POST GAME Round 23 - Broncos vs Dragons

[Super Freak]

Not sure what Thaiday was thinking after Wallace cleaned up that kick..

Was he trying to increase his tackle stat or what?

 

[bb_gun]

Not sure what Thaiday was thinking after Wallace cleaned up that kick..

Was he trying to increase his tackle stat or what?

I figured he was trying to prevent Wallace from being dragged back into the in-goal, however that was never going to happen so he just ended up looking ridiculous. :-)

 

[Behold]

Probably to prevent us being penalised for a voluntary tackle, it was the point of the game and we were that far ahead that the refs start enforcing the actual rules.

 

[Organix]

Bennett assured the press that all will line up next week. Gillett got stitches and Macca is fine.

Rest assured BronxNation/BHQ

 

[slush]

Not sure what Thaiday was thinking after Wallace cleaned up that kick..

Was he trying to increase his tackle stat or what?

typical sammy, wouldnt expect anything less from him! maddest dude out!

 

[Super Freak]

Bennett assured the press that all will line up next week. Gillett got stitches and Macca is fine.

Rest assured BronxNation/BHQ

Milford won't be lining up next week.

He'll get done for a shoulder charge.

 

[Big Pete]

Happy just to get the win.

I didn't think there was that much improvement from this week to last week. The additions of Blair and Copley helped but I still thought a lot of existing problems were on show tonight. In particular, Jack Reed's initial contact is starting to get on my nerves. He keeps bouncing off the tackle, giving the opposition easy momentum where they can start to look dangerous. He's really going to have to fix that up, otherwise I don't think he'll have much of a future at the club.

I thought the Dragons flattered us somewhat. Without Marshall, it seemed like they were playing with a hand tied behind their back. Widdop tried hard, but he couldn't make every post a winner. At 16-0 or even 10-0, I have no idea why Mary didn't bring on Hutchinson. St George desperately needed points at that stage and de Belin was never going to play that role for them. Milford taking full advantage of de Belin's immobility should have been the trigger. That's why Bennett didn't even see coach McGregor as a waterboy.

 

[Rhys van Beurden]

As for the game, Blair was wonderful in his efforts all game.

Am I the only one who notices this?

 

[Alec]

Even master trolls slip up occasionally.

 

[Organix]

Am I the only one who notices this?

Unfortunately, no. There are a select few individuals who love to take the piss. Rest assured, it is probably all part of the troll.

 

[vertigo]

[MENTION=8541]badyon[/MENTION]

Blair Man of the Match

 

[Kaz]

Am I the only one who notices this?

If you were, [MENTION=8300]FaithinHook[/MENTION] wouldn't have mentioned it. :wink:

 

[Broncoman]

Very happy with the win had a lot of fun watching that game. We dug in very well in the first half in defense and really just tore the Dragons apart after that. Blair was fantastic and added what we've been missing in the last 2 weeks he was superb on both sides of the ball, 12 carries for 120 meters with 4 offloads whilst making 26 tackles in defense.

The injuries worry me though

 

[AceAv]

Are they genuine injuries or just niggles?

Either way it's not what you want to hear going into the biggest game for our later season.

Will need a few days to know who's 100% but I think Bennett will want to be using a good bench to ensure next week doesn't flatten our key players carrying injuries.

6 day turn around to face the bunnies who were very physical against the cows.

Here's a hypothetical: what if Bennett decides to rest our first grade and we drop the roosters bunnies game and come out firing against the storm?

Worst case scenario we finish in the top 4 and are fresh for the finals, but sounds like a crazy plan still!..

Hopefully the eels come out and bash into the roosters so we are on level terms with their players regarding fatigue and injuries..

Back to tonight's game and the defensive strategy we have been executing: - I just watched the cows game and they are doing the opposite when it comes to giving meters.

Almost every time they rushed up to hold the bunnies in the zone, they copped a penalty which cost them dearly on almost every occasion.

The way the ref's police that aggression is very strict, so not only are you needing to be extremely disciplined when rushing up, your also burning a lot of energy constantly charging in and then rushing back the 10.

But if one member gives a penalty away it's devastating to the strategy and you end up compounding fatigue by suddenly needing to defend on your line.
Bennett's strategy I understand was discussed in another thread and it goes into detail about us giving 45-65 meters to the opposition and backing our defence when they get into an attacking 5th tackle play.

We conserve a lot of stamina & (ideally) end up with the ball more often and then rely on our halves and backs to create opportunities for us to either get repeat sets or score points. - Or at the very least; hold onto it longer so they end up defending more..

The way we've managed to out last our opponents on stamina /endurance has been a real noticeable point this year.

Roosters and Cowboys have had a lot of games where they clock off and let the opponents back in and I feel it's mainly due to all the energy they burn trying to prevent the opposition getting a roll on.

While our strategy has worked a lot for us against the "shitter teams". I do remain concerned that we will need to bring a new level of energy into the finals games and take full advantage of the risks that the other teams take when they go for the 'rush up in defence' style of play.

We play a very simple brand of footy and I really appreciate it. But would hate to be fan of a team that's constantly penalised and ends up letting the opposition get cheap meters and cheaper tries because they know that they can just pull wins out from behind worst case scenario.

Manly and Roosters have been this sort of team for some time now and I can see the anxiety they out their fans and coach through every week.

Sorry for the long post, stuck at an airport atm in Ireland ;)

TL;DR? - Hope we are fresh next week and compound a new level to our game to prevent the cheap meters.

 

[Big Pete]

Just had a sneaky peak at the replay and wanted to share something I noticed before I head to bed.

Live, I thought the try was really and undeserved. Bounce pass to Kahu with a ton of room? Clearly the Broncos simply took advantage of an inexperienced pairing. However, watching it again, I didn't realise how well constructed the try was. Nothing fancy, just good ball movement that stretched the Dragons on both sides. The key moment was the ball from Thaiday to Parker that put Parker one on one with Frizell. This caused Ah Mau to rush off the line to close it, causing the Dragons to reshuffle. Next play, Macca hits Blair with a great ball, sucking in Widdop who's forced in much closer than he should be. Blair did exceptionally well to win the ruck for the Broncos, get the quick play the ball giving the Broncos an easy four on two advantage.

It just highlights how much more direction the team has this year, as well as the difference Blair makes. If it was Wallace taking the hit up, there's no way he get the play the ball through before Widdop recovers.

Also got to give Maxwell credit. I thought the penalty against de Belin was pretty harsh on first view. I just thought it was a dominant tackle on Milford and he deserved some extra time in the ruck. However, replays showed that the Dragons peeled off 3-2-1 giving Maxwell no choice.

I rarely see those given, definitely didn't see enough given against the Bulldogs so credit where it's due.

 

[uptheguts]

Vey enjoyable and virtually fan.stress free win.

I thought all our forwards were great. I am really starting to like Dodds. He is rock solid in the middle and always tries to hit hard.He really adds umph to our defence when he comes on with fresh legs.

Milford was very good again, but I think he should cut right back on the number of trips he has up the middle. He really has no business charging into those big boys,leave that to Sam and Co.

I too am not a fan of the " come to papa " defence strategy . I hear the argument about conserving energy , but that backfires if teams can get repeat sets by trapping us in goal as Melbourne did. We did not conserve much energy that night! Anyway let's see where WB is going with this. Maybe he will turn up the line speed in the finals,

Kind of glad Justin had the week off. I think he would appreciate the freshen up

 

[Waynesaurus]

Somebody needs to buy Milf some new boots, he was slipping over all night.

 

[mieko]

Great game and great win finally bouncing back. Thought the bench did extremely well when they came on, especially Joey O with the tuck the ball under the arm and just run hard, well done. And Blair was fantastic, work rate all over the park was great.

Dont know how Reed came back on, he was knocked out cold and didn't look good. Hopefully all those niggling injuries clear up for the next game, big three weeks coming up though think we can give it in all games a real good shot.

well done lads, rest up then fire up again.