PRE-GAME Round 20 - Broncos vs Cowboys

Got a few back this week so we may be able to field a first grade 17... so why not throw together a team list just for you @Sproj

1 Darius
2 Arthars
3 Coates
4 Herbie
5 Kennar
6 Staggs
7 Dearden
8 Kennedy
9 Turps may be back??
10 Haas
11 Riki
12 Glenn
13 Carrigan

14 Paix
15 Offa
16 Teo (probably... would probably prefer Bullemor, but the coach doesn't seem to trust him with minutes.. Maybe Hoppa to relieve Carrigan at lock?)
17 Oates

Issako may also be close to a return, but hasn't played in a long time... could be an option on the wing over Arthars

I liked what I saw with Staggs in the 6 and it works two fold by giving Dearden some help in the spine. It also allows us to play Coates at right center (his preferred position) although he had a scratchy game tonight.

Riki jumps into the right second row with Glenn moving back to the left. Fifita out injured.

It would create a very young right edge of Staggs, Riki, Coates and Kennar, but I think Riki has enough energy to keep up with the defensive duties... and Staggs looked reasonably comfortable tonight in defence. Was sliding well and shutting down Jai and Gutho for the most of it... eels forced to go right and get some love from Oates (please dear God... I never want to see him in the 2 jersey again).

Dearden back to the left edge (which I believe he played for Wynnum last year?). Unfortunately he will only have Glenn to utilise... but with Herbie and Arthars we might be able to see if they can defend a bit better. Boyd can also utilise his sweep on the left so doesn't always need as many weapons. Glenn can run a solid line for Dearden to utilise as well. Oates can also come off the bench later on to replace Glenn. He's trash on the wing, but I think he's much more solid as a back rower and runs a good line.

The middle is still a real struggle with Kennedy having to start... I think he goes alright, but he's a little hit miss and can get caught in the ruck with his defence. Haas coming back will help a lot and Offa is now playing for his future so he should bring something off the bench. Teo probably gets that last spot on the bench and may be ok with the final home game of the year to give us 15-20mins in the middle.

I think if it's a dry night then we should win provided Staggs plays in the 6... I don't think Gamble will be able to play due to the 6 day turnaround (so disappointing not being able to get a good look at him against parra) and concussion protocols, which would only leave us with SOS or Croft... both of them are miles out of form and provide very little assistance to Dearden. Staggs getting his hands on the ball on a dry night would get us some points.

The NRL injury list also has Turpin returning this week... his inclusion would be massive, as he would bring intensity in the middle defence to give us some aggression in the line speed and potentially throw cows off their game early.
 
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BroncsFan said:
Got a few back this week so we may be able to field a first grade 17... so why not throw together a team list just for you @Sproj

1 Darius
2 Arthars
3 Coates
4 Herbie
5 Kennar
6 Staggs
7 Dearden
8 Kennedy
9 Turps may be back??
10 Haas
11 Riki
12 Glenn
13 Carrigan

14 Paix
15 Offa
16 Teo (probably... would probably prefer Bullemor, but the coach doesn't seem to trust him with minutes.. Maybe Hoppa to relieve Carrigan at lock?)
17 Oates

Issako may also be close to a return, but hasn't played in a long time... could be an option on the wing over Arthars

I liked what I saw with Staggs in the 6 and it works two fold by giving Dearden some help in the spine. It also allows us to play Coates at right center (his preferred position) although he had a scratchy game tonight.

Riki jumps into the right second row with Glenn moving back to the left. Fifita out injured.

It would create a very young right edge of Staggs, Riki, Coates and Kennar, but I think Riki has enough energy to keep up with the defensive duties... and Staggs looked reasonably comfortable tonight in defence. Was sliding well and shutting down Jai and Gutho for the most of it... eels forced to go right and get some love from Oates (please dear God... I never want to see him in the 2 jersey again).

Dearden back to the left edge (which I believe he played for Wynnum last year?). Unfortunately he will only have Glenn to utilise... but with Herbie and Arthars we might be able to see if they can defend a bit better. Boyd can also utilise his sweep on the left so doesn't always need as many weapons. Glenn can run a solid line for Dearden to utilise as well. Oates can also come off the bench later on to replace Glenn. He's trash on the wing, but I think he's much more solid as a back rower and runs a good line.

The middle is still a real struggle with Kennedy having to start... I think he goes alright, but he's a little hit miss and can get caught in the ruck with his defence. Haas coming back will help a lot and Offa is now playing for his future so he should bring something off the bench. Teo probably gets that last spot on the bench and may be ok with the final home game of the year to give us 15-20mins in the middle.

I think if it's a dry night then we should win provided Staggs plays in the 6... I don't think Gamble will be able to play due to the 6 day turnaround (so disappointing not being able to get a good look at him against parra) and concussion protocols, which would only leave us with SOS or Croft... both of them are miles out of form and provide very little assistance to Dearden. Staggs getting his hands on the ball on a dry night would get us some points.

The NRL injury list also has Turpin returning this week... his inclusion would be massive, as he would bring intensity in the middle defence to give us some aggression in the line speed and potentially throw cows off their game early.
Click to expand...

Like this side. I'd suggest swapping Arthars and Coates. I like what I saw from Arthars when he played centre. Also, I'd like to see Carrigan at prop, so swap with Kennedy.
 
rnabokov said:
Like this side. I'd suggest swapping Arthars and Coates. I like what I saw from Arthars when he played centre. Also, I'd like to see Carrigan at prop, so swap with Kennedy.
Click to expand...
Don't know about Kennedy at lock, but I like the idea of Kennar with Herbie and Arthars with Coates.. feel like it would be pretty solid defensively on both edges with that setup. I feel safer with Coates on the wing compared to center (feel he's just too inexperienced to play center just yet.. and the coaching so far in his career has been no where near good enough for him to be playing a pivotal defensive role that is required at center), but thought it might be an opportunity to give him a go at right center and see what he can bring in attack... There would always be the opportunity for Arthars and Coates to swap in attack and defence with that pairing as well.

I think we're too short in the middles to get big minutes out of Kennedy at lock. It's likely Haas and Carrigan will have to play big minutes with Offa the only real prop we have left that can play 40-50 minutes... we can also look to use Oates off the bench in 2nd row (say a sub at the 30min mark) with Glenn coming back on at lock??
 
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Didn’t Kennedy get done for a ‘crusher’? So he’s out 2 weeks isn’t he?
 
BroncsFan said:
Don't know about Kennedy at lock, but I like the idea of Kennar with Herbie and Arthars with Coates.

I think we're too short in the middles and it's likely Haas and Carrigan will have to play big minutes with Offa the only real prop we have left that can play 40-50 minutes... we can also look to use Oates off the bench in 2nd row (say a sub at the 30min mark) with Glenn coming back on at lock??
Click to expand...

The reason I like Kennedy at lock is that he looks like he has some footwork, I've seen him run some angles, unlike Patty who just runs it back inside, constantly. As for defence, would it really make any difference? I like the idea of some creative play from a lock than just be another prop in the middle.
 
Is anyone else not that impressed with Coates? He does seem like he has potential somewhere, but he actually hasn't done anything other than a couple of great crossfield kicks aimed towards him. I thought he'd jump ahead of Farnworth at the start of the year, but Farnworth seems to be doing way better.
 
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Alec said:
Is anyone else not that impressed with Coates? He does seem like he has potential somewhere, but he actually hasn't done anything other than a couple of great crossfield kicks aimed towards him. I thought he'd jump ahead of Farnworth at the start of the year, but Farnworth seems to be doing way better.
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The commentators like to say that he's a GI clone... probably because he looks a bit like him... but to me he plays more like Folau.

Folau is not really all that agile, but he has big lanky strides and exaggerated steps that cover so much distance that he could pretty quickly get away from where the defender originally is and end up on the inside or outside shoulder (i.e. steps that don't look like much but are effective and make the defender look amateur)... I feel like I haven't really seen a lot of Coates, but I reckon his biggest weapon (outside of being an aerial threat) would be a big right foot step close to the line to get on the inside shoulder and just being too big for the opposition center to handle, which is basically what we did with Folau when he was here.

He's not like a GI that had speed, power and a mammoth fend to bust teams from anywhere, but he definitely has enough to be a very effective winger for us... with a move to the centers in a few more years.

Realistically we just haven't had enough attacking opportunities in probably the last 2-3 years to see what we can actually do with the ball getting to our attacking players... and we also don't spread it within our own end to get the attackers early ball... it's been a really fucked up period for a long time where we can't sustain pressure inside the twenty and then also look fluent in attack to really let the outside backs show us what they've got.

I feel like we've been asking for early ball to the centers since Jimmy came here in 2016!!
 
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rnabokov said:
The reason I like Kennedy at lock is that he looks like he has some footwork, I've seen him run some angles, unlike Patty who just runs it back inside, constantly. As for defence, would it really make any difference? I like the idea of some creative play from a lock than just be another prop in the middle.
Click to expand...
I feel like Patty does have some skill, but the team isn't really running very fluid for us to see it at the moment.

Against the bunnies in round 2 (I know it's a while ago, but it was also when we actually played some fluid football as a team) he was throwing a lot of very nice short passes to his fellow big men that came with him... I recall a set (or maybe back to back sets) inside their 20m where he put a nice short ball on that led to a quick ptb and then a couple tackles later he almost put Flegler or Haas over with a short pass but it took a miracle tackle to stop them. The difference between then and now is that we had guys hitting the advantage line together and coming up together... so Patty was going at the line with some support runners and able to put a little something on.

At the moment everything is static and Patty is just putting it under the wing and taking the tough carries.

I think he's very talented, but he's not surrounded by enough guys that know what's going on just yet. I'd say the mass injuries to our middles hasn't helped, but I think our inexperienced forwards are still scrambling to try and adapt to the new version of the game so they're not really aware of when and where to run and provide support. TPJ doesn't really run a decoy as first receiver... Flegler was looking a little confused (or maybe fatigued) perhaps to his virus. Lodge looked off the pace (I think due to his knee injuries and not being given enough time to get back to full fitness)... and Offa just looks lazy and doesn't really run very good decoys. Haas is a little along the lines of Flegler where he's not really running those decoys.

It's something you never see from Melbourne... the first middle is always running a decoy for the first pass from dummy half... it's not usually doing much, but it just holds up the middle defence and stalls the inside defenders from getting to the first receiver.

One thing I like about Bull is he's usually always supporting through the middle so it would be nice to see him get some minutes and see if he can provide that support play through the middle.

When I watch Kennedy I think of him as our version of Tom and George Burgess... he's big and he knows how to use his size, but he also has a little bit of footwork to get between defenders... it results in him being able to skittle defences at times and then also look for quick ptb, but I think his defence gets caught out a bit (it appears he was listening intently to Seibs and the tactical penalties and he likes to push the tolerances in the ruck).

I like him as a player and would like to see us re-sign him, but I'm not sure he has the stamina to put in big minutes at lock
 
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BroncsFan said:
The commentators like to say that he's a GI clone... probably because he looks a bit like him... but to me he plays more like Folau.

Folau is not really all that agile, but he has big lanky strides and exaggerated steps that cover so much distance that he could pretty quickly get away from where the defender originally is and quickly end up on the inside or outside shoulder (i.e. steps that don't look like much but are effective and make the defender look amateur)... I feel like I haven't really seen a lot of Coates, but I reckon his biggest weapon (outside of being an aerial threat) would be a big right foot step close to the line to get on the inside shoulder and just being too big for the opposition center to handle, which is basically what we did with Folau when he was here.

He's not like a GI that had speed, power and a mammoth fend to bust teams from anywhere, but he definitely has enough to be a very effective winger for us... with a move to the centers in a few more years.

Realistically we just haven't had enough attacking opportunities in probably the last 2-3 years to see what we can actually do with the ball getting to our attacking players... and we also don't spread it within our own end to get the attackers early ball... it's been a really fucked up period for a long time where we can't sustain pressure inside the twenty and then also look fluent in attack to really let the outside backs show us what they've got.

I feel like we've been asking for early ball to the centers since Jimmy came here in 2016!!
Click to expand...

What I also like about Coates is that he runs the ball back straight and hard. Reminds me a bit of KHunt. I don't think he is anything like GI as you describe. For the moment I reckon he's what we need on the wing
 
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