POST GAME Round 23 - Broncos vs Eels

[uptheguts]

Much improved effort all round . but TBH Eels made a lot of farcical errors which it is hard to see the Dogs or Storm or Sharks making.. The real test is next week.

So good to see our team playing with a truly big confident young forward with an offload. I like the TPJ abbreviation.

I agree with Macca as MOM. He has been great for two weeks in a row. It looks to me like he is modelling his game on Cam Smith. Cool calm and collected in attack and a terrier in defense. He will be absolutely crucial in the next few weeks.

Three lads with Yeppoon connection now. Hunt ,Oates and Pearson.

 

[Super Freak]

This is one of my problems with Opacic, and of course it comes with inexperience, but it's something he will need to fix quickly.

Isn't Thaiday meant to be on the opposite side of Milford?

It wasn't a great start for Opacic. He was the reason why Eels got 6 more and then that.

I don't blame him for the around the legs tackle on Manu in that situation. He was caught out and he had no other option.

But after that try, I saw something that I liked. When the boys were in a huddle in the in-goal waiting for the conversion, Parker was talking to the boys. He wasn't standing there just staring at nothing. He was in there communicating.

 

[Morkel]

This is one of my problems with Opacic, and of course it comes with inexperience, but it's something he will need to fix quickly.

Isn't Thaiday meant to be on the opposite side of Milford?

It wasn't a great start for Opacic. He was the reason why Eels got 6 more and then that.

I don't blame him for the around the legs tackle on Manu in that situation. He was caught out and he had no other option.

I'm not sure what the problem is - Opacic is in the same line as the others except Oates who's dropped back for the last. Broncos defend compressed and slide out, it may seem like they're stretched but failing a bad one-on-one miss where they no only miss but do not slow the runner down at all, they have the width easily covered.

In terms of positioning in defence, most halves defend next to the centre, meaning the bigger body is closer to the ruck. The exception is when the half is a very small body and they hide him next to the winger (Soward used to do this with Gasnier defending 3-in).

 

[Super Freak]

I'm not sure what the problem is - Opacic is in the same line as the others except Oates who's dropped back for the last. Broncos defend compressed and slide out, it may seem like they're stretched but failing a bad one-on-one miss where they no only miss but do not slow the runner down at all, they have the width easily covered.

In terms of positioning in defence, most halves defend next to the centre, meaning the bigger body is closer to the ruck. The exception is when the half is a very small body and they hide him next to the winger (Soward used to do this with Gasnier defending 3-in).

Well Manu was his opposite number and he was too far in.

The Parra half saw that and threw a pass and as a result Manu was able to get on the outside of Opacic.

I was under the impression you had to stay in line with the player you're marking up against.

 

[Wolfie]

I haven't seen a great deal wrong with Toms defence really. Coming into a team down on confidence and form i think he has done pretty well. He is a bit similar to Reed in some respects, but at the same time, i feel he has more tries in him, and he is a better ball player, although we havent seen much of that from him yet.

He has only had 3 full games at NRL level, and tbf the vast majority of his football has been as a right center, so his positioning on the left may be a little off. Yes, he has made a couple of errors, but he has done some good things as well, look at his hit on the dragons player in the last play of that game, it was superb defence.

I think with young blokes like Him, Pearson, Pangai, Arrow, Offa and Herman, you just have to accept some of the little things in their game are going to take time to develop.

 

[Dash]

Well Manu was his opposite number and he was too far in.

The Parra half saw that and threw a pass and as a result Manu was able to get on the outside of Opacic.

I was under the impression you had to stay in line with the player you're marking up against.

If he had been standing in line with Ma'u, he would have left Moeroa unmarked. The problem was that Milford was way too far infield. He was practically in Thaiday's pocket.

 

[ZTop]

Has anyone got a link for the full match replay for this game

 

[winslow_wong]

Has anyone got a link for the full match replay for this game

YouTube it

 

[Morkel]

Well Manu was his opposite number and he was too far in.

The Parra half saw that and threw a pass and as a result Manu was able to get on the outside of Opacic.

I was under the impression you had to stay in line with the player you're marking up against.

We were still able to get out there and defend though - it was only some really poor efforts to wrap the ball up that led to that first try.

Our defence works well because it is compressed in the middle. It just means that not only do we have to be ready to spread out wide extremely fast, but trust that the inside defender is moving with you (it's that trust that had been lost due to having rookies and whatever rift the players supposedly have). That's why the commentators have been harping on about us being exploitable by a pass back on the inside, if the inside defender is lazy then it'll leave a massive gap.

Because of that, we're almost always inside our opposite number. It's also why we have to get off our line fast - most of the time the contact out wide is being made with the shoulder that's further back, so there's less power behind it but allows us to ride them to the ground. It's why Morgan in the past has been able to burn away from Glenn (the attacking half numbers up with the defending wide forward), and overpower Milf. And why Reed was almost exclusively diving to tackle his opposite on the outside (buggered shoulder notwithstanding).

IMO, it is a good structure for a team that is not very big but has great lateral movement and fitness. The compressed state should mean we can get numbers in to the tackle and be tight in the ruck, and our fitness and belief means we can (should?) confidently handle it when the ball goes out wide.

 

[ZTop]

YouTube it

I'm to lazy

 

[coreyh88]

Your analysis of our defensive structure in general is correct however it was poorly executed there. there is no way we should have had 3 players on top of each other, especially not so wide. Blair was too slow following Thaiday and if Gutherson played on the inside it would have been dangerous. Milford was held up by gutherson but needed to trust thaiday and be sliding. Opacic should have been a touch wider but his hands were tied as milford wasn't slliding but waiting for gutherson who thaiday had mostly covered. it does however look worse than it is. we are only talking maybe a meter or two further out for each player if they are in motion already. If they were numbered up gutherson could have burnt thiday on the outside creating an overlap.

 

[Alec]

If he had been standing in line with Ma'u, he would have left Moeroa unmarked. The problem was that Milford was way too far infield. He was practically in Thaiday's pocket.

Yeah, I agree. Milford's positioning is the real problem in that pic.