Round 4 - Dragons v Broncos - Post Match Discussion

[MrMoore]

Ahead of Maranta?

Definitely, everyone is having amazing games but Maranta was worse than the shit stuck under ya boot ya cant get off, now everyone is eating their hat, including me. Maranta no doubt is most improved so far.

 

[Porthoz]

don't get me wrong i can't totally understand i give off that vibe. but I'm as loyal a broncos fan as the next, believe it or not. I'm just not going to be all fanboy and fellate everyone.

You're getting as close to a troll as it gets, and it's derailing threads. Consider yourself warned...

 

[unnerv1ng]

Awesome win! Plenty of intensity and the guys seem super fit. The forwards are killing it!! Check out POTS for confirmation. Backline is a bit of a concern. Too many tries coming from the pack, I would like to see a few more backline movements leading to Vidot or Maranta. Although, who gives a shit we won.

 

[Russell Coight]

hey @cammac how you doing?

when was the last time you actually enjoyed a broncos win?

clearly it was pre 2012...

what exactly is your problem?

we were 'meant' to be 1 and 3 atm and we're 3 and 1...

I was impressed with 2011, and the start of 2012, but since that season slipped away and the way 2013 ended up, I've just lot faith, i acknowledge changes have been made, but one big change i feel is still lacking.

 

[rnabokov]

Vidot needs to be taught how to catch the ball. He is a liability against teams with good kicks to their wingers.

Hoffman is crippling our attacking potential which, this year, is looking seriously good. For mine, he did nothing. Zip. He is a running centre choking our middle, restricting our options. Sorry, I am not warming to him at all.

The defence out wide is still a real worry.

Oates. He ought to replace Reed.

Wallace was great. Kennedy is wasted space.

Thaiday and Parker - so good. they are running with so much more determination than ever before, and, they are passing/offloading. They are so important to this side. They are instrumental in a great positive shift in our forward momentum this year which is so refreshing to see.

Gillett. Outstanding. When he went off, our right hand side went to pieces, especially in the 1st half.

Macca was excellent.

Barba needs time to get his ankle right, and we need to use him not wait and hope he will put a rabbit out of the hat. This is one area where we are stifled. Hoffman and Barba, Hunt and Barba, these ought to be set plays. What a waste. Need to look at Cronk-Slater a lot.

 

[Rally Towel]

One more thing that bears mentioning: despite a few handling errors, we always looked to have a direction set in attack, rather than throw it around on the last and hope for the best.

 

[winslow_wong]

good win but we still let in 20 points. i feel we are still letting in soft tries far too often after we scored points ourselves.

i have to agree that although we are looking much better this year, we always go well the first half of the season. it's post origin that concerns me..

 

[Cult]

Vidot needs to be taught how to catch the ball. He is a liability against teams with good kicks to their wingers.

Hoffman is crippling our attacking potential which, this year, is looking seriously good. For mine, he did nothing. Zip. He is a running centre choking our middle, restricting our options. Sorry, I am not warming to him at all.

The defence out wide is still a real worry.

Oates. He ought to replace Reed.

Wallace was great. Kennedy is wasted space.

Thaiday and Parker - so good. they are running with so much more determination than ever before, and, they are passing/offloading. They are so important to this side. They are instrumental in a great positive shift in our forward momentum this year which is so refreshing to see.

Gillett. Outstanding. When he went off, our right hand side went to pieces, especially in the 1st half.

Macca was excellent.

Barba needs time to get his ankle right, and we need to use him not wait and hope he will put a rabbit out of the hat. This is one area where we are stifled. Hoffman and Barba, Hunt and Barba, these ought to be set plays. What a waste. Need to look at Cronk-Slater a lot.

Vidot has barely dropped anything so far this year.

Hoffman didn't do nothing.. He defended well and looks closer to creating a line break than most do. He barely passes but he is doing his job and taking pressure of Hunt.

Kennedy worries me. Looks close to giving penalties every time he makes a tackle and he doesn't do a lot in attack.

 

[8R0NC05]

Long time lurker, first time poster. :)

Thought it was a great all round team performance tonight bar a couple of undesirable errors..

Anyone know if Copley is all good after he got replaced??

 

[Foordy]

Long time lurker, first time poster. :)

Thought it was a great all round team performance tonight bar a couple of undesirable errors..

Anyone know if Copley is all good after he got replaced??

welcome

 

[MrMoore]

If only Hoffman had passed to a runner every time he jig jig jig jig jig jig get tackled

 

[Mt Smart]

People go on about how even the NRL is every year.

This year it applies more than ever if you look at teams from the bottom of last years comp and what is actually playing out.

The Dragons are a classic case and point , in Widdop they have a completely different feel. Their defensive record from their last two games is why they were at the top of the table going into round four.

They conceded 12 points per game in their last two outings ( against poor opposition Warriors / Sharks..still you can only play what is in front of you ).

I think they would have backed themselves at home to keep the Bronco's to a low score with a fairly simple and committed game plan.

Their video analysis of the Broncos would have had them feeling fairly confident that they could predict the majority of the Brisbane attack to be somewhat stilted and run off very simple plays, keeping Barber out of the game and matching it with the Forwards would have been their priority.

This year, apart from Barber and big forward efforts , the Broncos game has looked tradesman and a bit pedestrian in the early rounds (that's as close as I would go to criticism / I can't call out individual players I don't have the knowledge of this team that other people have ).

The Broncos did a number on the Dragons. Fast To seize the lead , add to that Try's off structured well executed plays ( sure there was Vidot's dropped ball but you should also be looking at how there is a change being able to put Vidot in that position in the first place ).

I don't think the Dragons were expecting the attack the Broncos threw at them , they kept getting caught off guard by quick play the balls ( something the Dragons have been really good at with their speedy light weight forwards and Nightingale / Morris dummy half running under the new rules ).

Smaller forward packs are going well under the new rules , the gap has ( early days ) seemed to close between the monster specialist Prop teams and the more tenacious Second row / prop utility like forwards.

The Broncs were pipped at the post last week , and I can understand sometimes when you go close but lose to the premiers , people expect an easy game against the Dragons.....their three quarter line running off Widdops vision is class , people will miss read them or get caught out by the speed they are running their ruck and secound man plays at.

When the Dragons got their tails up in the secound half, and there were a few lapses.....your fear in those phases of games is that your team can't wrestle momentum back...or they are being sapped out of the contest at that point.

The Broncos struck back with Try's....it's a good day when Ben Barba is half a step off the pace and the team is still going blow for blow scoring without him.

Balanced effort I thought , more positives than negatives , some issues on the left edge in D , you'll get that. So far the season is being won by the tackling. Tonight Try scoring / potential for genuine strike power looks promising....who would have thought that with the halves situation.

Edge defence can be worked out You're playing new combinations, it's helpful if the coaching staff don't have to worry about plugging holes in the middle or mucking around with trying to get the mindset right ( the Bronco's commitment to defence this year is raising a few eyebrows..it's been great to watch all of those held up / stopped on the line tackles ).....the issue looks like a ' time together ' problem ( making good reads / that needs time / communication ). Commitment is fine.

I'm enjoying it. I haven't had to pay my dues going through the rough past....haven't got the scars to prove it.
3/4 is a very strong start for this year.

 

[MrMoore]

People go on about how even the NRL is every year.

This year it applies more than ever if you look at teams from the bottom of last years comp and what is actually playing out.

The Dragons are a classic case and point , in Widdop they have a completely different feel. Their defensive record from their last two games is why they were at the top of the table going into round four.

They conceded 12 points per game in their last two outings ( against poor opposition Warriors / Sharks..still you can only play what is in front of you ).

I think they would have backed themselves at home to keep the Bronco's to a low score with a fairly simple and committed game plan.

Their video analysis of the Broncos would have had them feeling fairly confident that they could predict the majority of the Brisbane attack to be somewhat stilted and run off very simple plays, keeping Barber out of the game and matching it with the Forwards would have been their priority.

This year, apart from Barber and big forward efforts , the Broncos game has looked tradesman and a bit pedestrian in the early rounds (that's as close as I would go to criticism / I can't call out individual players I don't have the knowledge of this team that other people have ).

The Broncos did a number on the Dragons. Fast To seize the lead , add to that Try's off structured well executed plays ( sure there was Vidot's dropped ball but you should also be looking at how there is a change being able to put Vidot in that position in the first place ).

I don't think the Dragons were expecting the attack the Broncos threw at them , they kept getting caught off guard by quick play the balls ( something the Dragons have been really good at with their speedy light weight forwards and Nightingale / Morris dummy half running under the new rules ).

Smaller forward packs are going well under the new rules , the gap has ( early days ) seemed to close between the monster specialist Prop teams and the more tenacious Second row / prop utility like forwards.

The Broncs were pipped at the post last week , and I can understand sometimes when you go close but lose to the premiers , people expect an easy game against the Dragons.....their three quarter line running off Widdops vision is class , people will miss read them or get caught out by the speed they are running their ruck and secound man plays at.

When the Dragons got their tails up in the secound half, and there were a few lapses.....your fear in those phases of games is that your team can't wrestle momentum back...or they are being sapped out of the contest at that point.

The Broncos struck back with Try's....it's a good day when Ben Barba is half a step off the pace and the team is still going blow for blow scoring without him.

Balanced effort I thought , more positives than negatives , some issues on the left edge in D , you'll get that. So far the season is being won by the tackling. Tonight Try scoring / potential for genuine strike power looks promising....who would have thought that with the halves situation.

Edge defence can be worked out You're playing new combinations, it's helpful if the coaching staff don't have to worry about plugging holes in the middle or mucking around with trying to get the mindset right ( the Bronco's commitment to defence this year is raising a few eyebrows..it's been great to watch all of those held up / stopped on the line tackles ).....the issue looks like a ' time together ' problem ( making good reads / that needs time / communication ). Commitment is fine.

I'm enjoying it. I haven't had to pay my dues going through the rough past....haven't got the scars to prove it.
3/4 is a very strong start for this year.

A Warriors supporter putting the best posts on BHQ since 20**

 

[rnabokov]

Vidot has barely dropped anything so far this year.

Hoffman didn't do nothing.. He defended well and looks closer to creating a line break than most do. He barely passes but he is doing his job and taking pressure of Hunt.

Kennedy worries me. Looks close to giving penalties every time he makes a tackle and he doesn't do a lot in attack.

Tonight, Vidot was slapping at the ball, watching it, not contesting it. Or are my glasses out of date? Sure, his running game is superb, but he really worriedm me in the air tonight.

Hoffman did nothing. Sorry. N O T H I N G.

He rarely breaks the line and seldom looks to pass, and more seldom, creates an option and passes the fucking ball. We are playing really well with one half. Imagine if we had Widdop at 5/8. Broncos 56 - Dragons 20

 

[Socnorb]

What I liked about tonight's performance. I could not pick a clear man of the match. Also thought the score flattered the dragons . With two tries against the run of play. Dominant performance. And welcome @8RONCOS.

 

[Huge]

According to NRLstats.com Reed only missed 1 tackle tonight. Apparently arm grabs don't count as tackles.

Yeah,well we all saw the game so we can safely ditch that stat ! I noticed and so did plenty of others but that's not saying he wasn't trying or didn't do some things well. He was just average in a team full of above average efforts. I'm not saying drop him and he deserves a greater chance to deliver better performances.

 

[Porthoz]

Very good post @Mt Smart .

Agreed with most of what you said, and I hate to do this, but permit me a spelling Nazi remark that just annoys me... It's Barba, not Barber!

Keep up the good work mate, love reading your posts!

P.S. The stats on nrlstats will get corrected after review. Let's see how it looks then...

 

[bb_gun]

Looking at the replays and the Nightingale try was a definite double movement, can't believe that it wasn't at least sent upstairs for a proper examination. Let's not forget that just prior to the Nightingale "try" the refs also found an apparent knock-on from Barba that gave the Dragons a set of six close to our line, the "try" should never have happened in the first place.