[Round 19, 2021] Panthers vs Broncos

[WASSHHH]

If we take out the errors and stupid kick offs, I thought Isaako bad a really high effort performance, so I'm happy for him to be given another go, with someone else kicking off.

Pretty annoyed Kelly is not in the 21 though.

Come on mate, that’s like saying it would have been a great fishing trip if only the boat hadn’t filled up with water and sunk because someone forgot to put the bung in.

 

[theshed]

That shows he might be a good tackler but he's not a good defender and it has a negative effect on the players around him.

He is indecisive in his actions and movement forward. Other players come in to help him then have to go back out. The edge he was defending on Sunday was a mess of sliding, going back, going forward and coming in.

Don’t bother

 

[Sproj]

Bully
Kelly
Mead
Where are they and wtf is going on, Kev?
How on earth are Croft and Isaako even in the 17?
Did he watch against the tigers?

Judging by the bench use, I’m going to say Kevvie didn’t watch the game either.

 

[Kimlo]

Come on mate, that’s like saying it would have been a great fishing trip if only the boat hadn’t filled up with water and sunk because someone forgot to put the bung in.

But just get someone not dumb to put the bung in and we're good.

Seriously what didn't you rate about Isaako's performance?

He was taking a lot of high effort runs getting out of trouble. Get staggs to take kick offs, and the dropped high ball was BS, he was taken out, I refused to class that as a drop.

I'm hardly an Isaako fan but he had the right attitude and was willing to work hard. That deserves credit in a team that fails to turn up more often than not in the last 18 months.

 

[Dazza 92]

I cant help but think we are heading for B2B spoons...

Because if the "worst"team in the comp can figure htis out....and we cant.....then we are certainies..

The reason the Dogs were in the game against SOuths is, blow me down, decided to copy exactly what the top teams are doing.

And that is, using current rules to their advantage.

Notice when on their own tryline they deliberately concede the 6-again in order to break down Souths scrum plays.

Ref looks like hes trying to swat mossies and yet Dogs forced the error! Wheres the punishment for them in this infringement?

Again...

Oh no....6 again...when already defending on the tryline....who cares...

You just retreat back to the tryline...and keep doing it. Your not losing 50 metres doing this on your own tryline yes?

Why arent we doing this? The worst team in the comp has worked it out....

How fucking dumb are we...seriously..?.....what the **** are our coaching staff watching every week?

Cant we do something...anything...which suggest we are at least taking notice of the trends within the game?

Im telling you.....this will work in the Dogs favour soon, and they'll overtake us....again....

 

[WASSHHH]

But just get someone not dumb to put the bung in and we're good.

Seriously what didn't you rate about Isaako's performance?

He was taking a lot of high effort runs getting out of trouble. Get staggs to take kick offs, and the dropped high ball was BS, he was taken out, I refused to class that as a drop.

I'm hardly an Isaako fan but he had the right attitude and was willing to work hard. That deserves credit in a team that fails to turn up more often than not in the last 18 months.

I don’t disagree that he was high effort with his runs on the weekend, there has just been too many times over the last couple (few?) seasons where his errors, which are often compounded, either kill any momentum we have or just put us under unnecessary pressure (which we all know this team can’t handle). He almost kicked dead, almost kicked dead and then did kick dead. That just proves he is simply too stupid to adjust on the fly (notwithstanding it’s highly likely he has kicked dead more often than anyone else in the comp over the last few seasons, yet still hasn’t learnt).

It’s bad enough when a spine player has the dropsies or a forward, who is involved in most sets on both sides of the ball, drops the ball or gives away a penalty. But they’re highly involved and probably fatigued.

But FFS, by comparison a winger barely does anything outside of an early hit-up (I know they do more, but in context), so he really shouldn’t be able to have such a negative effect on the game.

 

[Huge]

That shows he might be a good tackler but he's not a good defender and it has a negative effect on the players around him.

He is indecisive in his actions and movement forward. Other players come in to help him then have to go back out. The edge he was defending on Sunday was a mess of sliding, going back, going forward and coming in.

That's fair enough I suppose but I'd offer a different take. If others were better at THEIR job he wouldn't be trying to help them. All I'm saying is it's wrong to scapegoat Croft. He's the smallest guy out there, constantly targeted as all halves are and he busts a gut, makes his tackles and isn't shirking the task.

 

[Huge]

If we take out the errors and stupid kick offs, I thought Isaako bad a really high effort performance, so I'm happy for him to be given another go, with someone else kicking off.

Pretty annoyed Kelly is not in the 21 though.

Spot on. I didn't think he did much wrong at all. Yes, the kickoff thing is dumb but aside from that I didn't see a lot of bad play. Those short drop outs are super hard to nail so for me that was nothing and getting pushed into touch was simply a bit unlucky. Had that play led to a great break nobody would have been concerned. It was just unfortunate.

 

[Sproj]

The reality is, outside Haas and Oates, the rest of the team sucks. Now you can forgive the kids, hopefully they’ll improve but the mature heads in the side are all not good enough or inconsistent. Croft and Isaako very much fit into that category along with almost everyone else. Croft and Isaako though are not kids anymore and they both still do some things well but overall still have brain snaps in them and we need to rid ourselves of those kinds of players because our team is full of them.

 

[Johnny92]

If we take out the errors and stupid kick offs, I thought Isaako bad a really high effort performance, so I'm happy for him to be given another go, with someone else kicking off.

Pretty annoyed Kelly is not in the 21 though.

Thought so too hes alot more effective with his runs then Coates. His first couple kick offs were perfect gave us a real advantage with keeping them down there own end til we give a 6 again or penalty.

Yeah I would of had Kelly over croft even if croft had a good defensive game against the tigers. Kelly just adds alot more to the team attack wise

 

[Johnny92]

Spot on. I didn't think he did much wrong at all. Yes, the kickoff thing is dumb but aside from that I didn't see a lot of bad play. Those short drop outs are super hard to nail so for me that was nothing and getting pushed into touch was simply a bit unlucky. Had that play led to a great break nobody would have been concerned. It was just unfortunate.

Agreed, Issako is just an easy scapegoat because the errors he makes people remember more. The 6 agains or penalties on 4th tackle when we've kept them down their own end after a good kick off is just as bad or worse then kicking it out on the full

 

[BroncsFan]

I can only think Croft has been selected over Kelly this week to give Albert one more week... dont think he has played since round 13 and we've had a new high performance team since then.

He is clearly our best half with Gamble second.

Kelly and Gamble are our best halves pairing this year and Kelly is one we must retain heading into next year.

I actually cant remember the last impactful game that Croft had with us, but it wouldve been in the first half of last year prior to the tigers/storm game. Early last year he was easily our best half, but his confidence and form has dropped significantly since the media jumped on him after the storm and crocodile tears fiasco.

To me Croft works best when he can react to the defensive line and play off the front foot, but everything looks very premeditated with him at the moment and he's forcing things or not putting enough questions in the defence's mind.

In the tigers game you can see that he's taking it to the line with similar shape to Gamble (players inside and out), but he'll just take a stab at the line when it's not really on. That's either a lack of confidence to make the killer pass (inside or out), which brings with it an inability to really sell the dummy and run (defence can see when he's going to run or not). Gamble on the other hand has very good slight of hand going to the line and has the confidence to make the pass he sees or show and go when the defence over commits.

Probably doesnt help Croft that he has Glenn outside him which is zero threat to the defensive line.

What also hasn't helped is Croft has gone back to ISC and only got a couple games before injury, ISC is now in a holding pattern and he's come straight back into NRL without first getting his running game sorted.

With the state of our squad we really need ISC up and running to give our guys a place to build confidence in the lower grades. TC, Gamble, Kobe, Kelly, etc. all came into the NRL team on the back of playing some decent footy in ISC which built up their confidence first.

 

[theshed]

If we take out the errors and stupid kick offs, I thought Isaako bad a really high effort performance, so I'm happy for him to be given another go, with someone else kicking off.

Pretty annoyed Kelly is not in the 21 though.

You could say that about almost all his performances though - at some point you need to cut your losses.

I agree his work rate was far better this game than against Sharks. As always when we needed everyone to calm down and play smart he completely self-destructs (he’s not the only one). The dumb run into the side line, the kicking out on the full again, the short kicks not going 10m. He’s a good player when everything’s going right and a total liability when you need to play smart. He’s SKD who can kick goals.

I don’t entirely blame him, Kev is an idiot for allowing him to still kick in any situation outside of conversions. Should’ve lost his kick off license by about round 4.

 

[broncsgoat]

That shows he might be a good tackler but he's not a good defender and it has a negative effect on the players around him.

He is indecisive in his actions and movement forward. Other players come in to help him then have to go back out. The edge he was defending on Sunday was a mess of sliding, going back, going forward and coming in.

Even though you’ve articulated it about as clearly as anybody could, he won’t listen on this.

 

[WASSHHH]

Should’ve lost his kick off license by about round 4.

2019.

 

[McHunt]

I can only think Croft has been selected over Kelly this week to give Albert one more week... dont think he has played since round 13 and we've had a new high performance team since then.

He is clearly our best half with Gamble second.

Kelly and Gamble are our best halves pairing this year and Kelly is one we must retain heading into next year.

I actually cant remember the last impactful game that Croft had with us, but it wouldve been in the first half of last year prior to the tigers/storm game. Early last year he was easily our best half, but his confidence and form has dropped significantly since the media jumped on him after the storm and crocodile tears fiasco.

To me Croft works best when he can react to the defensive line and play off the front foot, but everything looks very premeditated with him at the moment and he's forcing things or not putting enough questions in the defence's mind.

In the tigers game you can see that he's taking it to the line with similar shape to Gamble (players inside and out), but he'll just take a stab at the line when it's not really on. That's either a lack of confidence to make the killer pass (inside or out), which brings with it an inability to really sell the dummy and run (defence can see when he's going to run or not). Gamble on the other hand has very good slight of hand going to the line and has the confidence to make the pass he sees or show and go when the defence over commits.

Probably doesnt help Croft that he has Glenn outside him which is zero threat to the defensive line.

What also hasn't helped is Croft has gone back to ISC and only got a couple games before injury, ISC is now in a holding pattern and he's come straight back into NRL without first getting his running game sorted.

With the state of our squad we really need ISC up and running to give our guys a place to build confidence in the lower grades. TC, Gamble, Kobe, Kelly, etc. all came into the NRL team on the back of playing some decent footy in ISC which built up their confidence first.

Kelly was technically available, but maybe if it came down to a slight risk and no risk, Croft got to hold his position. It's not like Kelly is our marquee half. That bloke is also available for selection, and his name hasn't come up once, except how keen we are to move him onto another club.

You have to feel for Brodie: he's wearing the brunt of the blame for last week's loss, some of it unfairly. The knives have really been out for him since the whistle blew full time. If he's replaced next week by Kelly - a stopgap basic contract half in his twilight years - and the club has bought two new halves for next year and plans to refit a centre, he'd have to question whether Rugby League is the right career path. He should have every reason to believe this will be his last game in the NRL.

If I were him, I'd be on the blower to Israel Folau to see if he could swing me a contract in Japanese rugby.

 

[WASSHHH]

Agreed, Issako is just an easy scapegoat because the errors he makes people remember more. The 6 agains or penalties on 4th tackle when we've kept them down their own end after a good kick off is just as bad or worse then kicking it out on the full

I do agree with all of this (except the other errors being worse than kicking out on the full - that’s simply unforgivable).

But as I said in an earlier post; the blokes giving away penalties or 6 agains are often doing so under fatigue as they are defending (or defending our tryline, not the oppositions) when they should be attacking because our stupid winger has had his most recent brain explosion.

A good winger should not be able to cruel a teams momentum. Take an early hit up, stand on your wing, score a try, stay on your fucking wing in defence and then drop back for the kick. Repeat. It’s really not hard.

 

[BroncsFan]

Kelly was technically available, but maybe if it came down to a slight risk and no risk, Croft got to hold his position. It's not like Kelly is our marquee half. That bloke is also available for selection, and his name hasn't come up once, except how keen we are to move him onto another club.

You have to feel for Brodie: he's wearing the brunt of the blame for last week's loss, some of it unfairly. The knives have really been out for him since the whistle blew full time. If he's replaced next week by Kelly - a stopgap basic contract half in his twilight years - and the club has bought two new halves for next year and plans to refit a centre, he'd have to question whether Rugby League is the right career path. He should have every reason to believe this will be his last game in the NRL.

If I were him, I'd be on the blower to Israel Folau to see if he could swing me a contract in Japanese rugby.

Agreed with the career prospects in regards to Croft.

If I'm him I'm on the phone to my manager and telling him to find me a new deal anywhere and any price as long as it comes with a likelihood of being in the starting 13 every week.

He's got the $450k lined up for next year and Broncos seem willing to let anyone go whilst paying some freight.

He could feasibly go to ESL and recreate his career, because it doesnt seem like he has much of a future here.