Round 20 - Broncos vs Storm - Post Match Discussion

[jarro65]

It the same problem we had last year and is even worse this year...we have no forwards bending the line or hurting teams in defence...Every time we play a powerful pack they bend us back until we break up the middle and eventually by the end of the game we unrabble...you cant have a pack made up of backrowers and expect to hang with the better teams..to add to that we have no starch coming off the bench ether. we cant do to much about it this year unless hala, molo, kennedy all of a sudden change their game for us or maybe we give one of them a solid shot at doing something for us in the front row instead of running small back rowers as a rotation for 80 mins and trying to hang in there.

FWIW, i was listening to TripleM's call of the game, and afterwards Kevvie Walters said virtually the same thing .... the Broncos need bigger frontrowers to trouble the defensive line.

Guys like Hannant and McGuire run with plenty of intensity but bigger props like Bromwich and Co just stop them dead in their tracks.

 

[Browny]

Hunt defends better than Gillett lol

Reffing aside we had no go forward, no structures and too many passes behind players.

Griffin is still a tard when it comes to the bench

 

[GCBRONCO]

I burst out laughing when Gillett was pushed aside in an attempted tackle like he was nothing, embarrassing.

 

[uptheguts]

It the same problem we had last year and is even worse this year...we have no forwards bending the line or hurting teams in defence...Every time we play a powerful pack they bend us back until we break up the middle and eventually by the end of the game we unrabble...you cant have a pack made up of backrowers and expect to hang with the better teams..to add to that we have no starch coming off the bench ether. we cant do to much about it this year unless hala, molo, kennedy all of a sudden change their game for us or maybe we give one of them a solid shot at doing something for us in the front row instead of running small back rowers as a rotation for 80 mins and trying to hang in there.

Totally agree. At the moment we have no answer to teams with quick play the balls and big direct running fowards. The only thing that has been sometimes saving us is some pretty decent goal line defense .

 

[rnabokov]

I wan't angry at last night's performance, except that of the refs, just disappointed after last week's game, and agree with what BP and Porthoz say in particular.

It looked to me that the events of this week really showed how much it affected the players: There was little focus, shape, structure and the 5th tackle options.

As for the forwards, our pack is good enough for the side to be competitive against any other provided the defence is effective and fast moving as it was v Warriors, and we use our edges and backline creatively and with purpose. There was little of that last night.

For mine our forwards main task is to not to keep driving up the middle as much as they do, turning the ball inside and funnelling the shape of our movement always back inside and up the middle. It looked like that was the easy option 'cos no one was really interested in creating options and playing to our strengths which are our edges and backline.

Hunt in particular was disappointing. It looked like he was just switched off, and Macca was so slow all night. The offloading was almost non-existent. The team played without head or heart.

Next week's game will be telling. It will tell whether this team gives a damn about this season, or if it's given up and is waiting for the messiah.

 

[rnabokov]

Totally agree. At the moment we have no answer to teams with quick play the balls and big direct running fowards. The only thing that has been sometimes saving us is some pretty decent goal line defense .

I thought we did have answers last week, and in a number of other games this year. Last night, the team seemed to just switch off.

 

[uptheguts]

I thought we did have answers last week, and in a number of other games this year. Last night, the team seemed to just switch off.

Last week was a super effort to contain the warriors but even in that game their fowards rolled up the paddock fairly easily, as did Penriths. Earlier in the season I thought our ruck defense was very good , now it sucks big time and the lack of size in the fowards is definitely a factor .I hope at training this week there will be an emphasis on line speed. Mayby bring Kennedy back in.

 

[jarro65]

If only Kennedy could step it up a couple of notches.

We really need a bigger bopper in the front row.

 

[rnabokov]

With a pack such as ours is, line speed, ruck defence and generally, DEFENCE up the middle, and especially one out from the play the ball is critical to our chances of winning.

My opinion remains the same. Our front row needs to hold the middle and our marker defence needs to be spot on for the whole game. The game plan must be to get the ball to Hunt and Barba ASAP whose job is to make the plays using our edge runners and our excellent back line, especially now that we have a 5/8 at last.

At the same time, it's really pointless if the team doesn't seem to care, which was the main message I got last night

 

[Brett]

In our last 4 matches, we've conceded 111 points. That's 27.75 point per game... Yeah.

I'd like to see the stats, but I'm sure we'd have some of the poorest ruck defence in the NRL. By that I mean, opposition teams making the most meters on us each set (usually through the middle).

Couple others hit the nail on the head too - We literally have 1 prop in our team; Hannant. Why we persist with Parker at Prop simply to field Gillett and Thaiday at the same time is beyond me.

On the plus side, Barba is looking better. Getting him more involved is the answer.

 

[Harry Sack]

So much.

I could have copped it if it was just after a try, but all the had to do was a half decent tackle and the bastard was off again

I swear the trainer gave Billy a drink and he clapped.....

I also blame Porthoz for both Hoffman trys. **** your SVRL team.

 

[koshy]

In our last 4 matches, we've conceded 111 points. That's 27.75 point per game... Yeah.

I'd like to see the stats, but I'm sure we'd have some of the poorest ruck defence in the NRL. By that I mean, opposition teams making the most meters on us each set (usually through the middle).

Couple others hit the nail on the head too - We literally have 1 prop in our team; Hannant. Why we persist with Parker at Prop simply to field Gillett and Thaiday at the same time is beyond me.

On the plus side, Barba is looking better. Getting him more involved is the answer.

Agree with the Barba sentence..His move the 5/8 has actually been a surprise and imagine if his forward pack was giving him some time to move rather than making Hunt and Barba play off the backfoot the whole time...Even the Broncos forwards themselves have come out and said other bigger forward packs have come out and put it on them and they didn't match up at times during the season...Its a similar scenario as the first origin game where we came in under sized with a 'mobile' pack and it completely backfired on us..NSW rolled us through the middle and DCE/Thursto had to play back foot adlib the whole game...At the Broncos its the same.. I don't feel Hunt is given much space to work with at times and that comes down to the performance of the pack he is playing behind - A great forward pack makes average pivots looks great (bulldogs number 6 and 7) but a forward pack that is only just holding there own makes it very hard for the halves to be assertive...If the Broncos pack can give hunt and barba some room I believe you would see a huge improvement..Hunt tried his ass off last night and yes he played poorply but he seemed very frustrated at times...

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Just watched the Hoffman try again and it makes the blood boil that the NRL seem to be OK with such consistently bad decisions. Clark and Galea should be told to piss off and get a clue before setting foot in a video refs box again.
But, we know they'll be back next week, getting their paycheck and stuffing up again.

 

[rnabokov]

For mine, our pack has shown - last week for a lot of the game, that we can hit hard, and with good defensive line speed.

The thing for me is not to try and roll through the middle but instead, super quick play the balls, forwards passing just before the line at which Hannant is particularly good, Parker offloads, support runners, and this style of play gives Hunt and Barba - who should have been at 6 from the start of the season - all the time and space they need, provided both left and right hand sides keep their shape - width and depth.

We are not playing to our strengths, and equally, exposing our weaknesses with a game plan such as it was, last night.

If you can't go through the middle, you go around it, and we have the edge runners and speed out wide to do it

 

[koshy]

Just to make a point if you look at the 2006 Premiers Team - and yes I know its a cracking team but I want you to look at the size and strength and aggression of the pack compared to the one that ran on last night. Now if you insert , Hunt/Barba Hunt/Milford or Hunt/my Granma the halves are going to play well behind that pack. By my count that's 2 legit starting props plus Thorn who also played a lot of front row..with Another prop in Hannant and Carlaw(played prop at times) coming off the bench...Our pack is so undersized its crazy..

2006 Team 2014 Team

Webke Parker
Berrigan McCullough
Petro Mguire
Thiaday Alex Glenn
Thorn Matt Gillett
Tony Carroll Sam Thiaday

Interchange
Corey Parker 15 Ben Hannant
Dane Carlaw 17 Todd Lowrie
Ben Hannnant 19 Jack Reed
Casey Maguire 20 Corey Oates

 

[Jeba]

McCullough has been shit since Granville signed with the Cowboys. At the start of the season he was playing well with rumours that we were getting Cameron Smith, and then kept playing well with Granville coming into the side more regularly. Now he has no competition and he's back to his old shitty ways. We need someone or something there to keep the bastard honest. He's never going to lose his number 9 jersey to Alex Glenn FFS. Not sure where he lies with a Knights contract but maybe it would be worth Wayne bringing Adam Clydesdale with him for that reason. Not saying he's a superstar by any stretch but as soon as there is no competition for Macca's spot he just seems to give way less than 100%. May be a coincidence but either way it's frustrating.

That said, Griffin, I came out in your support during the week mate, but dropping Granville for Reed? Geez way to make the board look like geniuses.

What sort of message does it send, when you drop 3 players for off-field reasons, and all except the best player of those 3 players (Vidot) walk straight back into the team, at the expense of 2 (Granville and Kennedy) who made a good fist of their opportunity and a week after what was arguably our best win of the year?

I'm not excusing our performance on the night last night, but there was absolutely no need to change our 17 from last week apart from maybe bringing Vidot back in after his performances this season.

 

[Splinter]

Bench was a joke before we ran out and then the use of it was a joke. Macca may not have been up to scratch but I lost count of the number of times he had to pull runners down on his own and they were much bigger men than himself. He is probably fucked from the defence

 

[Mister Wright]

I'm going to look at the positives, it's a shame we don't show the same desperation in the middle of the field as we do on our goal line, because must have some of the best goal line defence in the game. If it wasn't for such good goal line defence we could have been looking at a cricket score.

Barba a was good at 5/8. I liked what I saw and he definitely wasn't a liability in defence.

Other than that there weren't too many positives. I'm not even going to defend Macca - LoL!