Round 20 - Broncos vs Storm - Pre-Match Discussion

[Bucking Beads]

Hoffy gonna be sad when Milford shows up next year.

 

[jarro65]

Glad to hear he's at least entertaining the idea of keeping them in their best positions for the team.

 

[Mister Wright]

Barba's going to have to be on his toes with Cronk & Proctor running wild on the right edge for Melbourne in recent weeks.

 

[nostradamus]

1. Hoffman
2. Vidot
3. Copley
4. Hodges (c)
5. Maranta
6. Barba
7. Hunt
8. McGuire
9. McCullough
10. Hannant
11. Thaiday
12. Gillett
13. Parker (c)

14. Granville
15. Glenn
16. Kennedy
17. Hala

 

[Brett]

Oates?

 

[CaptainHook]

Oates?

I'm ok with giving him another spell. I don't mind Wallace - maybe give him another crack if Hala isn't fit.

 

[CaptainHook]

Just saw on the ISC game a tweet that said Jack Reed has an ankle injury. Unsure yet if serious or not.

 

[rnabokov]

Broncos' Barba switch to stay - NRL.com



Sanity will prevail, it seems.

Well, to a large extent, but for me the question now is who will play left centre. I have this feeling that we all know who we want. Some real strike power (along with THAT OTHER positional switch) on the left hand side against a team like the Storm will make us seriously competitive not just against the Storm, but against any side.

 

[Huge]

If the positional changes remain then I am optimistic about the remaining games. Oates has to come back in as well as Vidot so it would be a welcome headache for Griffin. I suppose the bench for Oates although I wouldn't have him in the forwards yet. Be happy if Thaiday played ISC until he learns that his weekly assignment should be given the same attention as his Origin performances. Sick of his ill discipline and spasmodic efforts. I'd love to see a revitalised Kennedy starting with Hannant because McGuire sure knows how to keep the roll on going.

Finally, I'm looking forward to seeing what is an obviously better balanced team playing Melbourne . This is the best possible outcome with a tough as teak run into the finals. There's hope this year at last.

 

[Harry Sack]

If the positional changes remain then I am optimistic about the remaining games. Oates has to come back in as well as Vidot so it would be a welcome headache for Griffin. I suppose the bench for Oates although I wouldn't have him in the forwards yet. Be happy if Thaiday played ISC until he learns that his weekly assignment should be given the same attention as his Origin performances. Sick of his ill discipline and spasmodic efforts. I'd love to see a revitalised Kennedy starting with Hannant because McGuire sure knows how to keep the roll on going.

Finally, I'm looking forward to seeing what is an obviously better balanced team playing Melbourne . This is the best possible outcome with a tough as teak run into the finals. There's hope this year at last.

Have been hoping for this all season.

 

[uptheguts]

Storm look to be hitting their straps now , so it will be an extremely hard match to win . The boys will have to reach a to the next level to be a chance. The back three will really be tested by Cronk and Slater. Maranta just has to be there to handle some of Cronks bombs and Hoffman just has to be at fullback , purely for his defense and composure under the high ball. Be prepared for another nail biter. If the Broncs can win this one , I think Griffen will probably keep his job.

 

[Big Pete]

Storm look to be hitting their straps now , so it will be an extremely hard match to win . The boys will have to reach a to the next level to be a chance. The back three will really be tested by Cronk and Slater. Maranta just has to be there to handle some of Cronks bombs and Hoffman just has to be at fullback , purely for his defense and composure under the high ball. Be prepared for another nail biter. If the Broncs can win this one , I think Griffen will probably keep his job.

I thought they looked pretty ordinary these past two weeks. They still have plenty of talent so anything less than the Broncos best won't be good enough but a pretty even game going in.

I like most of the suggestions in this thread. Think we should keep the bulk of the same team from last night and only find spots for Gillett, Vidot and Oates. If I had to choose, I'd go with Unbreakable's 17 for this game and hope they can build on what we saw last night. I'm not terribly convinced that it should be our 17 for the rest of the season but think we should give them the opportunity to build on it. I do think the change was a factor in last night's frantic performance.

 

[Ari Gold]

Slater looks ineffective to me. Doesn't have the same speed as before and his runs just don't threaten the way they used to. Most teams are clued onto the Smith out to Cronk in to Slater move now.

Against the Raiders their left edge was Mahe Fonua and Marika Koroibete. Hodges should have a field day and Maranta should get plenty of chances to prove he knows which side of the sideline to be on.

 

[Super Freak]

Slater looks ineffective to me. Doesn't have the same speed as before and his runs just don't threaten the way they used to. Most teams are clued onto the Smith out to Cronk in to Slater move now.

Against the Raiders their left edge was Mahe Fonua and Marika Koroibete. Hodges should have a field day and Maranta should get plenty of chances to prove he knows which side of the sideline to be on.

I think Slater is still pretty quick. He chased down Reece Robinson last night to stop him from scoring. Robinson is not exactly slow.

 

[Super Freak]

If Broncos try to play too much up the middle, they won't win. Watching the Storm over the past couple of years, they have been quite weak defensively on the edges. Their left edge is quite weak. I would hit that side with the out and in play. They will crack eventually.

Hodges drawing players in by taking on the defense would work. Their wingers have a knack for rushing in.

 

[Ari Gold]

I personally think people use the term fast and quick for too many players. If everyone is quick, nobody is quick. Slater used to have game changing speed -- he'd get away where 90% of the other backs in the competition wouldn't. Now I don't think that's the case at all.

Also, if the Reece Robinson example you are referring to is the one I am thinking of, he came across sideways to stop him, not from behind? I didn't see the full 80mins though so might have been another event in the game.

Still, I don't think Slater has the game changing speed he used to. Mind you, we're so slow it might not matter.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Offload is a key. The Warriors always trouble the Storm with their offloading.

 

[Mister Wright]

It's going to be really interesting to see Ben Hunt take on Cooper Cronk.