POST GAME Round 2 - Sharks vs Broncos

[Anonymous person]

Lol so we cant judge Milford off 2 games but Granville who is playing off the bench can be judged and has already been judged as crap? Pull the other one.

McCullough wouldn't make the starting team of many, if any, other teams in the nrl.

 

[K-Style]

Hook wasted Granville on the bench far too often. (Amongst others - OATES).

So far this season Bennett has given Parker a run at dummy half and gave Nikorima a decent run as well.
What's all that about?

Pinning Nth Qld losses on Granville is ridiculous. No 1 as you mention he was on the bench. I suspect losing the Sims hasnt helped their season start.

 

[Big Pete]

McCullough stands and then ***** the ball back and then passes in THREE motions, often over the head or behind the intended recipient, Nikorima was passing as he stood off the ground in one motion, often to a runner in motion who didn't have to stop and wait for the pass to come. Nikorima was not some inspirational debut but in that very important facet of dummy half play, he was noticeably more crisp.

Your description is wildly exaggerated, particularly based on what we saw on Friday.

This nonsense about McCullough not being able to pass off the ground has got to stop. He clearly can and if we're getting up him for engaging the markers then you may as well get up every starting hooker in the NRL - they all do the exact same thing. The problem with McCullough is that he prioritises defence over attack and simply doesn't offer as much as he should as a supposed leader of the Broncos. A lot of his play is just one off the ruck and as I pointed out, there are times where his inside passes are actively hurting the Broncos momentum. He needs to add more variety to his play and while everyone else is all doom and gloom, I actually saw some positives, particularly with his kicking game which were among the best kicks of the night. He needs to find that consistensy and build on it.

I thought Kodi was fine on debut but outside of what I had already pointed out he didn't really have that many opportunities to impress and was a little clunky himself. Not picking on him either, it's what I'd expect of a dummy half but to say he was as good let alone better really is a stretch. One positive I did see in his play is that he was seemingly getting better as the game wore on and his little blind-side play with Jack Reed showed some promise. Like McCullough, I hope he does builds on it because having fresh legs around the ruck in the modern game is an added bonus.

I understand where Mister Wright is coming from on the alternatives. Judging from some vocal members on here, you'd swear Macca was standing in the way of the next Robbie Farah & James Segeyaro respectively and neither have really killed it at clubs that are absolutely desperate for a good number 9. Like others, I still think it's early days for Granville and saw plenty of signs against the Knights to suggest he's going to be one of the best buys of the season but Baptiste is behind Hodgson, McCrone & Buttriss at Canberra. Personally, I don't get it myself - I have a high opinion of Baptiste and if it was up to me he would have been playing off the bench for the majority of 2011-13 with Granville competing for a spot much sooner than he was (forget Capewell as a utility, Granville should have been in that role). But for whatever reason, he has some sort of weakness that coaches don't like and aren't willing to give him a shot.

 

[CaptainHook]

Lol so we cant judge Milford off 2 games but Granville who is playing off the bench can be judged and has already been judged as crap? Pull the other one.

McCullough wouldn't make the starting team of many, if any, other teams in the nrl.

That's a good point. I admit the 7 years throws me off. It's the part that doesn't make sense. People who rate McCullough and say he needs to lift talk about him the way I talk about players like Granville, Oates etc. Have been around for a few years, have a few games under their belt now, have shown glimpses of being terrific players and really need to knuckle down and kick on.

McCullough is not like those players. He's had seven years to really strut his stuff and hasn't done it on a consistent enough basis.

 

[Porthoz]

This actually nearly happened to me last Friday...

 

[lynx000]

Granville is copping a flogging on the cowboy's forum about his defence

 

[bazza]

This actually nearly happened to me last Friday...

I swear that bloke keeps reusing the same old washed up crappy commentary. He uses the exact same lines in every game. It's ridiculous. One of his favourite lines is "He's fallen head over apex" or something similar.

 

[Porthoz]

I swear that bloke keeps reusing the same old washed up crappy commentary. He uses the exact same lines in every game. It's ridiculous. One of his favourite lines is "He's fallen head over apex" or something similar.

That's because he can't dictate terms...