PRE-GAME Round 22 - Dragons vs Broncos

[subsbligh]

Not confident at all.

Our mentality now is, we just need to be there come September and it will all be alright on the night.

No it won't. This year is gaawwn.

In the past 12 weeks (since the Sharks loss reall whenever that was) we've beaten Manly (pre-late season energy) and Souths (the only team more fucked than us).

And not come close to any other side in competing.

I would dead set be concerned if we were playing the Knights this week.

The signs have been wrong since Round 1. The loss to the Panthers in Round 3 (?) was alarming how arrogant and unwilling to do he hard work to win we were.

Bennett should be thinking about 2018, maybe as late as 2020 as the next tilt. Who is Hunt's replacement? How does he develop Milford's game management ability?

I think he is setting up succession plan with Kevvie, no doubt whatsoever. He knows the knives are coming in 2016.

I literally am bereft of answers as to how this team improves enough to even win another game this year let alone compete with the other 15 teams in this comp in 2016.

No use flogging a dead horse. You can't win every year. There is plenty of talent but there's something well amiss in the playing group.

 

[lynx000]

Not confident at all.

Our mentality now is, we just need to be there come September and it will all be alright on the night.

No it won't. This year is gaawwn.

In the past 12 weeks (since the Sharks loss reall whenever that was) we've beaten Manly (pre-late season energy) and Souths (the only team more ****ed than us).

And not come close to any other side in competing.

I would dead set be concerned if we were playing the Knights this week.

The signs have been wrong since Round 1. The loss to the Panthers in Round 3 (?) was alarming how arrogant and unwilling to do he hard work to win we were.

Bennett should be thinking about 2018, maybe as late as 2020 as the next tilt. Who is Hunt's replacement? How does he develop Milford's game management ability?

I think he is setting up succession plan with Kevvie, no doubt whatsoever. He knows the knives are coming in 2016.

I literally am bereft of answers as to how this team improves enough to even win another game this year let alone compete with the other 15 teams in this comp in 2016.

No use flogging a dead horse. You can't win every year. There is plenty of talent but there's something well amiss in the playing group.

I was an early adopter for the we are in trouble and headed for the rocks (like even well before Cronulla), but for some reason (I don't know why) I think we have bottomed out and the climb out the other side starts on Thursday night.

Colour me hopelessly optimistic, but I am starting to think we could still give it a shake. Of course if we lose I will join the crowds with pitchforks outside Red Hill burning effigies of Wayne, milf and ben hunt.

 

[subsbligh]

I was an early adopter for the we are in trouble and headed for the rocks (like even well before Cronulla), but for some reason (I don't know why) I think we have bottomed out and the climb out the other side starts on Thursday night.

Colour me hopelessly optimistic, but I am starting to think we could still give it a shake. Of course if we lose I will join the crowds with pitchforks outside Red Hill burning effigies of Wayne, milf and ben hunt.

Hope you're right.

I've clung to that feeling for three weekends in a row and been hopelessly disappointed with three woeful and effortless losses. We are going backwards and the Storm game... They put us to the sword for 2016 I think..

48-6 at home. You don't turn that around to premiership force in 6 weeks.

 

[Super Freak]

I guess to a point he is, but he is 26 now? Not sure he has that much more improvement in him tbh.

He was the best half around in his age group iirc. Didn't help how Hook brought him through I guess, its like he became our half back almost by default. He has had more experience as a half overall I would say, just the 3 seasons at nrl level.

He is 26, but I don't see the issues over his age. He still has another 7-8 years in the NRL. Plenty of time. He still has improvement in him.

If he was playing his whole career in the halves, then there would be a problem. But the reality is he spent most of his career as a hooker, with just 15-20 minutes off the bench. All of the skills you need to have to be a successful halfback, you can't really learn playing as a hooker off the bench.

He is still developing as an NRL halfback, and he has shown improvement. In 2014, all he had was a running game. Now he can set up his outside men a lot better than what he could back then. He has been improving since Milford came to the club because having him there has taken pressure off him and allowed him to be able to work on the other areas of his game instead of trying to compensate for the shitness of Barba and Hoffman and chase points as much as we had to in 2014. There have been games where he has shown good game management, good kicking, barking orders and guiding the team around the field so it's not like he can't ever do it. He just has to learn how to master it and be consistent.

I just don't see why Hunt can't be cut more slack when he is in the same boat. I think people have unrealistic expectations. He hasn't had the benefit of developing as a halfback as much as every other halfback in the comp.

Milford was also a half in his younger days, same as Hunt.

At the moment, we're stuck with Hunt. I think he will improve because he has recognized the flaws in his game and he is working on them. There are no other realistic options on the market and there won't be for about a couple of years. If he doesn't make the improvements he needs by then, I would be all for finding someone else.

Or, we could bring Johns to the club as a halves coach because he knows his shit and halves that work with him tend to improve in those areas.

 

[Wolfie]

Which Johns brother? Wasn't it Matty Johns who worked with Cronk at Melbourne to improve his game?

 

[Super Freak]

Which Johns brother? Wasn't it Matty Johns who worked with Cronk at Melbourne to improve his game?

Yeah it was.

Andrew was the one I was talking about.

Worked with Foran and DCE, and also the Roosters halves.

 

[Stix]

Yeah it was.

Andrew was the one I was talking about.

Worked with Foran and DCE, and also the Roosters halves.

Id say that was a good idea, but if we havn't utilised the services of Darren Lockyer why use Joey Johns? I thought one of the reasons Milf came to Brisbane was the chance to be personally coached by Locky... And then he says he doesn't need it?? If we had Locky and Langer working closely with the 2 playmakers for a couple of seasons I'd say we would see a vast improvement in game management. What is Lockys role at the Broncos? Is it PR and media or board level stuff?

 

[lionred]

Love Thaiday in todays paper talking about the fact the young guys in the team need to start believing in their ability and thats when Broncos will start breaking the snowball effect and start winning games. These type of comments and deflection from him annoy me. How bout he not get suspended and then give his all when he is on the field for starters.

I think we will get over this week if the poisitives from last week are built on and players like thaiday and parker really dig deep.

 

[tommy]

Love Thaiday in todays paper talking about the fact the young guys in the team need to start believing in their ability and thats when Broncos will start breaking the snowball effect and start winning games. These type of comments and deflection from him annoy me. How bout he not get suspended and then give his all when he is on the field for starters.

I think we will get over this week if the poisitives from last week are built on and players like thaiday and parker really dig deep.

In an interview on the news yesterday he said he was disappointed to be suspended because as a team you want your best 17 on the park each week. He immediately started backtracking and uhming and ahhing about how he hopes he is one of the best 17. I got the impression he has been spoken to about it.

 

[Browny]

We need the aggressive Sammy not the larrikin

 

[Foordy]

Love Thaiday in todays paper talking about the fact the young guys in the team need to start believing in their ability and thats when Broncos will start breaking the snowball effect and start winning games. These type of comments and deflection from him annoy me. How bout he not get suspended and then give his all when he is on the field for starters.

I think we will get over this week if the poisitives from last week are built on and players like thaiday and parker really dig deep.

Thaiday shouldn't have even been charged ... thatcwas a good rugby league tackle. Nothing more.

 

[Horseheadsup]

I heard Kahu not playing?

 

[talanoa]

i think offa and ese'ese will miss out this week. from what im hearing tpj and arrow are staying in.

 

[Danoz Direct]

i think offa and ese'ese will miss out this week. from what im hearing tpj and arrow are staying in.

Happy TPJ is still in but I just think Ese'ese is than Arrow coming off the bench.

 

[lionred]

I agree. Whilst i think Arrow would work hard, off the bench we need the bigger bodied impact of Herman.

 

[Renegade]

He is 26, but I don't see the issues over his age. He still has another 7-8 years in the NRL. Plenty of time. He still has improvement in him.

Yes but we've been saying this for 2 years and his kicking game has not improved at all. So we wait another 2 years, he's now 28, what do we say then? He's coming into his peak years he can't possibly not improve?

he doesn't have plenty of time because if he does not improve he will no longer be in the NRL, at least not as a halfback.

If he was playing his whole career in the halves, then there would be a problem. But the reality is he spent most of his career as a hooker, with just 15-20 minutes off the bench. All of the skills you need to have to be a successful halfback, you can't really learn playing as a hooker off the bench.

he has spent most of his life playing as a half. he may have played as a bench hooker for a couple of seasons but even so, it's still a position where it's beneficial to have a good kicking game, so the excuse of him not developing a better one because he was playing a different position is not valid.

He is still developing as an NRL halfback, and he has shown improvement. In 2014, all he had was a running game. Now he can set up his outside men a lot better than what he could back then. He has been improving since Milford came to the club because having him there has taken pressure off him and allowed him to be able to work on the other areas of his game instead of trying to compensate for the shitness of Barba and Hoffman and chase points as much as we had to in 2014. There have been games where he has shown good game management, good kicking, barking orders and guiding the team around the field so it's not like he can't ever do it. He just has to learn how to master it and be consistent.

So in 2014 all he had is a running game ... what does he have in 2016? Because at the moment I can see a lot of people saying, why isn't Hunt running the ball more often? So if the only thing that made him an elite player is something he is no longer employing, or employing to a similar effect, common sense would dictate what's the overall benefit to keeping him around?

As you said, he's 26 years old, and the fact we're scrambling for examples of where he has resembled a complete halfback kinda says it all.

 

[lionred]

i think offa and ese'ese will miss out this week. from what im hearing tpj and arrow are staying in.

Can we expect knik and kahu to be back?

 

[coreyh88]

Yes but we've been saying this for 2 years and his kicking game has not improved at all. So we wait another 2 years, he's now 28, what do we say then? He's coming into his peak years he can't possibly not.

He has actually improved immensely since 2014. He's still not a cronk or thurston but is somewhere near middle of the pack with his kicking now.