POST GAME Round 2 - Sharks vs Broncos

[bazza]

Plans and a players future can always change depending how a player reacts to such a situation and Hancock is proof of that, Barba is his own man and if he felt he could do better elsewhere after the news then that's his choice, but I have little doubt if Barba knuckled down, looked to really address his issues on and off he could have changed the situation for him and even if it didn't, he would be better placed then he currently is.

Do you honestly think he had a chance at either fullback or five-eighth, the only two positions he is capable of playing?

Bennett very early on signalled his intentions of playing Boyd at fullback and Milford at five-eighth. There's no two ways about it. Barba is (or at least used to be) too good a player to be playing rubbish minutes or in ISC. He is a former Dally M medalist, and he is at an age when most players are at their peak. I doubt he'd want to be wasting whatever years he has left in the game, when he should be at the peak of his powers.

Of course it will take some time before Barba reaches anything remotely close to his best again, but that's not to say he cant regain those heights.

The saddest part of all this is that one of the worst decision Barba ever made was to come to the Broncos. He's career has taken a massive nosedive since and it's really unfortunate. I doubt this would of happened had he stayed under the guidance of Des Hasler.

 

[bazza]

My take on Adam Blair;

He has done better than what I expected as I was a critic of his signing. I think he has come up with 30 + tackles in both our first 2 games which is a sign he is having a dig in defense but he has made less than 10 hit ups in our first 2 games (I think) which isn't good enough for a starting front rower. Been good defensively but needs to improve in attack.

Rating; 5.5/10 I give him a pass for his defensive efforts

He was defending the same way at the Tigers. What everyone's criticism of him was his non existent running game. What's worse is he's our starting prop. He needs to be making metres. The way he is playing, ie predominantly ball playing suggests he would be most effective playing on the fringes as an edge runner/ball player.

 

[broncos4life]

Do you honestly think he had a chance at either fullback or five-eighth, the only two positions he is capable of playing?

Bennett very early on signalled his intentions of playing Boyd at fullback and Milford at five-eighth. There's no two ways about it. Barba is (or at least used to be) too good a player to be playing rubbish minutes or in ISC. He is a former Dally M medalist, and he is at an age when most players are at their peak. I doubt he'd want to be wasting whatever years he has left in the game, when he should be at the peak of his powers.

Of course it will take some time before Barba reaches anything remotely close to his best again, but that's not to say he cant regain those heights.

The saddest part of all this is that one of the worst decision Barba ever made was to come to the Broncos. He's career has taken a massive nosedive since and it's really unfortunate. I doubt this would of happened had he stayed under the guidance of Des Hasler.

Yeah things were going great at the dogs... Poor form, gambling addiction and domestic assault allegations... Top of the world

 

[Unbreakable]

I agree that Blair should definitely take more hit-ups for us, but I can certainly see why his numbers reflect that he rarely does, he constantly passes just as he gets to the defensive line, which may seem like a "pussy" thing to do, but it nearly always got the ball moving and put us in an attacking position because the defence collapsed on him.

He was playing a similar role to James Graham last night, except.. not as good obviously.

 

[Alec]

I don't see how Blair is good for balance if Parker and McGuire can do the same thing but take plenty of runs and make plenty of tackles at the same time. 1 run is pathetic for a prop.

 

[T-rent]

Need to replace Maranta with Vidot on the wing for the Cowboys game. Our forwards aren't making enought meters so we need his strong hit ups and quick play the balls. I'd also keep Oates on the other wing I thought he also had some very strong carries out of our end. We looked a lot better in attack with Kodi at 9 for mind Macca is a defender that's about it, too slow out of dummy half and doesn't get out and take the markers out of play.
1. kahu
2. oates
3. hodgo
4. reed
5. vidot
6. milf
7. Hunt
i think that's our best backline until Boyd and Copley return.

 

[Buzz Killington]

For now:
1. Kahu
2. Maranta
3. Oates
4. Hodges
5. Vidot
6. Milford
7. Hunt

Full strength:
1. Boyd
2. Oates
3. Copley
4. Hodges
5. Vidot/Kahu/Maranta (pick on form)
6. Milford
7. Hunt

Oates doesn't need to be in the pack he is a better option than all our 3/4'ss except Hodges and Copley. Milford at 6 only because we don't really have anyone else ready and we are going to persist. I would hope the side stops the one halve either side of the ruck rubbish. Milford at this stage of development is a run first and follow the play on instinct player having the organiser in Hunt next to him commanding the ball will help him and make him play to his strength, and take a lot of pressure off him.

 

[Kimlo]

For now:
1. Kahu
2. Maranta
3. Oates
4. Hodges
5. Vidot
6. Milford
7. Hunt

Full strength:
1. Boyd
2. Oates
3. Copley
4. Hodges
5. Vidot/Kahu/Maranta (pick on form)
6. Milford
7. Hunt

Oates doesn't need to be in the pack he is a better option than all our 3/4'ss except Hodges and Copley. Milford at 6 only because we don't really have anyone else ready and we are going to persist. I would hope the side stops the one halve either side of the ruck rubbish. Milford at this stage of development is a run first and follow the play on instinct player having the organiser in Hunt next to him commanding the ball will help him and make him play to his strength, and take a lot of pressure off him.

Now this I agree with. I really like that 1-7 and also agree on Oates, he's just a quality footballer and I see him as someone who always deserves a spot in the 17. He's too good to not be in first grade IMO.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I must be a tougher marker on Milford than the rest of you. Because i wasn't overly impressed with him.

No ...not really. It's just that your own over riding need to constantly bang on the Milford play fullback drum blinds you and makes you incapable of believing that he can do any good in any other jersey, other than the number 1.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Now this I agree with. I really like that 1-7 and also agree on Oates, he's just a quality footballer and I see him as someone who always deserves a spot in the 17. He's too good to not be in first grade IMO.

On Oates I am in complete agreement. Playing him out in the backs improves the backs (given the other options) and gives one of our best young players 80 minutes a week instead of very limited time off the bench because lets face it our backrow is far better with good depth than our outside backs.

 

[T-rent]

I agree but no way I'd have Maranta in the team he is a numpty.

 

[Porthoz]

I'm not gonna get carried away by this result, as it was against the Sharks after all, but it's also not so doom and gloom as some would like to imply...

Positives:
- We shored up the ruck and were able to contain a strong forward pack relatively well.
- Although this wasn't the most creative opposition, we shut them down, scrambled well enough to kill both their chances (one of them a clear penalty imo, when Glenn is taken out and Bukuya gets through. Probably would have been a no try in review had Kahu not made one of the best one on one tackles I've seen in recent memory).
- Performances by the "rookies" Wallace, Nikorima and especially Oates, with Ofa not disappointing in his short stint.
- Improvement in Milford, although he is clearly still struggling with the positional change, and probably the lack of good ball as well.
- Hunt not showing any sign of "second year syndrome", playing a pretty good game under the circumstances, and probably being the main reason we won this game with his try saving interception and excellent kick that led up to the second try.
- Kahu's improvement and confidence gain, hopefully taking on the way to the heights he is capable of, especially in attack. Besides his positioning, bomb catching and solid defense, he ran hard without fear into big men on kick returns, and challenged the defense with a few good runs that took him inches from the try line. Speaking of, I disagree he should have passed the ball on those occasions, as the winger was well covered and his name was... Maranta!

Negatives:
- Lack of go forward, starting with Blair, whom in 6 possessions... ran the ball once. He is simply not a prop, never has been one, and never will be. Were it not for Parker being there, I would put Blair at lock... in fact, I probably would not be against swapping Parker and Blair's positions. We definitely need Gar to get his butt in gear, at least until Ofa gains a regular spot in the 17.
- Attack is dull and needs a lot of work on combinations, positioning and timing. There are signs things are happening, with Hunt and Milf showing up on both sides of the ruck, but we lack depth and synchronisation, and we also need more people sniffing around the ruck for offloads or half chances.
- Tied to the above is Macca's slow service, although he was quite good at controlling the game when we were in front. Niko was better in that regard, giving the halves just that little bit more time to play with, but is still suss defensively. I wish we could make a hybrid with the qualities from both of them!
- Maranta... sorry, but he needs to go, as does Reed as soon as Copley comes back. We need Vidot's go forward, and I am absolutely convinced he won't be a worse finisher than Maranta!
- Glenn is still too much of a turnstile in defense, but let Thaiday simmer on the bench a bit longer, until he realises he cannot be a passenger anymore, at which point, Glenn should be benched.
- Gillett's head knock will hopefully not stand in the way of him playing against the Cows!

All I want for now, is to see improvement from game to game. We will know better where we are against a quality side like the Cows.

 

[CaptainHook]

I agree but no way I'd have Maranta in the team he is a numpty.

A numpty who is having a better year than any other 2-3 overrated numpties we have in the team combined.

 

[CaptainHook]

A few thoughts of mine on last night's game:

- I agree with the thought that it was more a game with poor attack than great defense. Both sides are struggling with trying to get their attacks to fire. Brisbane though seemed to realise very early in the game that points were a premium and lifted their defense. They took their opportunities and the Sharks squandered theirs.

- The try-saving tackle by Kahu was the highlight of the game, for mine.

- Clever try by Maranta - that guy is Johnny on the spot.

- I was happy with the win but the sobering fact is we need to improve a lot. Too much ill-discipline and incomplete sets. If we keep that rot up we'll be thumped by the likes of the Roosters, Storm, Rabbitohs etc.

- Another interesting team selection coming up. Oates needs to be in the team and so does Copley. Looking forward to Tuesday.

 

[Foordy]

A few thoughts of mine on last night's game:

- I agree with the thought that it was more a game with poor attack than great defense. Both sides are struggling with trying to get their attacks to fire. Brisbane though seemed to realise very early in the game that points were a premium and lifted their defense. They took their opportunities and the Sharks squandered theirs.

- The try-saving tackle by Kahu was the highlight of the game, for mine.

- Clever try by Maranta - that guy is Johnny on the spot.

- I was happy with the win but the sobering fact is we need to improve a lot. Too much ill-discipline and incomplete sets. If we keep that rot up we'll be thumped by the likes of the Roosters, Storm, Rabbitohs etc.

- Another interesting team selection coming up. Oates needs to be in the team and so does Copley. Looking forward to Tuesday.

Please ... Even Maranta couldn't bomb that one. Hell my 8 year old sister could have scored that.

 

[CaptainHook]

Please ... Even Maranta couldn't bomb that one. Hell my 8 year old sister could have scored that.

Haha yeah I know - I just meant talk about being in the right place at the right time.

 

[rnabokov]

Showed pretty decent attack haha that will do me! Going one out to Gallen, Fifita and Graham is not pretty decent attack, it is predictable. There was a grand total of 3 line breaks in that game, not due to great defense but due to completely uninspired and uncreative attack, neither side offloaded well, neither side of halves got their hands on the ball and ran at the line, no one followed ball carriers it just looked like to very poor sides slogging it out coz they had no idea what else to do with the ball. Good sides would have let in zero against either of those sides and scored plenty because good sides actually throw something different at you like hard running backrowers on good angles, well timed offloads to trailing backs, sweeping backline moves with bodies in motion. We saw none of that last night and given the squad available and the coach we have that isn't changing.

This is what counts for me. This is what it is all about, and we are doing nothing like it. For mine, we we were better at it for the last 3 seasons than the 1st 2 games this year, although of course nowhere near consistently or executing well enough.

HOWEVER, for the moment, I'll bide my time. We have a new coach and a new halves pairing and FB so we wait for combinations to develop and gel but as I said, I shudder to think what the Roosters would have done to us last night given the way they played last week: "hard running backrowers on good angles, well timed offloads to trailing backs, sweeping backline moves with bodies in motion...".

I wonder how our defensive effort would have stood up to that sort of attack.
So for now, it's good to focus on the quality of individuals as they develop (or not), but again for mine, I am waiting for a semblance of a quality tactical team effort to show itself. We have the players. I can't wait.

On another note, the more I think of Kahu's performance, the more I am impressed. I liked his defence, his catching and his acceleration ad footwork. He and Oates are doing well in the backs. I hope Oates stays there. It's where he belongs ... centre would be ideal, but then as with Gillett, I am biased and proud of it :takdir:

 

[Morkel]

Please ... Even Maranta couldn't bomb that one. Hell my 8 year old sister could have scored that.

I still enjoyed it. Maranta just typifies our attack. It just seems so hard to get over that line, like everything has to fall in to place perfectly and simultaneously, whereas for other teams it just takes one half-bad tackle by the opposition to to get one under the posts. In reality that comes down to the prep work by the forwards to get the opposition back-tracking and the ball-players to stretch the defence, which is where we need to improve. But anyway, that try was so unexpected and random that Maranta's expression of "Can you believe that shit????" mirrored that of all Broncos fans.