Round 18 - Broncos vs. Sharks - Post Match Discussion

[CaptainHook]

Outstanding effort from the forwards again tonight. Would be interested to see the metres gained stats. It seemed like we were camped on their line all game. The halves just couldn't convert chances when it mattered. Maranta was better after a below par performance last week. I wish Norman would run the ball back as hard as he does. Josh McGuire was pretty impressive as well. As others have noted, Carney was the difference.

 

[broncos4life]

big mistake by broncos board to tell griffin he's safe for next season. he'll just keep doing what he's doing now because in his mind he's the chosen one to coach us out of this rut

They told the media he was safe for next season, we have no idea what they have told him. When the season is reviewed and they go to fire him, he's protests of "but but but you told the courier mail I was safe" aren't going to mean shit

 

[RedHillGuy]

Broncos played a lot of the game like they had a brand new spine such was the disjointedness and lack of fluency and speed. Norman barely looked interested. Prince tried hard, ran the ball but was too slow to actually execute what his brain was thinking. Wallace was ok but not great, although his kicking game was far better than Prince's efforts. The hookers were generally pretty good, although in the first half in attack the broncos seemed to be almost without a dummy half a few times.

Broncos defence mostly was good, but all of the tries came from soft misses tackles or soft errors which was disappointing given they tried pretty hard. Broncos kicking game was generally ordinary, although even good kicks from Wallace ended badly as Gordon went from what should have been tackled in-goal to what was total disarray on the 40m line.

Keep Oates in the centres and move Hodges to fullback for the remainder of the season. Obvious injury concerns for Hodges longevity but desperate times calls for desperate measures. Also Hunt into the halves for Prince and Granville onto the bench.

And for goodness sake a little practice of getting set for a kick when attacking the opposition try line would be good. In the first half Hala kicked on the last from 10m out. It wasn't horrendous but reflects a total lack of organisation...

 

[rnabokov]

Outstanding effort from the forwards again tonight. Would be interested to see the metres gained stats. It seemed like we were camped on their line all game. The halves just couldn't convert chances when it mattered. Maranta was better after a below par performance last week. I wish Norman would run the ball back as hard as he does. Josh McGuire was pretty impressive as well. As others have noted, Carney was the difference.

No.

The halves are not capable of converting chances. In fact they are now incapable of creating them first. Not Wallace. Maybe Prince on a good day.

 

[broncos4life]

I'd happily keep Maranta in the side if it means we **** Norman off now. Maranta might be a gumby but at least he has a go. We had a real crack tonight but letting in soft tries and a lack of class and composure in key positions hurts us yet again. The very fact that we are yet to make one single signing to rectify this makes me depressed.

100% Norman needs to fucking go. I can cop no talent all heart more than I can cop potential but no fucking ticker

 

[rnabokov]

Hodges is past it for FB. He'll last until he has to step and accelerate. These days, he only has to do that over short distances. Running it back from FB would kill his dodgy hamstrings.

It's time for Kahu. Wasn't he being groomed for FB at one stage?

 

[Allo]

I'd just like to put my hand up to acknowledge and formally retract everything positive I ever said about Norman. Drop him NOW. Maranta is rubbish, any decent winger would've had over 10 tries this season (i.e. Hoffy) but he manages to butcher 10 tries in about 3 games. He only has 5 from 13 fyi. Surely anyone (bar probably Whitchurch) would be better.

The positives: McGuire, while being a prop at the moment, is the future Parker, he'll probably play Lock eventually anyway. He was massive tonight with 50-odd tackles and ran great. He needs to play 1st or 2nd prop with Hannant. No more Thaiday in the front row. Tasi played well for a first run, Hala needs fitness, but still played well for his limited time. Dodds is still coming along, Lui was solid if unimpressive. Oates was fantastic. I think Hunt will be in the halves next game after he was put back on late in the game for Stagg after great work in both attack and defence. He needs to be. Hook needs to stop screwing him (and by extension, the team) around by having him at 14

 

[Alec]

I'd just like to put my hand up to acknowledge and formally retract everything positive I ever said about Norman. Drop him NOW. Maranta is rubbish, any decent winger would've had over 10 tries this season (i.e. Hoffy) but he manages to butcher 10 tries in about 3 games. He only has 5 from 13 fyi. Surely anyone (bar probably Whitchurch) would be better.

The positives: McGuire, while being a prop at the moment, is the future Parker, he'll probably play Lock eventually anyway. He was massive tonight with 50-odd tackles and ran great. He needs to play 1st or 2nd prop with Hannant. No more Thaiday in the 2nd row. Tasi played well for a first run, Hala needs fitness, but still played well for his limited time. Dodds is still coming along, Lui was solid if unimpressive. Oates was fantastic. I think Hunt will be in the halves next game after he was put back on late in the game for Stagg after great work in both attack and defence. He needs to be. Hook needs to stop screwing him (and by extension, the team) around by having him at 14

Yeah, I've been thinking that McGuire could be our future lock once Parker retires. They are very similar, both have a bit of mongrel about them, though McGuire lacks that offloading game Parker brings...though to be honest, Parker only really started doing it consistently last year at 30.

 

[vertigo]

I must be a bad omen or something, rocked up to Suncorp at half time and my mate tells me its nil all.

I tell him I brought Carney into my SuperCoach team and I need him to fire, then all of a sudden he starts dominating :thumbup1:

Oh yeah, last play of the game everyone on the short side over-runs it, Wallace is floundering around with massive numbers to his right, promptly gets tackled and the play is ruined.

 

[Anonymous person]

This is why I've been saying for 2 years that McGuire needs to play 80. He plays his best when he gets 80, and can do it easily. It means we only need to have 3 props in the 17, with the other 2 playing ~40 each. 2 weeks in a row he's killed it, another huge effort. Along with Hoffman he's our only shining light on the roster imo.

speaking of Hoffman, they may as well give him the broncos player of the year award right now. Its between him and parker, but Hoffman will end up playing more games and scoring 20+ tries, and gibes it his all all the time. He looks so frustrated out there at times.

Wallace, been saying since 08 that he has got nothing, never been more obvious than tonight. Catch pass, dawdle around, bomb if fifth tackle, get tackled or throw hospital pass if not. That's his playbook.

Normans just phoning it in, and he's not even any good at that. He genuinely looks like he just wants to be at parramatta

 

[pennywisealfie]

We're heading for a wooden spoon guys.

 

[Alec]

He genuinely looks like he just wants to be at parramatta

You could say he's probably the only player in the world that does.

 

[coreyh88]

You are mostly all delusional. First up, lui for his standards had an amazing game I would say he played better than thaiday has in most games this year. Hit the ball up with speed and impact. Not much worse than tasi at all (I could only imagine you guys sometimes confused the two). Loved the big hits in attack and defends by all forwards. Every forwards bar Anderson had really good games. Prince made a single defensive misread in addition to whoever was inside hoffy for carney's break being lazy the defence was almost perfect (I'm not even including maranta in this). Prince individually was amazing in attack. Ran with speed at elusiveness I haven't seen in a broncos half for a long time, he did set up one try which was kahu's I think. Threw it over the top. But generally poor playmaking in addition to Wallace. Norman cost us 12 point via not passing and dropping the ball. The reason we seemingly often had no hooker is because of the frequency with which the hookers were making really good and effective runs and half breaks particularly Mecca. I think both hunt and Mecca had great games. Great in defence and attack both. All we need to win games is replace maranta and Norman. Wallace being replaced would help but ithink he lost confidence when Gordon made good kicks work against us. I think prince is afraid of stepping on Wallace's toes with play among (he shouldn't kick though as hala is better at it). Forwards selection will be very interesting next week and I'll lose all faith in hook if maranta retains his spot.

 

[Broncoman]

We're heading for a wooden spoon guys.

The wooden spoon will go down to the Eels or Dragons, even in a slump we are easily better than both of them.

 

[Huge]

Better off starting with Hala and Tasi with McGuire and Parker playing second row. That's a lot of forward muscle ! Add Hannant into that lot and we are well served. Put Wallace at lock and for hooker (if Macca keeps the standard) play Macca or Granville if he doesn't. Put Prince to half back and use Maranta at five eight. We might avoid the spoon then !

 

[winslow_wong]

We have the only halves in the history of the game who can't capitalise on a forward pack that makes lots of meters. All they frikken do is put a bomb. And really shitty bombs too

 

[winslow_wong]

We have the only halves in the history of the game who can't capitalise on a forward pack that makes lots of meters. All they frikken do is put a bomb. And really shitty bombs too

 

[kingpest]

Better off starting with Hala and Tasi with McGuire and Parker playing second row. That's a lot of forward muscle ! Add Hannant into that lot and we are well served. Put Wallace at lock and for hooker (if Macca keeps the standard) play Macca or Granville if he doesn't. Put Prince to half back and use Maranta at five eight. We might avoid the spoon then !

excuse me but the thought of Lachlan getting more of the ball than he currently does makes me feel sick to the stomach. The only positive to come out of that would be to let him know how it feels for someone else to bomb multiple scoring opportunities. **** that useless prick off