PRE-GAME Round 4 - Broncos vs Roosters

[Kooly87]

Sadly for us, in a shortened competition a bad month of footy might well be terminal to a team's Top 8 aspirations. It certainly seems we're now facing the prospect of a very difficult month and honestly if we hadn't been able to notch wins in both our opening round matches I think we'd almost certainly be staring down the barrel of needing to plan for 2021 by the time July rolls around.

 

[ethos]

When McCullough left, my first thought was 'ahhhh, bet Turpin cops an injury'.

Agree with Big Pete's sentiments. It's a big ask for Turpin to play 80 at this point of his career under the new rules. Even bigger ask for Paix on debut against the premiers. And if you're benching a winger to bring on the strike of another winger, you really just need to settle on a winger.

Hooker plus three forwards is the way to go on the bench at the moment. If a backrower has to move to the centres in event of an injury, so be it. Feel the team would be better served with more legs in the pack.

 

[WASSHHH]

I would actually still prefer for him not to be at the the Broncos. Definitely. If McCulloughs here would that have any bearing whatsoever on the result? No it wouldn't. May as well give a young guy with some potential a shot. I'd still like an old experienced player as back up, but not one that was going to block paix's chance

I don’t disagree with his departure, but it’s just like last year. Let Roberts go (which I agreed with also), get injuries to remaining centres. Let McCullough go, only recognised hooker gets injured the very next week.

You can’t script this.

So as I said, McCullough may not be our answer long term, but with all our other depleted stocks, knowing what you’ll get from a position, especially one as important as 9 (whether you like his play or not), rather than unfairly thrusting a rookie into the role (one that doesn’t even have much experience at 9) would help us at this point, IMHO.

I personally think it would be better for Paix’s development and longevity, so early in his career at 9, to ride the pine and come on to replace McCullough after a bit of the heat has gone from the match.

Of course, Paix could come out and star, but it’s more likely he won’t.

TLDR: with so many other unknowns, one less can only be a good thing.

 

[Bongo]

First reaction was "oh...that might work..."

Second reaction was that we're already down a centre with Staggs out.

Third reaction hit me like a truck - Darius defending in the middle? NO, thanks!!

Fair enough. I think he could do the attacking side but you are right defensively he is not up to it.

 

[Finbar]

Siebold's getting a bit too cute with his tactics in my opinion. A planned 55th minute winger interchange because he thought Sivo might be vulnerable against a fresh winger, when half the forwards and hooker are out there off their feet is not a smart move. Arthars had made 3 tackles and ran for 66 metres, he hardly needed a spell. The only time a back should be coming off the field is if they are injured, being hooked or being rested.

I'm over the outside back coverage bench player, our forwards are too young and they need more backup off the bench, especially with the increased speed of the game.

 

[Sproj]

I feel for Siebs, he isn’t the most capable under pressure from what we saw last year and right now, the pressure is through the roof with all the outs.

I mean, on a depth chart, you probably have:

Hooker: Turpin, Bird, Staggs, Glenn, Paix, Hetherington

Second-Row: Fifita, TPJ, Glenn, Hopoate, Bullemor, Riki, Oates, Palasia, Staggs, whoever the bloke in jersey 21 is.

He is scraping the bottom of the barrel in all positions. He refuses to move Oates for some reason as well and he isn’tthe most astute strategist on the fly either.

Let’s just hope the boys do a Newcastle and/or don’t get flogged, which they well might.

 

[McHunt]

Siebold's getting a bit too cute with his tactics in my opinion. A planned 55th minute winger interchange

Don't take any notice of me on this, but my understanding is Niu is vying for fullback, not wing. That's also what Badel is saying in the CM:

"Niu, 18, will come off the bench, likely at fullback, while Paix is set to replace injured hooker Jake Turpin. "

 

[Kooly87]

I feel for Siebs, he isn’t the most capable under pressure from what we saw last year and right now, the pressure is through the roof with all the outs.

I mean, on a depth chart, you probably have:

Hooker: Turpin, Bird, Staggs, Glenn, Paix, Hetherington

Second-Row: Fifita, TPJ, Glenn, Hopoate, Bullemor, Riki, Oates, Palasia, Staggs, whoever the bloke in jersey 21 is.

He is scraping the bottom of the barrel in all positions. He refuses to move Oates for some reason as well and he isn’tthe most astute strategist on the fly either.

Let’s just hope the boys do a Newcastle and/or don’t get flogged, which they well might.

A mid game shift for Oates seems possible. I'm working on the basis that Paix can't play 80 and that likely means Hopoate or Bullemor has to cover a period of time in that role, which could allow Oates to shift to the vacant edge and bring Niu on at Wing or Centre.

I appreciate that this is a mess and it's not ideal, but to be fair I wouldn't have picked Niu and no actual backup Dummy Half in the first place.

 

[McHunt]

Surely you're able to admit that he would be a perfectly fine backup hooker in the case of an emergency? If not, then there's literally no use engaging in a conversation with you about this because you're incapable of putting your bias aside.

Don't know about "bias" but it's been my "opinion" for several years that Macca is only good for ten minutes and then becomes a major liability on the field. I'm delighted he's not a fallback option.

Should Newcastle defeat Canberra this weekend, with Macca as their newly appointed hooker, I might be inclined to question my convictions. Feel free to make me eat my words should that occur.

 

[Kooly87]

Don't know about "bias" but it's been my "opinion" for several years that Macca is only good for ten minutes and then becomes a major liability on the field. I'm delighted he's not a fallback option.

Should Newcastle defeat Canberra this weekend, with Macca as their newly appointed hooker, I might be inclined to question my convictions. Feel free to make me eat my words should that occur.

It's just about impossible to defend the position that we wouldn't be better off with Macca at least for this week or however long Turpin is out for. For however mediocre to outright poor he was in recent years, he's still almost certainly a better option than whoever is going to have to spell Corey Paix for 20-30 minutes of this weeks game.

That doesn't mean that outside of these exceptional circumstances we weren't better off to have let him go and that the release wasn't still a good move overall. The timing of the whole thing was just dire and hopelessly unlucky.

 

[McHunt]

It's just about impossible to defend the position that we wouldn't be better off with Macca at least for this week or however long Turpin is out for. For however mediocre to outright poor he was in recent years, he's still almost certainly a better option than whoever is going to have to spell Corey Paix for 20-30 minutes of this weeks game.

That doesn't mean that outside of these exceptional circumstances we weren't better off to have let him go and that the release wasn't still a good move overall. The timing of the whole thing was just dire and hopelessly unlucky.

I would rather train the future than spend another minute wasting our time with the past. Macca was a tried and tested failure.

 

[broncos4life]

I would rather train the future than spend another minute wasting our time with the past. Macca was a tried and tested failure.

Me too. Let's be realistic here, we are not winning the premiership this year so we are better investing in the future and finding out what we have this year rather than sticking with what is proven not to work.

 

[Kooly87]

I would rather train the future than spend another minute wasting our time with the past. Macca was a tried and tested failure.

I have no issue with training the future. I'm all for Corey Paix getting his shot. But the facts still remain he's unproven at anything close to 80 minutes at even Queensland Cup level in the role. Given that is the case we have to provide coverage for him during the game and that likely takes another of our 'future' out of a role they have a future in and forces them to fill in playing a role they have no future in, so in that sense it actually negatively impacts our player development if that is supposed to be the focus here.

Again, I'm certainly not arguing that Macca had a future here, I'm simply pointing out that someone like Hopoate or Bullemor has no business covering Dummy Half duties and in this exact circumstance we would have undoubtedly been better off to utilise Macca.

 

[the_next]

Looks as though Channel 7 have got a chopper above Suncorp filming the Broncos captains run, live streaming back to Facebook.
What is the world coming to lol.
It could be a drone, but doesn’t look to be.
Maybe it’s uncle nick, feeling nervous since they haven’t beat us at Suncorp since 2014.
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Looks as though Channel 7 have got a chopper above Suncorp filming the Broncos captains run, live streaming back to Facebook.
What is the world coming to lol.
It could be a drone, but doesn’t look to be.
Maybe it’s uncle nick, feeling nervous since they haven’t beat us at Suncorp since 2014.

Confirmed it was a chopper, not a drone.

 

[Sproj]

Don't know why the Roosters would be feeling nervous other than all the pressure is on them. No one expects this Broncos side with all the outs to even come close.

 

[Cult]

I would rather train the future than spend another minute wasting our time with the past. Macca was a tried and tested failure.

This was not even close to the argument I was making though. McCullough with Paix off the bench would undoubtedly be a better option than just Paix. Having 2 hooker options in the current version of the game is absolutely the best option when the other option is a debutant who hasn't played an actual game in months. THAT IS LITERALLY ALL I SAID. Stop attempting to spin it to make it seem like you're arguing against any more than that. It's dishonest.

 

[McHunt]

This was not even close to the argument I was making though. McCullough with Paix off the bench would undoubtedly be a better option than just Paix. Having 2 hooker options in the current version of the game is absolutely the best option when the other option is a debutant who hasn't played an actual game in months. THAT IS LITERALLY ALL I SAID. Stop attempting to spin it to make it seem like you're arguing against any more than that. It's dishonest.

You're hilarious. I've seen enough of Macca already. I'd rather have literally anyone else fill in for Paix if he gets tired. Even Boyd. I'm loving the seachange.
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Don't know why the Roosters would be feeling nervous other than all the pressure is on them. No one expects this Broncos side with all the outs to even come close.

Speak for yourself. I'm expecting an improvement on last week, and far from ruling out a win.
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better off to utilise Macca.

Our golden opportunity to use Macca is against Newcastle. I'm tipping success there.
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we are not winning the premiership this year

We've only lost one game so far this season. Let's get TPJ and Fifita back on the park before writing us off just yet.

 

[Cult]

You're hilarious. I've seen enough of Macca already. I'd rather have literally anyone else fill in for Paix if he gets tired. Even Boyd. I'm loving the seachange.
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Speak for yourself. I'm expecting an improvement on last week, and far from ruling out a win.

Yep, not sure why I engaged with you. I remember that Macca obviously stole your high school girlfriend and you can't have an actual conversation without letting your bias get in the way. The point was that two options would have been nice and you have not argued that point at all.

Having literally anyone else take over at hooker is a terrible game plan considering the importance of the position. McCullough might not have been the best hooker in the game but if you think anyone can just jump in at hooker and give it a red hot go and be better you're delusional and I think your opinion about anything that occurs on a rugby league field should never be taken seriously again because you obviously have no idea.