Round 4 - Broncos vs. Storm - Post Match Discussion

[Porthoz]

I think the criticism of McCullough is a bit rough. I thought he actually gave us some good go forward in the forst 10 minutes. Not his fault when Hannant drops the ball & then we don't see it again for the next 10 mins. I think Hunt proved tonight that he has the vision to be our long term half. Has to get some more game time somehow.

I think the difference was really clear in the second half when Hunt went off and Macca came back in. Macca takes an eternity to service his halves, and the latter pay the price because they get caught out with the ball or are rushed into bad decisions.

I believe he will get better as the season goes, as he always does, but at the moment I believe he is our weakest link.

 

[nopatience101]

Yeah, I noticed that, but credit to the boys for the way they scrambled.

I was only disappointed with the Slater try where he caught the ball in the middle of no less than 5 Broncos. After reviewing the game and stopping the image at the moment Cronk kicks, Slater was probably just onside. FML, Cronk and him are so well drilled...

That obstruction call was pretty bad though, and good on Locky to highlight it during half time, and I hope the Broncos make noise about it to the NRL, as it's yet another typical unsportsmanlike Storm trick from the Melbourne brain trust.
There is a lot to like about the way the Storm play, but there is a lot to hate about the fact that Bellyache won't stop at anything, ethical or not, for an advantage, which is why I have no doubt in my mind he was in on the rort.

In scoring that try slater again had his boot out when catching the ball, it's one thing to do it while defending your line, but when your doing it in the act of scoring a try its not any different than a raised forearm or running with raised knees, but had it connected any defender in the head it still would have been awarded. It's only a matter of time before it happens.

 

[coreyh88]

I think blaming Mecca for the last 10 fade out I'd ridiculous the whole team was just spent. The team's performance had little to do with hunt being on. There's a difference between correlation and causality. For the first 70 minutes we looked dangerous with every touch. (eg. Watch our first few sets just not the bits where we handed the ball over.) There was just a lot of poor refereeing and unlucky turn over killing us early on. Despite this hunt did perform extremely well and had no lapses in attack or defence. He deserved the extra minutes. The only spine member that didn't perform very well is prince. Making me think hunt and prince should swap positionally. If it weren't for stagg's injury I would suggest using the combination of 1.norman 4.hodges 6.wallace. 7.hunt. 9.mccullough with a shuffle of stag to back row 1.hodges. 4.gillette 6.norman. 7.hunt. 9.wallace. or alternatively Hoffman to the back reed to wing and Glenn to centre. Unfortunately with stagg gone I think lui and slyney wouldn't quite be capable replacements. Nor do I know if Mecca can play 80. Maybe Caswell gets a shot or Baptiste/Granville.

 

[Kaz]

I think the difference was really clear in the second half when Hunt went off and Macca came back in. Macca takes an eternity to service his halves, and the latter pay the price because they get caught out with the ball or are rushed into bad decisions.

That's what is so annoying, a player is playing really well & he gets replaced.

Hunt had the momentum etc & gets replaced.

 

[subsbligh]

After sleeping on it, I'm proud of the boys for the effort last night. I can't think of 1 player who didn't have a red hot crack and several who had their best games of the year (Hannant!). That's all you can ask for.

Storm were always going to win and the difference of C,S&S won them the game. We dominated their forward pack and scored freely againt the premiership favourites.

 

[Coxy]

Yep. Any other team, Broncos win by 12+.

Let's hope they continue that form next week

 

[Charmamba]

Yep. Any other team, Broncos win by 12+.

Let's hope they continue that form next week

Take away the Broncos poor start and a few terrible calls and Brisbane would have beat Melbourne by 18+

 

[Bucking Beads]

The most impressive part of the Broncos performance last night was that they did it without Hodges. I think we would have beat any other team last night. Our forwards also smashed them and we were missing our best Prop. Very good signs but I won't be convinced unless we can back it up in the coming weeks. We really need to beat the Titans and Cowboys. Hopefully we can add Dugan to our backline in the coming days.

 

[Coxy]

I really liked that all our attack came down the left. First time the left side has looked potent since 2011!

 

[Bucking Beads]

I really liked that all our attack came down the left. First time the left side has looked potent since 2011!

Even Reed looked like he was running off Lockyer in his debut year.

 

[mieko]

Wow, what a game last night. Firstly, we'll done to Melbourne, they really are a great team but equally the Broncs played extremely well and could have snatched the biggest upset this year. I thought our forwards really stood up tonight big time, Hannant and Thaiday were just fantastic. Also Anderson has been playing really well so far coming off the bench with some solid runs and great defence. Gillett was pretty quiet but dug in some good defence. How good did the backs look when they were running onto the ball!! Was a treat to finally see some slick hands in the back line and Reed actually passing giving Hoffman some opportunities. I thought Norman had a really good game as well as Hoffman and Maranta. Hopefully Hoffman is ok with a weeks break. Maranta reminds me of Copley when he first started 1st grade, pretty timid, made a fair mistakes but as he is getting a few more games under his belt he is settling in and turning into a solid winger.

Prince has been pretty ordinary in these first four games and Hunt should definitely be given a big crack before we loose another young promising player.

As for Macca, I thought he had a pretty solid game. Yeah his service is still a touch slow but his defence is just unbelievable. For 50 odd minutes and made the most tackles is pretty good, work rate is huge. Though that outside inside play at the play the ball area must go never to be tried again, it just doesn't work for us

All in all, great game by the lads and should hold their heads up after that performance, very impressed.

 

[Alec]

I'd like to see Maranta with some space in front of him. He always seems to be asked to run straight into the defence after a kick return. Hopefully when Hodges comes back, he'll put some faith in him and pass him the ball. Centres end up looking much better when they do pass, as Reed showed last night.

 

[rnabokov]

Take away the Broncos poor start and a few terrible calls and Brisbane would have beat Melbourne by 18+

I doubt that. Until our halves get it right and stand deep, and the outside backs deeper still, then no. The Storm are too good to let us put that many points on them - unless we get the depth right.

Even the well constructed tries were borderline lucky as the line was still a bit too shallow, but what a turn around!

Shows what happens when we let the ball do the work with good, quick passing to running support players.

Also shows, as another posted, what happens when the FB decides to get involved up front.

Forward momentum was truly excellent.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I don't think Maranta will ever be anything more than a solid winger. He has a crack but I think he will be overtaken by more talented players soon.

 

[Alec]

Copley didn't look anything more than solid when he started either. In fact he probably looked worse, always knocking on and being suspect under the high ball. Maranta has speed, he just hasn't had the opportunity to show it yet.

 

[ningnangnong]

Copley didn't look anything more than solid when he started either. In fact he probably looked worse, always knocking on and being suspect under the high ball. Maranta has speed, he just hasn't had the opportunity to show it yet.

Yep, it's far too early to predict what type of player Maranta will be. There's so many examples out there of players who haven't looked all that useful in their first season or two, and then all of a sudden something clicks, and they become badass!

 

[Bucking Beads]

Copley didn't look anything more than solid when he started either. In fact he probably looked worse, always knocking on and being suspect under the high ball. Maranta has speed, he just hasn't had the opportunity to show it yet.

Fair call. I guess we will just wait and see.

 

[Organix]

attack the line on the last tackle? ....

wallace juggles a sitter and then passes it forward to Prince.

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McCullough didn't pass early to Prince on set play. Result - McCullough forward pass due to Prince over-running.