Round 24 - Panthers vs. Broncos - Pre Match Discussion

[Brett]

No, he's talking about Whingy Wong, sorry I mean winslow_wong

Funny, I thought he meant Penny Wong. He's a pretty tough bloke.

 

[rnabokov]

Funny, I thought he meant Penny Wong. He's a pretty tough bloke.

Maybe we should sign Lazarus Rudd as attacking strategist

 

[animal eater]

You guys are all wong.

 

[winslow_wong]

2 wongs don't make a white

this is a forum, it's where whingers like me come to whinge. so stop whinging about whingers whinging

 

[Socnorb]

2 wongs don't make a white

this is a forum, it's where whingers like me come to whinge. so stop whinging about whingers whinging

You are totally white Winslow Wong

 

[Porthoz]

2 wongs don't make a white

this is a forum, it's where whingers like me come to whinge. so stop whinging about whingers whinging

I don't recall reading any of that when I signed up for BHQ... and we certainly haven't changed our statement since.
This is a discussion forum, whining and discussing are not synonyms! :001_tt2:

 

[winslow_wong]

to rid the world from whinging would be like ridding the world of racism. impossible

besides, i'm only whinging because the broncos have sucked pretty bad the last 2 years. don't judge me i'm just passionate

 

[Brett]

I don't recall reading any of that when I signed up for BHQ... and we certainly haven't changed our statement since.
This is a discussion forum, whining and discussing are not synonyms! :001_tt2:

Synony-what? These big words...

 

[rnabokov]

Put it this way. If the synonyms for "tackle" are: confront, hit hard, face up, aggress, attack, then our coach is Antonym Griffin

 

[Brett]

Put it this way. If the synonyms for "tackle" are: confront, hit hard, face up, aggress, attack, then our coach is Antonym Griffin

I am impressed.

 

[rnabokov]

That's bloody clever rnabokov! Credit where it's due.

Thank you SS and Brett!

I just hope to see the team I have followed and loved since they came into the NRl get up and separate the teeth from each Panther - metaphorically speaking of course (not).

 

[Broncoman]

Fast fact:

The Broncos have scored more points against Penrith than any other club with 1,119.

 

[rnabokov]

Fast fact:

The Broncos have scored more points against Penrith than any other club with 1,119.

After this game, I'll be happy with 25 points

 

[Morkel]

Light bulb moment. Our forward pack is one of the best in the comp. Hannant, Thaiday, Parker are Qld & Australian reps. Gillett plays for Qld, McGuire is knocking on the door. Glenn plays for NZ. We should be dominating and dominating consistently, for 80 minutes. Why aren't we? Because we're too nice. I think Hook's (and arguably the player's) biggest asset, the hard-work, good-guy, family-man persona, is not allowing us to compete.

I'm not for a second saying we should get dirty. But look at the top teams. Roosters are shocking for blatant over-aggressiveness, constantly off-side, holding players down, cheap shots. Manly, every tackle they look like horny school-boys trying to touch every inch of the opposition's body, hands here, there, everywhere. Storm, don't get me started. Bulldogs = Manly mk2 (yeah, that's Hasler). Rabbitohs have the diving, attempted-leg-breaking Luke, as well as enough Burgess brothers to keep cricket-box manufacturers wealthy. Even the Sharks have the biggest grub in the game as their captain. These teams' packs dominate. Pound the opposition in to painful submission, so their halves & backs have the room to create the points.

Look at the past years' worth of GF teams. Cheating Storm, with a coach who who was so obsessed with wrestling and injury-creating tactics that as second-in-command to Bennett was asked to stop these techniques and the players ordered to fight fair. Hasler and his Manly cheap-shot mugs. Bennett won the title with the Dragons, sporting two of the nastiest in the game, Beau Scott & Jeremy Smith, and has taken them both to the Knights (I guess it's okay to recruit grubs, but only if they're established).

What do we do? Is the success on-field worth the fact that we have to drop to a different level of integrity? Or do we keep our heads high, knowing that any success we get will be genuinely earned without having to lower our morals? I'm genuinely torn.

 

[vertigo]

If you're not in contention for a premiership why bother?

Sure we're aiming for finals but we'll do SFA if we make it :winky:

 

[Rabbir]

If you're not in contention for a premiership why bother?

Sure we're aiming for finals but we'll do SFA if we make it :winky:

It's true though. I never quite understood the big deal of making the finals and then getting thumped in the 1st week and getting eliminated. The aim should be to win premierships. I would have rather watched the Cowboys pump some other team last year in Week 1.

 

[theshed]

Because, although unlikely, the chances of winning a premiership are significantly higher if you qualify for the finals than if you are on holidays a month early.

 

[KingWebcke]

Light bulb moment ... sorry, bit long ...

I think this is really off the mark. there are a few things I don't agree with.

First one is the claim that the successful teams are all grubby. I think that is just wrong and self-pitying. Sure, the good teams have grubs (and they get well-publicised for it because they are successful) but every team has some grubby players and I don't think it has that much of an effect on being successful. The Dragons weren't good because Smith and Scott were nasty, they were good because they had great depth in their forwards adn they followed a plan to perfection. Manly aren't successful because of Matai or Wamtough cheapshots, they are successful because for years they have had the fastest defensive line in the NRL and it flusters the opposition in attack, leading to them being consistently stingy in defence. And while the Storm probably get helped by some dubious wrestling, the fact that they have the best organised defence in the NRL is way, way more important than the occasional chicken wing or grapple that gets your blood boiling.

I don't ever want to see Broncos players diving, grappling or cheapshotting but apart from that I don't see how you can complain about what the other teams are doing. The Roosters and Manly give away tonnes of penalties for being very fast off the line and for holding down int eh tackle but that isn't cheating. it isn't some devious ploy or secret loophole in the game that they are exploiting. It is a calculated risk and they get penalised heavily for it but in the end they do it because the risk is worth the reward. And personally, that is what sport is all about - pushing the limits to reach your maximum potential. It is the same with Melbourne and their gang tackles.

I think complaining about it also ignores the amount of dedication and skill from the coaches and players to carry out those tactics. Ffast line speed requires great fitness from players and also a tonne of discipline so that big gaps aren't exposed. The gang tackles of Melbourne and Manly are the same and they require great organisation and discipline so that you don't end up with players struggling back to the line.

It isn't like all these teams have just decided '**** it, let's bend the rules' while the rest of the NRL are trying to play fairly and getting screwed because of it. Manly, Melbourne, Sydney, Souths etc have great teams and they are putting in a tonne of work and are reaping the benefits of it. Personally, I'm jealous.

Secondly, it seems like a bit of a silly issue to bring up but I find it funny that you put the Sharks in with those other clubs as having dominant packs. The Sharks have some bloody impressive forwards but this year they have been so poor by their standards. they are letting other teams through the middle way too easily, especially considering the talent they have. if I was to describe the Cronulla pack this year (bear in mind i've only seen them play ~7 times) it would be a bit soft, weak defensively, or underperforming. certainly not dominant.

Thirdly, I don't agree with your assessment of our pack. We do have a very strong pack but I think how we have performed so far is roughly consistent with their ability. We have some great hard-working forwards like Hannant, Parker and McGuire and they are a big reason why we are one of the best teams for making ground and conceding very few dropped balls. Likewise, much of our attack over the last season and a bit has been focussed on the brilliant runs of Glenn, Parker's great offloads and Gillett's running and offloading. I think our pack has actually been quite good in attack, we probably get let down by our halves and our execution more. The place where I feel our forwards struggle and have failed to be consistently strong is in defence. We are all over the shop and that is partly to do with the fact that a few of our forwards are pissweak in defence and our defence never moves up well.

I don't think our forward pack is too nice. It just isn't good enough in defence and that would be fixed by taking a leaf out of Manly or Sydney's book and looking at getting our defensive line moving up faster and more aggressively. Plus teaching Gillett and Thaiday how to tackle.