POST GAME Round 25 - Storm vs Broncos

[lionred]

Ok, so that was a great game. But I feel like this loss for Melbourne makes next weeks game against Cronulla more marketable....

I felt a little like that in the first haĺf. Ive never seen Broncos be allowed line speed like that EVER. They were so quick and were offside a lot and while i wasnt complaining, i wondered why we were getting away with it. There were a few other 50 50 calls too that we never get but helped keep out momentum flowing. I suppose a bad dream of a non sydney team grandfinal again or even the minor premiership going to a non sydney team again could have helped. We beat Melb at their own game tonight i believe and were better at it.

 

[Brent81]

I was raging at the decision, you could see the ball clearly touched the grass. But I held back saying much because I thought perhaps the arm has to touch, and surely the refs know the actual specifics of the rules.

But they don't even know that. ****ing pathetic. The referring is a deadset farce. I have zero faith in referees to be impartial and unbiased. Zero.

I don't blame Harris. Doubt he'd have felt the ball hit the grass. Kinda brushed it.

It's about time that the refs stopped worrying about indicators and complex stuff and started reffing the actual rules.

15 years ago Smith would got binned when he gave away that penalty in front and the bloke who tackled Milf after the break would have been binned too....

 

[Super Freak]

I'm glad we didn't get the penalty with that Milford situation.

Broncos would have taken the two and it would have given the Storm a chance to equalize in the final couple of minutes.

6 points down, they probably would have had a bit more control and scored. They had us scattered it's just our scramble defence saved us.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I still can't believe they didn't blow a penalty for Milford getting molested just before the Arrow try.

 

[Morkel]

I still can't believe they didn't blow a penalty for Milford getting molested just before the Arrow try.

100%. If Milford had passed it it would have been called back. Or even penalised it was so far after the tackle had been affected.

 

[Super Freak]

Another thing I liked last night, the refs didn't let Storm get away with murder in the ruck the whole game.

Normally, they would use wrestling tactics to slow it down, but the refs didn't allow it and they got pinged for it a few times.

It would great to see and I thought it went a long way towards us getting the victory because we were allowed to play on our terms, not theirs. We played an uptempo game and they just couldn't handle it or slow it down.

 

[winslow_wong]

Glenn is an animal off the bench

 

[Morkel]

There will be things that both coaches will take away from the game. That's the downside of playing them so close to the finals, if we've used all our trick shots they can study them and work out ways to stop it. Similarly they can look at our defences and look for further weaknesses. Hopefully Bennett has a little more up his sleeve.

On the positive, the Storm didn't look like they were toying with us. They were genuinely frustrated and if they had a Plan B they didn't try it.

 

[Mitch06]

I think the Storm still got away with a fair amount but there were some good signs on the policing of the ruck in that game.

 

[Super Freak]

There will be things that both coaches will take away from the game. That's the downside of playing them so close to the finals, if we've used all our trick shots they can study them and work out ways to stop it. Similarly they can look at our defences and look for further weaknesses. Hopefully Bennett has a little more up his sleeve.

On the positive, the Storm didn't look like they were toying with us. They were genuinely frustrated and if they had a Plan B they didn't try it.

I made mention of that in the pre-game thread.

Storm are predictable and they will keep going at you with the same old thing, but if you shut it down, you will frustrate them and force them to go away from their gameplan and that's when you know you have them, it's up to you to take advantage of that and that's what Broncos did.

Storm's style of play once Broncos got on a roll wasn't the Storm style of play we've been seeing all season. They had no answers. It took a bad read (Milford on the Hampton try) and a sneaky pass (Cronk to Smith) to get them back in the game. Apart from that, we were just eating up everything they threw at us.

Honestly, I think we still have improvement in us.

I don't think that was our best so I'm not too worried about them studying that game. I think we'll keep building and have a few more tricks up our sleeves.

Hunt and Milford actually tried a few trick shots in the previous games but they didn't really pan out because of the timing. If they get the timing right, look out.

 

[Foordy]

There will be things that both coaches will take away from the game. That's the downside of playing them so close to the finals, if we've used all our trick shots they can study them and work out ways to stop it. Similarly they can look at our defences and look for further weaknesses. Hopefully Bennett has a little more up his sleeve.

On the positive, the Storm didn't look like they were toying with us. They were genuinely frustrated and if they had a Plan B they didn't try it.

I'm not sure the Storm have a Plan B ... their Plan A is usually so effective they don't need a backup

 

[Horseheadsup]

It feels a bit breezy in here this morning. Has someone opened that bloody premiership window again?

Gold!
Bennett and Bellemy = Spy v Spy.

 

[winslow_wong]

There were plenty of sets where we just powered up the field through the forwards passing. Good to watch.

 

[LittleDavey]

Fantastic win. But I have that uneasy feeling. It was almost easier when we were writing us off. Now we see what we're capable of and anything other than a GF victory will feel like another genuine opportunity lost.

It won't just feel like another genuine opportunity lost - it WILL be imo. There is no reason we can't win this thing. We had it won save for 5 seconds of madness last year. I feel like we've improved some of last year's weaknesses throughout the year (though have been missing some of the things we did well). There's signs we're now getting back to doing those good things well again, add the improved weaknesses and for mine, we're a better side. Missing Hodgo no doubt; but our line speed is better and I feel like we have more options in attack (though we've still way overused the Boyd second-man play too). If we get our defence back a-la the last two weeks (and still improving) and our halves find some confidence (happening) then we will be a better side. The hunger is back. And we may just have finally learnt to NOT take the foot off the fucking pedal. Put them to the sword. No fucking mercy. Play up-tempo ball-shifting attack with brutal defence, and we will beat all-comers.

 

[johnny plath]

Ok, genuine random question here if someone knows the answer. With the Jai Arrow try, there was not much fuss made about Roberts being in front of the kicker, apart from some mention of 'passive' offside. When you re-watch the try, the kick from Milford actually goes backwards. He's 2 or 3 metres inside the 20, and the ball almost lands on the 20. Not that its been suggested anywhere, but would this negate the offside because essentially all Milf has done is send a pass across field 40 metres, albeit off of his boot? I mean, Roberts does start to retire, but there is no advantage anywhere from Milfs shank.

 

[tommy]

I think all those articles for weeks in the CM about what we need to do is what helped turn our form around.

 

[Rally Towel]

Incredibly satisfying. I'd go so far to say as that's the most pleasing win I've witnessed as a fan.

Typically we seem to implement the same style of play every week, even if that entails playing the opposition on their terms. However that's two weeks in a row where we've specifically tailored our approach to force the opposition to play outside their strengths. It's one thing to play tough, but it's rare we've played (this ) smart.

Offensively we seem to have introduced an element of unpredictability, which is reaping dividends. It's hard for the defence to mark up and restrict our progress up field when we keep them guessing.

Defensively, it was our commitment that stood out to me. We didn't give up on even our worst efforts, desperately clinging to jerseys, boots, wrists, whatever we could to slow them down until someone else could complete the tackle.

We still looked a bit loose on our goal line though. Fortunately their opportunities were limited which forced them to push the play, but I don't think we're at last year's standard yet.

It's a hard ask to do it from outside the top 4, but if we can bank that kind of comprehensive win against the Storm, that is a huge shot of confidence.

A man can dream, right?

 

[Foordy]

We just fired a massive warning shot over the bows of the other finals bound teams ... and i love it