POST GAME Round 22 - Dragons vs Broncos

[1910]

Jesus Christ I had no idea. That's awful.

Awful for Barry too- just sitting watching the football hearing he's dead.

 

[Rabbir]

No doubt the Sharks, Storm and Cowboys will be looking over their shoulders after that one.

 

[Super Freak]

More baiting attempts I see..

 

[mitch222]

No doubt the Sharks, Storm and Cowboys will be looking over their shoulders after that one.

when we get to full strength they will
atleast we have a **** load of improvement in us, cant say the same for some of the top 4 sides who have already peaked

 

[Bucking Beads]

Team cohesion was still off but there was a much more committed effort in defense.

 

[Pushkin]

The problem with Broncos are the coaches. Bennett and Stephen Kearney are both defensive coach. The need some one to help their attack. I am not sure whether or not Kevin Walter join the Broncos. I think they need some seriously help in their attack. Ben hunt and Milford are not fully developed as halfbacks. I hope Bennett can get back Kevin Walter as soon as possible.

​

 

[broncos4life]

Awful for Barry too- just sitting watching the football hearing he's dead.

Oh I get it now - I wasn't listening to the commentary so had no idea exactly how much of a fuckstick Vossy was being... should have known though.

 

[Sirlee oldman]

No doubt the Sharks, Storm and Cowboys will be looking over their shoulders after that one.

Some people see the glass as half full. Others see it as half empty. Then there are those bundles of joy that not only see it as half empty but they are pretty sure someone spat in it as well. Guess which one you are.

 

[Super Freak]

Dragons v Broncos: Five key points

The Wollongong wet didn't dampen the Broncos' spirits following their 12-8 win over the Dragons on Thursday night.

The opener for Round 22 of the Telstra Premiership saw a spirited return from Matt Gillett and a subpar performance from Benji Marshall.

Broncos' Origins reps reunited after two months

Brisbane's six Origin players – including the likes of Matt Gillett, Sam Thaiday and Josh McGuire – haven't run out together for the Broncos since Round 14. Gillett is the man who's missed the most time, with a shoulder injury denying him a game since State of Origin III. McGuire and Thaiday missed the Broncos' last-start loss to the Roosters and coach Wayne Bennett couldn't have been happier to have the three of them back.

"You have to understand that's half your forward pack and they're all current Australian players," he said.

"They're not on the way up in football so taking 50 per cent of your forwards out of your team has a huge impact. They complemented everyone else out there."

Marshall's tough night out

The conjecture surrounding Dragons veteran Marshall's future was reignited following his horror performance. While the former Kiwis captain set up the Dragons' only try in the final five minutes, it was offset by his five errors. Atrocious weather didn't help Marshall's cause, but he was still cause for just under half of his side's mistakes. Dragons coach Paul McGregor refused to blame Marshall for the defeat.

"I'm not here to talk about individuals. We talked about it downstairs. It's a team sport and it's no good sitting in front of anyone talking about individual players," he said.

Marshall's halves partner Gareth Widdop wouldn't be drawn into speculation over the 31-year-old's future.

"I enjoy playing alongside Benji. He's a great bloke and a great player to have around the team," Widdop said. "But at the moment we've just got to worry about playing good football, that's all we can do as players."

Brisbane buck beaten run

The Broncos will be hoping their four-point win ends their mixed bag of recent form. Prior to Round 22, Brisbane had lost six of their past eight games, and the notoriously successful club's win diffuses any pressure over them missing the finals. Bennett was hoping his side can now revisit their early-season form which saw them win nine of their first 11 games.

"We just needed to get the win here and carry on with it next week and each week get a bit better. There's still plenty of time to do that," Bennett said.

"There's four games to go now and it's about the time we started playing well and started getting our game together.

"Hopefully we can pick up what we left off about three months ago and I'll be happy with that. It'll give us the best chance we have of advancing anywhere in the play-offs."

Dragons' finals task gets harder

McGregor all but conceded the Dragons had run their race when it came to finals. The Red V currently sit 12th on the Telstra Premiership ladder and will potentially be four competition points off from eighth position by round's end.

McGregor remained upbeat however and said the final month of the season will give him an opportunity to blood several of his younger players.

"You don't like to put pressure on pre-game, about having to win games of footy because then you worry about the outcome before you worry about the process going through it," he said. "But the loss makes it difficult."

Milford, Hunt lift in Wollongong wet

Broncos halves Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford had their best games in a number of weeks despite the Wollongong weather heavily influencing both sides' attacking output. Hunt controlled the game expertly with his kicking game while Milford showed glimpses of his attacking best with an inch-perfect grubber for Sam Thaiday helping Brisbane to the game's first try.

"They were good last week and they were good here," Bennett said. "It was a difficult night for halfbacks but they did what they had to do. They ran the ball and took the opposition on, on several occasions."

Dragons v Broncos: Five key points - NRL.com

 

[Kaz]

Give Maranta a break he only found out mid game his grandfather had died- so did his grandfather too.

Great work Voss.

Did Voss not think that if the co-founder of the club died the club wouldn't be doing something?

Did Voss say it was Barry, his other grandfather may have died.

 

[Kimlo]

What was Vossy saying? Admittedly I kind of tune him out because he just rambles on a bit too much sometimes.

 

[1910]

Did Voss say it was Barry, his other grandfather may have died.

The late Barry Maranta he commented.

I assume he was thinking of Morgan.

Still stupid mistake.

 

[Maroon4life]

No one was expecting polish and professional NRL tonight. This was about grinding out a win and trying to crawl out of this slump. There were many improvements made and that's all I wanted.

Anyone that was realistic would of been happy with this win, if you set yourself up to expect a polished thrashing then that's your fault.

I don't give a **** about what a neutral would think.

There's 4 more rounds of football for us to improve and relearn to play football at a level that will trouble the top 3. If you really want to be realistic than at least say all you wanted too see was a broncos win, not an improved performance that showed we are capable of competing for this years title.

You don't care about neutrals so when the bronco's aren't playing Vs the Sharks/Cowboys/Storm you don't watch their games? I do and a lot of other people here do and we got some hard truths for you boy, those 'improvements' that helped you sleep soundly last night were nothing to get excited bout. We needed to see a polished dominant performance from this playing group because they are fast running out of time to get it right, put me in the group of people who think they already have.

 

[Kaz]

The late Barry Maranta he commented.

I assume he was thinking of Morgan.

Still stupid mistake.

What a dick he is.

What minute was it. (approximately)

 

[Super Freak]

There's 4 more rounds of football for us to improve and relearn to play football at a level that will trouble the top 3. If you really want to be realistic than at least say all you wanted too see was a broncos win, not an improved performance that showed we are capable of competing for this years title.

You don't care about neutrals so when the bronco's aren't playing Vs the Sharks/Cowboys/Storm you don't watch their games? I do and a lot of other people here do and we got some hard truths for you boy, those 'improvements' that helped you sleep soundly last night were nothing to get excited bout. We needed to see a polished dominant performance from this playing group because they are fast running out of time to get it right, put me in the group of people who think they already have.

In 2009, the Broncos went from being dour to brilliant in 2 weeks.

Last year, had a dour win against the Sharks. Brilliant the next week putting the Cowboys to the sword and just continued on from that.

Plenty of time mate.

This team hasn't forgotten how to play like they did at the start of the season, they just need some confidence.

Sometimes all you need is an ugly win.

 

[lynx000]

There's 4 more rounds of football for us to improve and relearn to play football at a level that will trouble the top 3. If you really want to be realistic than at least say all you wanted too see was a broncos win, not an improved performance that showed we are capable of competing for this years title.

You don't care about neutrals so when the bronco's aren't playing Vs the Sharks/Cowboys/Storm you don't watch their games? I do and a lot of other people here do and we got some hard truths for you boy, those 'improvements' that helped you sleep soundly last night were nothing to get excited bout. We needed to see a polished dominant performance from this playing group because they are fast running out of time to get it right, put me in the group of people who think they already have.

I might be wrong, but I don't think anyone has said that they expect us to win the GF, or any final or beat the Storm, Sharks or Cronulla on the basis of that performance. If somebody did, then your comments are spot on. What I understand most people have said is that there are signs of improvement last night from how bad we have been.

If we are still playing that way in 4 weeks time, then we will most likely be cannon fodder, but I am hoping that will not be the case.

 

[mitch222]

Lets break this game up into positives and negatives

Positives

1. Sam Thaiday had his best game of the year by far. Ran hard and strong. We need him to keep this up for the next two months if we are any chance
2. Matt Gillett returned in style and boy didn't we miss his defence. He shore that right hand side up solid
3. Josh McGuire was strong and we really missed his metres last week.
4. Adam Blair looks to be getting back to his niggling best. His kick pressure last night was world class. Good signs here
5. Looks like the halves have been spending time on their short kicking and forcing repeat sets. Still plenty of work to be done but the signs were positive. McCullough seems to be taking a bit of pressure of the halves in this department as well

Negatives
1. Oatesy Oatesy Oatesy what is going on my friend. I think he just needs to keep it simple for a couple of weeks and spend some time catching bombs. Starting to look very shaky out there.
2. Milfords running game at the moment looks shot. I saw him live at the panthers game and **** me, he looked like he ate Milford. Maybe he is carrying around some extra kgs but yeah, we need him back to his best if we are to go deep in the finals
3. I get the left edge is our strength but yeah, felt a bit sorry for the right hand side last night. They had no ball what so ever and when they did Gillett almost scored off a short ball from Hunt (AND **** ME MORE OF THIS PLEASE FOR OUR SECOND ROWERS). A bit more even in attack would keep teams guessing.

 

[Super Freak]

3. I get the left edge is our strength but yeah, felt a bit sorry for the right hand side last night. They had no ball what so ever and when they did Gillett almost scored off a short ball from Hunt (AND **** ME MORE OF THIS PLEASE FOR OUR SECOND ROWERS). A bit more even in attack would keep teams guessing.

I actually thought Fittler made an interesting point last night.

He said perhaps the Broncos were going left a lot to tire out Marshall.

Perhaps it was done on purpose to tire him out, and because the left side is our stronger side.

A fatigued Marshall is a useless Marshall.