different more than one being straight up better than the other.

Hoffman never broke Lockyer's cheek, so maybe he wins.

You mean Lockyer never got in Hoffmans way and threw his face in front of Hoffmans knee.... *Edit, no need for insult*

 

[Jeba]

Geez you're all being pretty kind IMO. Yeh the effort was there tonight but we had so many chances to win that game and failed to win it. Bottom line. Halves were terrible, absolutely terrible. Hunt's dummy half passes were at Wallace's ankles all night, and WTF was Macca's role when Hunt came on? He was taking hit ups from the taps!

We just took so many wrong options and there is more than one guilty party on this occasion.

No cause for alarm bells yet though, this type of loss is common at this time of year. Very pleased with Whitchurch's debut, and with the early diagnosis on Reed looking not too flash, I'd be happy to see him line up against the Warriors as well.

And McGuire was epic.

 

[Broncoman]

Sharks were far to good simple as that. The game was closer than the score suggested. Correct me if im wrong (missed the first 7 minutes) their first 3 tries came of kicks and the 4th try was an intercept, we easily had our chances to win but we didn't take them. Aaron Whitchurch surely is something he had a few fumbles but had a strong debut overral. 100% effort shown, if our rep players were playing we would've been much closer. At least I won't be reading Ronald M's ridiculous anti-sharks tirade on the Fox Sports website LOL.

 

[Porthoz]

Geez you're all being pretty kind IMO. Yeh the effort was there tonight but we had so many chances to win that game and failed to win it. Bottom line. Halves were terrible, absolutely terrible. Hunt's dummy half passes were at Wallace's ankles all night, and WTF was Macca's role when Hunt came on? He was taking hit ups from the taps!

We just took so many wrong options and there is more than one guilty party on this occasion.

No cause for alarm bells yet though, this type of loss is common at this time of year. Very pleased with Whitchurch's debut, and with the early diagnosis on Reed looking not too flash, I'd be happy to see him line up against the Warriors as well.

And McGuire was epic.

This the assessment I agree with most. Our spine did make a meal of it, especially Norman going MIA, and Wallace trying to do everything himself, and taking terrible decisions under the pressure. Not going to crucify him though, he was trying to lead a boys team around against an experienced NRL MEN side. Same goes for Norman, who is obviously going through a rough patch and can't handle it very well, when playing against "in your face" teams.

Macca played 2nd row/lock most of the second half and did a pretty good job actually. Hunt and Beale were the only players likely to create something, even if Hunt's passing from dummy half was indeed awful.

The thing is that if we had a bit more poise and vision, we should've won the game. Besides the 2 obvious really bad passes from Wallace when he should've kicked both times to his right winger. One resulted in losing the ball in a really promissing position, the other in an intercept try... :shake:

The Sharks are definitely pretenders and will bow out in straight sets without making any waves. Graham and Smith need their teeth kicked in urgently, and I definitely hope we play them in the finals at full strenght!

Good outing from Maranta and Gibb, but was quite disappointed with Lui. Dodds hit hard all night in defense, but just lacks that killer instinct when hitting up in attack. Copley has definitely improved a lot and carries the ball with intent, as does Beale, who was very good last night

Finally, the brightest points of the night:
- Aaron Whitchurch. I hope he fills in for Reed or outside Copley.
- Jarrod Wallace. Great go forward, great work ethic, another great youngster out of the production line.
- Josh MacGuire. 80 (EIGHTY!) minutes as a prop, with 16 hitups bending the line for 146 mtrs, and 39 tackles (none missed).
- Kuddos to Alex Glenn as well, who worked his butt off on the left side, saving at least one certain try, and leading from the front.

But the thing I love foremost is the "Never say die attitude" of this team, for which all credit should go to Hook. Even after having suffered that pummeling in the first quarter of the game, people getting bashed left, right and centre, players off with concussion, playing on with a possible broken leg, etc... How could any Broncos fan not be proud of his team?

 

[Bucking Beads]

I'd love to see some stats on how often Wallace and Norman get tackle compared to other halves. Sometimes you would think they are props ffs.

 

[Coxy]

I'd love to see some stats on how often Wallace and Norman get tackle compared to other halves. Sometimes you would think they are props ffs.

Maybe Wallace has seen those stats, hence his STUPID passes in attacking positions last night?

 

[Big Pete]

I'd love to see some stats on how often Wallace and Norman get tackle compared to other halves. Sometimes you would think they are props ffs.

:lol: Funny because it's true.

Constantly runs it one off the ruck with no decoys or options.

Biggest pet peeve at the moment. Hook better fix it.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I feel Hook has dropped the ball with our attack at this stage. It just isn't working. It feels like we are just opportunistic side rather then make our own plays.

 

[Big Pete]

Our one and only play is when we put up a bomb, watch Reed run 40m, jump for it and lose the ball mid-air.

At least last year, we had Yow Yeh on the other side to create some mystery & Locky to feed our players with money balls.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Chill out. Wallace's form last night is the least of our worries.

The worrying thing is our inexperienced backline, the inconsistant form of Norman and wtf McCullough is doing out there.

Do you mean why didn't he come off when Hunt came on?? If so perhaps you need to realize Hoffman and Reed went off injured so we need him to play the whole game.

 

[Big Pete]

Probably referring to his trademark 6th tackle freeze play where he doesn't do anything and accepts the tackle.

A shame, because his defence was awesome last night. 60 tackles & plenty of big hits too. One nearly resulted in a try.