PRE-GAME Round 2 - Broncos vs Cowboys

[Unbreakable]

Macca isn't great, but he definitely would have plenty of teams interested in him, Knights, Dogs, Tigers for absolute sure. Not sure any of the others would, most of them have established ones or good rookies coming through.

The point is that our biggest issue right now is lack of good young hookers coming through our system, we had to buy Turpin from outside, he's the closest thing we've got to a potential future hooker. If we were to go shopping, that'd be the first thing I'm looking for. We've got potential replacements for the halves & fullback if it comes to it, but if McC keeps regressing at a steady rate, which is looking like an odds on bet at this point, we're gonna be in some strife by 2020-21.

 

[ostin86]

Macca is mediocre, he always will be. The problem though is that as good as Turpin looks, he doesn't have the speed that Cook had which meant Cook was crying out to be included over Farah.

That said, Siebs was bold enough to give the gig to Cook over Farah, so he isn't against making a huge gamble like that if it is warranted. Turpin needs to just make sure he is making a huge impression in the ISC and if he (or someone else) does, you never know what might happen.

That said, KNik will also be feeling the heat from the young and upcomers as well but I actually thought Knik was better than Milf last night but both were stunted on the back of their forwards getting totally dominated and therefore no field position. Not only that, Melbourne was in their faces all night and rushing them, Munster and Croft on the other hand had all the time in the world to get their kicks away.

Hopefully Sieb's takes the opportunity with Roberts being likely out and Staggs in at centre to bring another hooker on to the bench to put pressure on Macca. Alternatively, put KNik at 14 and bring in SOS or one of the kids but that would be extremely disruptive on team cohesion.

100% agree with everything here.

 

[McHunt]

The bolded and enlarged. Until very late in the game we had had literally 4 play-the-balls in the opposition 20, and scored off during that set. I just can't take you seriously because of comments like this where it is clear that no matter what happens in the game, you will "see" whatever you want.

I only saw two tries: one a bog standard pass-out-the-backline movement which was sluggish as buggery but came off, thanks to Corey Oates being hard to tackle. I can't even count that as a play. We practiced that in under 12's, when half of us could barely pass better than Macca.

The second, was an Oates intercept. Individual brilliance only.

 

[Unbreakable]

I'd bring in Shibasaki for next game, assuming he's fit and plays decent for the Devils this weekend. I wasn't impressed at all by Staggs, he can't pass left to right and he was making some really poor positioning mistakes, in attack and defense.

1. Boyd
2. Oates
3. Shibasaki
4. Bird
5. Isaako
6. Milford
7. Nikorima
8. Ofahengaue
9. McCullough
10. Pangai Jr
11. Glenn
12. Su'A
13. Gillett

14. Staggs
15. Fifita
16. Flegler
17. Fensom/Taggers

I would be keen to go with Carrigan, but I feel like 4 essential rookies on the bench just isn't a good idea.

 

[Kyall]

Issako to fullback and Boyd to wing please.

 

[Unbreakable]

Great news

 

[Renegade]

Great news

indeed, when i first saw it i thought it was a disc issue, was like **** me the dude can't stay injury free.

 

[Allo]

7. SoS
9. Macca. Tell him he has 30mins a half to do more than just tackle or the Turpinator will force him back to reggies.
14. Niko

Wouldn’t like to move Isaako out for a game vs Nene, but at the very least we need to start doing the Mini-RTS method of Isaako in defence for kicks and returns and Boyd in the attacking 20. Boyd can sit in the line all he likes at centre or wing then in defence

No Lodge means I’d be running Mago to start with Offa, Pangai at lock. Gillo back to the edge. Su’A on the bench at best atm. He looks overweight. With Lodge out it might pay to have Patty there anyway

Niko, Fifita, Carrigan, Flegler

 

[Alec]

Great news

Excellent. I still think he's a very limited player, but the things that he CAN do are so fucking valuable. Especially if the other teams refuses to drop the fucking ball and the refs stop blowing penalties.

 

[Unbreakable]

Excellent. I still think he's a very limited player, but the things that he CAN do are so fucking valuable. Especially if the other teams refuses to drop the fucking ball and the refs stop blowing penalties.

You're not wrong, I think he would've either scored or set up Isaako for 2 tries last night. Nikorima put Staggs in to a decent amount of space on the right a couple of times, one time Staggs threw a forward pass to Isaako, the other time he just didn't have to speed necessary to make a play happen. Jimmy is a master of those 2 on 2 situations.

 

[broncos4life]

What about Boyd to centre and Isaako to fullback?

 

[WASSHHH]

You know full well that isn't what's being argued. Obviously it would depend on cap space but if they could sign him they would 100% be interested. They'd much prefer a hooker who can get close to a rep team over the garbage they currently have. My favourite part is that the Brisbane Broncos are the one club who is interested enough to keep him.

There is lots to admire about McCullough, not least of all his passion for the Broncos and the unrelenting effort he puts in every time he puts the jersey on.

When he came into grade, he looked to have so much potential, but be it due to season ending injuries or a dip in form / confidence, it seems his best football may well and truly be behind him (I would gladly be wrong though). At 29, it’s quite possible he has worked himself to a standstill, which is not a good sign.

But don’t kid yourself, I very much doubt he is at the Broncos because they’re so interested in keeping him, as you put it. It is much more likely that it’s because there is no better option. He is our number 9 by default and unless he improves, I doubt he will ever play Origin again.

In my opinion, the Broncos would bench him, drop him to reserve grade or dispose of him in a heartbeat if a rookie was banging down the door or a better option became available that sat within the constraints of our cap.

But therein lays the problem; our cap limits us incredibly, because we have committed to other players on big money so have to compromise in other positions. At this point in time, hooker is one of those positions.

 

[Unbreakable]

What about Boyd to centre and Isaako to fullback?

That'd be something I'd be interested in trying if Roberts was out long term, but if it's only 1-2 weeks, there's really no point in disrupting the back line even more imo. We should explore that in the off-season 1000% though.

 

[Cult]

There is lots to admire about McCullough, not least of all his passion for the Broncos and the unrelenting effort he puts in every time he puts the jersey on.

When he came into grade, he looked to have so much potential, but be it due to season ending injuries or a dip in form / confidence, it seems his best football may well and truly be behind him (I would gladly be wrong though). At 29, it’s quite possible he has worked himself to a standstill, which is not a good sign.

But don’t kid yourself, I very much doubt he is at the Broncos because they’re so interested in keeping him, as you put it. It is much more likely that it’s because there is no better option. He is our number 9 by default and unless he improves, I doubt he will ever play Origin again.

In my opinion, the Broncos would bench him, drop him to reserve grade or dispose of him in a heartbeat if a rookie was banging down the door or a better option became available that sat within the constraints of our cap.

But therein lays the problem; our cap limits us incredibly, because we have committed to other players on big money so have to compromise in other positions. At this point in time, hooker is one of those positions.

But there isn't. There is not an available player that is better than him. There isn't an available player at the clubs that I listed that are better than him. Like the entire Ben Hunt situation, my only problem is the bullshit that is spouted about everything being his fault. He was barely at fault last night and look at what this place has become. He could not have done more.

 

[Morkel]

I only saw two tries: one a bog standard pass-out-the-backline movement which was sluggish as buggery but came off, thanks to Corey Oates being hard to tackle. I can't even count that as a play. We practiced that in under 12's, when half of us could barely pass better than Macca.

The second, was an Oates intercept. Individual brilliance only.

Those "bog standard pass-out-the-backline" movements just don't happen. They have to be engineered over multiple plays to get the opposition defences stretched enough to allow the try. Otherwise we'd just be able to pull off that movement anywhere on the field and Oates would be able to get 1 on 1 with his opposite and bash through them and score whenever we felt like it, right?

But please also tell me the other times "We literally look clueless close to the line", as you described it yourself.

 

[Cult]

Those "bog standard pass-out-the-backline" movements just don't happen. They have to be engineered over multiple plays to get the opposition defences stretched enough to allow the try. Otherwise we'd just be able to pull off that movement anywhere on the field and Oates would be able to get 1 on 1 with his opposite and bash through them and score whenever we felt like it, right?

But please also tell me the other times "We literally look clueless close to the line", as you described it yourself.

And it's pretty much the only play we looked like laying on. It has literally won premierships. It's far from bog average.

 

[Allo]

What about Boyd to centre and Isaako to fullback?

Who do you put on the wing?

 

[McHunt]

And it's pretty much the only play we looked like laying on. It has literally won premierships. It's far from bog average.

Bog average.

Those "bog standard pass-out-the-backline" movements just don't happen. They have to be engineered over multiple plays to get the opposition defences stretched enough to allow the try. Otherwise we'd just be able to pull off that movement anywhere on the field and Oates would be able to get 1 on 1 with his opposite and bash through them and score whenever we felt like it, right?

But please also tell me the other times "We literally look clueless close to the line", as you described it yourself.

You raise a good point. We squandered the ball so badly we barely even got near their line last night.

I guess I was concatenating the previous trial. And it reminded me of every game Macca played last year.