Round 3 - Broncos v Roosters - Post Match Discussion

[Super Freak]

I apologize to everyone on here. This may have been my fault.

I've never been to a game where the Broncos have beaten the premiers. Never.

Every game, they have lost.

 

[Kaz]

Well, they cost the cowboys a finals berth last year so I'm sure they can step up to the plate and cost a team a GF berth.

They cost us a GF berth in 2002.

The team that got into the GF at our expense was the Roosters, who then went on to win the GF.

 

[Big Pete]

Finally got a hold of a replay...

One of my biggest Broncos pet peeves is Gillett going to dummy half - everytime he looks absolutely lost in there and it rarely works out. Thankfully, this was one of those occasions and Hunt was able to catch the Roosters defence napping, good stuff.

The Kennedy mistake really hurt. He's got to fix his carry, it's been a problem of his for awhile and it's always going to hurt us. In the end, Roosters were smart. Brought the Broncos defence in before sending it wide to Jennings who with that much room is always going to be difficult to handle. 6 all.

Forgot about Parker kicking out on the full, those are the type of issues that shouldn't be happening at this level. Thankfully Hunt + Thaiday combined to force a mistake from Cordner. It was a good tackle, but they shouldn't have been forced to make it since the pass from Maloney was forward.

Speaking of suspect passes, what did you guys make of the RTS to Tupou pass? Bit of a 50/50 call for mine and I'm happy to give the referees the benefit of the doubt but it certainly hurt us. Still can't believe Moa scored that try. I wanted to blame it on Barba for rushing up and basically blocking the defence from getting a good shot on him, but Gillett had a good shot and was a bit lazy on this occasion. Unfortunately, that's a flaw of his game that he's really got to fix if he wants to make it to that next level. I also have to wonder if the new cannonball tackle had an effect on the play, Macca could have taken his legs but just seemed to accept being brushed off. Either way, embarrassing. 12-6 Chooks.

Fortunately it doesn't take too long for the Broncos to hit back. Hunt was the man in this set, earned his team a penalty by taking it to the line, then a goal line drop out and after being gifted with plenty of possession and field territory, rolls through a neat little grubber which is eventually cleaned up by Sammy. 12 all.

Off the back of a Gillett charge down, we dominated the next six minutes but couldn't cross the try line. I must say, this was a pretty poor passage from our playmakers. I didn't think McCullough used the roll on from dummy half effectively and kept going too short, I thought the players kept throwing too many inside passes when they weren't on and there were times where we looked completely lost. Ultimately, all of that pressure is undone by a Barba grubber in an unfortunate circumstance where Maloney looked to have lost it but it just came off his knee or some excuse and grazed Gillett, resulting in an accidental offside. Was an absolute buzz kill of a play.

This gave the Roosters the momentum leading into half-time but fortunately our defence was up to the task. Couple of nervous moments as both Broncos halves came up with poor plays on last tackle, where as Roosters executed theirs fairly well but that's just the hand the Broncos have been dealt. The chip kick right at the end from Hoffman was neat, but unfortunately Barba was checked in running and the referees didn't seem interested in letting the play go.

Overall: The first try really sums it up for Brisbane. A moment where they looked completely lost, but were able to make the most of it and catch the defending premiers off guard. It wasn't pretty and there were some ordinary moments but for the most part, they were the better team of that opening stanza.

The heartbreaking second half to follow...

 

[Dexter]

[MENTION=1899]Big Pete[/MENTION] any thoughts on why Hunt is so comfortable on a blind side yet looks out of his depth when attacking the open inside 30 mtrs? I find it really strange almost like he has too much time or he struggles with the structure where as the blind side plays are more off the cuff with less time.

 

[Morkel]

[MENTION=1899]Big Pete[/MENTION] any thoughts on why Hunt is so comfortable on a blind side yet looks out of his depth when attacking the open inside 30 mtrs? I find it really strange almost like he has too much time or he struggles with the structure where as the blind side plays are more off the cuff with less time.

Sounds like he should be a non-dominant 5/8 alongside a halfback that is better at organising.

 

[Dexter]

Sounds like he should be a non-dominant 5/8 alongside a halfback that is better at organising.

Yeah maybe Morks, I don't have an answer. I mean he sees the game well enough and long kicking game aside he has so much improvement in him, maybe it looks worse because Hoff dies with the ball so often.

 

[Super Freak]

Sounds like he would be perfect next to DCE...

 

[noisetheory]

cant believe JWH foul play the ball didnt get penalised. basically would of won us the game right there.

i think thaiday getting knocked down twice really cost us at the end. he was really struggling to get back in the line which shortened us up on our right leaving hunt with an impossible task.

we really should of won that game.

 

[Danoz Direct]

How do you think a combo of Milford and Hunt would go?

 

[Alec]

@Big Pete any thoughts on why Hunt is so comfortable on a blind side yet looks out of his depth when attacking the open inside 30 mtrs? I find it really strange almost like he has too much time or he struggles with the structure where as the blind side plays are more off the cuff with less time.

Could partially be because on the open side we tend to just keep passing wide. Hunt seems to like playing straight, one of the reasons why he should be hitting our back rowers more often instead of using them as decoys 99% of the time. Needs to run it more like he did against the Roosters too. Basically just shuffling the ball seems to ruin his confidence for whatever reason. You don't have to go from side to side every single time.

 

[Morkel]

Could partially be because on the open side we tend to just keep passing wide. Hunt seems to like playing straight, one of the reasons why he should be hitting our back rowers more often instead of using them as decoys 99% of the time. Needs to run it more like he did against the Roosters too. Basically just shuffling the ball seems to ruin his confidence for whatever reason. You don't have to go from side to side every single time.

Maybe then it's because on the blind side he can go direct to his runners. Open, it has to involve Hoff and/or Barba, and their combinations aren't quite crisp enough yet. This would be the ideal situation because it will only improve over time.

 

[Sproj]

The Hunt-Barba connection has already shown signs of promise, highlighted by the Gillett try against the Cows. Hoff showed he can pass in the last fifteen minutes against the Roosters, there is a lot to work with. We all just need to be patient until it clicks.

 

[uptheguts]

Great effort all round by the boys. A real kick in the guts to loose it on the death.Makes you wonder what we could do if we had a 5/8 and Hodges back .Hunt got stuck in which I think is his go. A bit like Tommy Raudonicus. That game should give him some confidence. We still need a passing 5/8 and more punch out wide. How long before Justin returns?

 

[Big Pete]

Second half...

The opening was fairly end to end with the Broncos holding a slight advantage on the back of a well placed bomb by Hoffman which caused a mistake from the Roosters custodian. Unfortunately, the Broncos can't capitilise on their opportunities for one reason or another.

Naturally as a Broncos fan I feel a little bit miffed about the calls here. Gillett gets pinged for a forward pass which didn't like much if at all different from the RTS pass, Friend looked to have bobbled the ball from dummy half and gave himself up and Jennings lost the ball after racing around Copley but it was ruled backwards. On top of that, there were a number of occasions to penalise the Chooks but in the end, the only time the referees obliged was when they had no other choice. That's right, the first penalty of the half was the one where Hunt was held down after making a half break near the line which could have resulted in a professional foul. As a fan, you can cop the odd call here and there but it's these string of calls that makes life frustrating and it certainly helped the Roosters out here. 14-12 Broncos.

Fortunately it didn't take Brisbane too long to score the try they richly deserved. Credit should go to Hoffman for his wonderful tackle on Guerra to force the mistake & on the back of an obvious penalty, Brisbane score a nice play down the short side on the back of a Thaiday run. This is something I'm sure a lot of us fans on here want to see. Hunt going to the line, finding his edge forward and playing off the back of that. It worked here and Hunt summed up the situation very well. 18-12 Brisbane.

Unfortunately Parker made a mistake trying to shake Friend off of him and it resulted in a try to SKD. I see a lot of people blaming Reed on this try and I feel like that's a touch harsh. In Reed's defence, the Roosters had the numbers and SKD had a mile of room to work in. The question should be, how did the Roosters earn that room? Essentially, it came off the back of a RTS run which beat Gillett & Barba and forced Lowrie to come in and shut down the play with a good tackle close to the line. That opened up the space and the Roosters read the situation well. 18 all.

It's funny how a game of Rugby League can turn in an instant. The next 5 or so minutes was basically all Roosters and they were certainly unlucky not to receive an important penalty on tackle 5 when Thaiday took Pearce in the air. Never the less, off a Gillett mistake, they just about score but SKD's bat on was just too difficult for Mini to handle & the Broncos turn defence into attack as Barba makes an important play sending Vidot 40m before he earns a penalty. I've heard others call it a professional foul, but from my understanding, it's only deemed as such when we're in their territory. Bit silly, but I haven't seen too many if any called in that sort of situation.

It doesn't pay off right away but I want to highlight what might be a very important moment in our season. The Roosters as they're so used to doing work it off their line with relative ease and then out of no where BANG. Corey Oates has just checked in for the evening and laid Nuuausala out with a tackle that in of itself basically keeps the Roosters to 30m, their worst gain of the evening.

Back to back sets later, Hoffman surprises just about everybody with a lovely ball to Reed and Jack that close to the line does a good job of planting it over and breaking the deadlock. That's more like it from Hoffman and it's nice to see he has that sort of play in him, now he needs to bottle it and reproduce that more than once a match - he needs to throw those passes more often and assist his playmakers as these outside men for Brisbane are more than capable of scoring points. 22-18

Moments later, Brisbane are in again off a penalty and a nice show and go from Hunt. While a lot has deservedly been made of Hunt's run, I believe the lead up play deserves more credit. Parker did a great job to earn a quick play the ball off basically nothing and Macca scooped the ball up like he was Cam Smith and really put the Broncos on the front foot. THAT'S the type of play he needs to be concerned about more the Broncos #9...Never the less 26-18 Broncos with not a lot left to go.

A lot has been made of the Broncos inability to defend the short kick off but it's easier said than done, especially against a bloke like Tupou. I really don't know what more the Broncos defenders could have done, it was just good work from the winger in that situation. Like the previous try to Hunt, it was basically scored off the back of momentum. What happened was, since the kick caught the Broncos off guard, they didn't have time to get their line set, so Moa was able to charge straight at Ben Hunt and earn his team a precious quick play the ball. Two plays later, Mortimer does a fantastic job getting his side on the front foot and RTS with a good fend and a lot of room scores. 26-24 with 3 to go.

The next passage is just filled with so many ifs and buts.

What if Sam Thaiday had have been taken off the field?
What if Ben Hunt hadn't impeded Maranta taking the intercept?
What if the referees pinged the Roosters for the play the ball?
What if the referees saw the bobble in Moa's run as a mistake?

It doesn't matter because in the end, the Roosters get three sets of six in a row and make the most of it, scoring a trademark try as Cordner goes through a massive gap to win the game. 30-26 and at this point everything the Broncos had worked for, every big hit, big play has seemingly meant very little.

To the Broncos credit, they show how difficult it is to defend a short kick off by nearly scoring off the play but it wasn't to be.

Overall: We hung in there against the champs and by rights should have won but in the end were ultimately outclassed. A lots of ifs and buts, however against the best, I thought the boys gave a very fair account of themselves.

Still a few pieces that need to be worked on but if they can keep these type of performances up, they won't be the no-hopers a lot of people have written them off as.

 

[Morkel]

TLDR: We were jipped.

 

[Super Freak]

I am hoping Hodges comes back very soon and has a great season.

We've lacked the ability to close games out. We had chances against the Bulldogs, chances against the Cowboys and chances against the Roosters. We just haven't been able to deliver that killer blow that crushes the opposition's hopes.

I am hoping it's sorted out very soon.

 

[Super Freak]

A small Yow Yeh tribute video on Channel 9 before kick off.



The tribute video at the game was better.

 

[CaptainHook]

It was an entertaining game but there are definitely some things to work on. I still think concentration and confidence are our two main issues. Failing to complete a set after scoring is bad enough once but for it to happen twice in a game (and having the opposition score on both occasions) is completely unacceptable. That and failing to be aware of the short kick off (seriously?!?) just points to lack of concentration.

Also, I still detect confidence issues when matching it with the top teams. I get the impression we're just happy to go with them rather than go for the win. That needs to change. I hope it's not a loss that comes back to haunt us.