PRE-GAME [Round 2, 2024] Broncos vs Rabbitohs

[vertigo]

Staggs was awesome for us last year. I don't know what people are going on about when they say he doesn't bring much in attack. A bulk of our highlights are from or involve him. He's a long term Bronco.

Reminder: Hodges didn't dominate every week either and had some absolute shockers in defence where he was easily our worst player on the day.

 

[JayPee]

JD been talking about it pre game. Apparently stats say he missed 100 tackles last year.

What the black and white stats don't show is that he gets up and out early so a lot of those misses are from that.

I think he's fine and this has been blown out of proportion that he is 'bad'.

Right so basically he is like 95% of the halfs ever. You can be a very good defender with missing tackles. Thurston used to do the same thing. Often its about reading the play and making the first contact and then having numbers. You watch some halves and you can tell when they are bad. Often it is with how they read the play. My current halfback for example lol. Mam is not even close to a bad defender. The bloke on the other side of the field is worse imo

 

[Fitzy]

Did I miss something with this Ezra Mam defensive stuff? Im positive he is an excellent defender. Where did this come from?

I don’t even know what this where did it come from is coming from but Ezra is about as good as it gets for a half defensively. Especially if his size. Hits better than any other half and systematically is pretty good. Our defensive worries have never been down that edge traditionally (except like a week or two last year when Herbie went awol in defence). The proof is in the pudding our worst defeat by a country fucken mile last year was when Campbell Graham teared Jock Maddens fucken **** in 2 defensively last year. The rest of the team weren’t all that bad despite a few things not going our way in offence. Pretty sure we were missing Payne that game as well. But the clearest of issues that game was the hole left in defence from Ezra’s absence. Hope they send whoever they wish at him all night cause it will be there mistake.

I do however think that will be the first real test of that new edge as a collective so it will be very interesting to see the outcome. Ezra himself though is very strong both physically and systematically in defence.

 

[Bish]

Mam seemed to be carrying lots of knocks last year, but never shirked away from putting his frame on the line.

Gutsy, skilful and one of the reasons behind our great season last year.

 

[Froosh]

Feels like Willison must have had a niggle or a problem. I understand the experience aspect but then you’d have Oates as well (could argue the errors, but meters on a small field could have been valuable, we’re all rightly wrapping Arthur’s 193m for nearly a regular day in the office for Oates).

Also where’s the logic in naming Willison and swapping him out in Vegas? Doesn’t nurture a young guys confidence after a good tail end last year cut short by injury. Then you then swap taupau to start over Jensen and barely play him with a player down.

I’m a big fan of Kevvie but the whole thing just struggles to make sense it feels like over-analysis. I trust there was some reasonable internal justification for it all. Just seems bizarre.

I’m still very confident with the team if we cut the all or nothing unforced errors and learn to apply pressure. Id love to see a complete tight game of footy from this team.

 

[Broncorob]

Alright let's look at the head to head which I forgot to do for round 1 (and again trying to be as unbiased as possible, read harsh on our team):

1. Mitchell (Souths)
2. Arthars (Broncos)
3. Staggs (Broncos)
4. Cobbo (Broncos)
5. Johnston (Souths)
6. Walker (Souths)
7. Reynolds (Broncos)
8. Tatola (Souths)
9. Cook (Souths)
10. Haas (Broncos)
11. Koloamatagi (Souths)
12. Riki (Broncos)
13. Murray (Souths)

14. Havili (Souths)
15. Hetherington (Broncos)
16. Taupau (Broncos)
17. Burgess (Souths)

So I have it 9 - 8 to Souths but again, I am being harsh on our team. In any case, Souths match up very well with us and ultimately, it is coming down to the spine.

Harsh on our 1, 6 and 13! I think our centres, with clean early ball, will shred them. Most positions aren't too far apart but our centres are far superior! At least in attack

 

[Broncorob]

He used to, not so much by todays standards.

Tago is now being paid more and I do not believe he is better than Staggs at this stage. Markets fluctuate but Staggs defence has improved and I think he is worth the money

 

[kman]

I really don't think Taupau would offer as much as what young willison would offer. I would play Willison this weekend and give him a chance.

 

[Ejbroncos]

13 tries last season with 7 try assists, 14 linebreaks (top 5 for centres) and averaging 117 run metres a game.

Pretty good for someone who "provides absolutely nothing in attack".

i’m more so worried about his runs getting out of our own end. Our backs are tiny except for Cobbo. Staggs got man handled by Suaali. Staggs provides nothing at all when coming out of our end.. I guess I expect Herbie and Manu like contributions on that coin and maybe a bit of roaming

 

[1910]

Tonight is all about organisation, the Broncos didn't look like anyone had a job description against the Roosters.

Last year knowing your role and doing your role was key.

Kevvie has spoken this week about enthusiasm and organisation.

 

[FACTHUNT]

The Sydney media is hell bent on destroying Mam like they did Adam Goodes. Dean Ritchie is flogging an article on Mam being our weak link.

Absolute c***s.

Old mate has a head like a popped balloon and needs to stfu.

 

[1910]

The Sydney media is hell bent on destroying Mam like they did Adam Goodes. Dean Ritchie is flogging an article on Mam being our weak link.

Absolute c***s.

Old mate has a head like a popped balloon and needs to stfu.

He's coming off a game with eight missed tackles and missed the second most in the competition last season. As well as averaging four misses a game.

He's always going to be a target; he comes up aggressively to try and minimise their time but that means he bounces off sometimes.

I don't think the Rabbitohs needed the article or Mark Carroll, or Ben Ikin to point out that targeting the half is a good idea.

 

[Big Del]

I don’t even know what this where did it come from is coming from but Ezra is about as good as it gets for a half defensively. Especially if his size. Hits better than any other half and systematically is pretty good. Our defensive worries have never been down that edge traditionally (except like a week or two last year when Herbie went awol in defence). The proof is in the pudding our worst defeat by a country fucken mile last year was when Campbell Graham teared Jock Maddens fucken **** in 2 defensively last year. The rest of the team weren’t all that bad despite a few things not going our way in offence. Pretty sure we were missing Payne that game as well. But the clearest of issues that game was the hole left in defence from Ezra’s absence. Hope they send whoever they wish at him all night cause it will be there mistake.

I do however think that will be the first real test of that new edge as a collective so it will be very interesting to see the outcome. Ezra himself though is very strong both physically and systematically in defence.

I talked about this a week ago .
Front on he has improved remarkably . Side on or cover he is substandard . When he goes low around the legs he isn`t completing the tackle and is ineffective .

Like I said then he can be targeted by running angles on him . Avoiding running straight at him but forcing him to move laterally and tackle low . He missed like a half dozen tackles against the Roosters in this way .

 

[Sproj]

Goodness me, 360 has stooped so low so as to have Richie on as a panel member.

This guy is the definition of all things wrong with NRL journalism. He gets nothing right, makes up almost everything and gets rewarded for it.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

I'm unsure what kind of performance to expect tonight. It hasn't been an ideal couple of months with:
-The whole off season thinking about the GF loss .
-The carigan and Reynolds "incidnet"
-One trial game followed by a trip across the other side of the world before round one
-Trip back to aus, a two week break and now round two.
-The mam incident.

Remembering we're still a pretty young team that's a hell of a lot of distractions to go through and a bit to process physically and mentally.

I think the best thing for us now is to just get into the week in week out routine of footy. This week needs to be about keeping it simple and getting back into the rythem. Get through your set. Kick deep and chase hard then make your tackles. If we have to grind it out for 79 mins then so be it.

Hopefully tonight feels a little more normal for the boys because we certainly looked off our game in Vegas. One thing i did note is it looked like we were running Hass a little wider in Vegas, especially when attacking their line. Be interested to see if we do the same tonight.

 

[Galah]

If mam and Cobbo don’t show teams tonight that they can be relied on in defence they will be targeted all season. It’s a new left edge, piakura needs to cover like a man possessed.

 

[Broncosgirl]

The Sydney media is hell bent on destroying Mam like they did Adam Goodes. Dean Ritchie is flogging an article on Mam being our weak link.

Absolute c***s.

Old mate has a head like a popped balloon and needs to stfu.

Ritchie's comment that "It was a magic one off year for the Broncos" will not only absolutely fire the lads up for tonight .. but more importantly, for the whole season.

 

[KateBroncos1812]

That told him