POST GAME Round 4 - Warriors vs Broncos

[Renegade]

Happy with the win, a win in NZ is always a good thing regardless of how it's gained, they're a difficult side to play at home.

Having said that, we got a few contentious calls coupled with Manu having an absolute shocker, so again it's difficult to see where we're at. I think people are being a little bit harsh on Milford, sure he wasn't blistering but you could see a couple of things where he began to implement his own vision into the line that nearly paid off (such as the Reed no try). As long as Hunt and McCullough continue to take charge as they have been, he will be afforded the time to develop in-game which is realistically what is needed (no amount of training will substitute on-field experience).

Defensively I thought we were very good, especially on our own line.

I think we'll beat the Titans, with the match against the Roosters being a marker in the sand for us as far as progress is concerned.

 

[Waynesaurus]

Geeezz......really starting to get sick of the Milford bashers.....

He is in a new team, with a new coach, trying to learn new structures, playing a new position all whilst being under the spotlight and compared to Lockyer at one of the highest profile clubs in the NRL.

FFS give the young fella a break he is only 20..............The team itself is still trying to build confidence after the last three years.

 

[Financeguy]

As for us winning despite Milford having seemingly little input, I'm going to disagree that he hasn't made much of a difference, but even if that wasn't the case, I'd rather be winning with a lot of room for improvement than losing while playing to our full potential (which it has felt like many times for the last couple of years).

Spot on my thoughts.

Really happy with the win and in general the start of the season. 3 from 4 and i think we still have a heap of improvement in us. In the last few seasons, that just felt like the game we would have lost and put it down to a few things not going our way before repeating it round after round.

Like others i am enjoying our use of the bench much more than previous seasons and actually look forward to the impact they provide. I never thought i would be getting hyped to see Wallace take a hit up, and my negativity towards Maranta is starting to soften, the guy is getting better.

Sure there is room for improvement, but at this stage i would hope that there is, no one wants to be playing their best footy in March/April.

 

[rnabokov]

Geeezz......really starting to get sick of the Milford bashers.....

He is in a new team, with a new coach, trying to learn new structures, playing a new position all whilst being under the spotlight and compared to Lockyer at one of the highest profile clubs in the NRL.

FFS give the young fella a break he is only 20..............The team itself is still trying to build confidence after the last three years.

I don't think anyone is "bashing" Milford. And the "Milford" debate or rather, our ⅝ discussion is about a position crucial to our future success as a team.


3 points. We loved Milford for his FB play not his ⅝ stints;


2. We needed a ⅝ since Locky retired and recruited poorly and whether Milford is the answer is still only an untested assumption.


3. We are currently testing that assumption and that's fair enough. My only issue is that Milford is best at running and we aren't giving him that opportunity yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

 

[Morkel]

I don't think anyone is "bashing" Milford. And the "Milford" debate or rather, our ⅝ discussion is about a position crucial to our future success as a team.


3 points. We loved Milford for his FB play not his ⅝ stints;


2. We needed a ⅝ since Locky retired and recruited poorly and whether Milford is the answer is still only an untested assumption.


3. We are currently testing that assumption and that's fair enough. My only issue is that Milford is best at running and we aren't giving him that opportunity yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

On that, well technically Milford IS running. He made twice as many runs as Hunt. An argument might be that he is better running from fullback but IIRC the vast majority of things he did last year were from like darting out of dummy half or coming in as an extra number, both of which he can still do as five-eighth, the difference being that he had more freedom to choose his runs from fullback. Right now though, he's testing the waters - deliberately running to the line and taking the tackles. Getting a proper feel for it. Once he can do that with confidence, I'll expect he'll be popping balls very late, or teams will expect him to run and commit defenders and he'll be able to pass out the back for an overlap. Or, as we're all hoping to see, he starts passing at the line early in games, meaning defenders will be putting numbers on his support, giving him enough space to break the line himself.

There's so much variation as to what options to take as a running half, it doesn't just click overnight. But the other variations, like choice of footwork, how to hold the ball in your hands, where you're looking, the lines that your support runs, a lot of that is vision that he clearly has, proven from last year. It'll work.

 

[Socnorb]

Thats not really hard when your competing against an over-the-hill Prince, Norman, Hoffman, and Barba.

He's also our best option at fullback. (even when Boyd returns).

So the question position do you value the most, 1 or 6. personally I think Boyd is a better all round fullback

 

[Renegade]

I don't think anyone is "bashing" Milford. And the "Milford" debate or rather, our ⅝ discussion is about a position crucial to our future success as a team.

I wouldn't say people are bashing him, but I think they are unfairly saddling him with expectation. They expect him to be what he was in FB at 5/8th, which is premature after 3 games. He's young and he's learning a new position, it is unreasonable to expect that level from him. Anytime he does something even slightly promising at 5/8th, it is tempered with a, yeah, but if he was at fullback.. he's not. Let's move on.

3. We are currently testing that assumption and that's fair enough. My only issue is that Milford is best at running and we aren't giving him that opportunity yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

I think that will come with experience, you can see occasionally he's popping his head through but is being ankle tapped/grasped at the last moment. Those little things will begin to add up in his head and he will start to use his experience to know how to slice through. Running from 5/8th and running at FB are completely different things.

 

[john1420]

More bad news.

[TWEET]581991054330576896[/TWEET]

In what weird world is Kahu a fringe first grader?

Surely he remains in the starting 13 when Boyd returns?

 

[Huge]

All rep games where he has not only played wing but received quality ball in space from players the calibre of Lockyer, Thurston, Inglis, Smith, Cronk, Slater etc.

Now here are some club stats for you...

Barba has played 125 NRL games scoring 80 tries (average of 0.69 tries per game)

While Boyd has played 204 NRL games scoring 61 tries (average of 0.29 tries per game)

My point is that none of that (including what you said) indicates who is the better fullback for the Broncos in 2015.

Boyd hasn't been consistently good at club level since 2011.

Barba hasn't been consistently good at club level since 2012.

Milford was consistently good last season.

Foordy, cmon brother,you know that's patently false. Boyd had one of the most consistent season of ANY NRL player in 2013. He ran third in the Dally Ms for player of the season, just two points shy of winning and won the Dally m for fullback of the year. Both of those awards are for consistent high performance. Also he won his own clubs award as their best. At least concede that which is self evident, yeah ?

 

[Brozilla]

Foordy, cmon brother,you know that's patently false. Boyd had one of the most consistent season of ANY NRL player in 2013. He ran third in the Dally Ms for player of the season, just two points shy of winning and won the Dally m for fullback of the year. Both of those awards are for consistent high performance. Also he won his own clubs award as their best. At least concede that which is self evident, yeah ?

EDIT: Unnecessary post