Round 5 - Broncos vs Eels - Post-Game Discussion

[mieko]

Our forwards got dominated, especially up the middle big time, simple as that. Thank god Macca was there to clean up, another great game from him.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Whilst Hodges was our only bright spot in attack, he looked like he didn't give a shit in defense and gave away 2 extremely costly penalties.

The choke on Radradra when we had the Eels pined in their own 20, and then the body check on Hayne which in effect gave them the 6 point lead, and allowed Sandow to get the 7 point lead.. Some pretty poor leadership skills shown from Hodgo in his first game back.

Agree.

and not that I give two shits about Sandow, but Hodges snub on him after the game wasn't captaincy material either.

 

[LittleDavey]

Thinking more about it, I was most disappointed with our forwards. Were the Eels that good, or did ours go missing? Probably equal parts of both I guess. The metres gained says it all. Where was the killer go-forward that we've had over the past few weeks? I agree with Kennedy/McGuire to start, Parker back to lock, Gillette to back row and Glenn as a super sub (or other way around).

If Barba is still injured, give him a week off FFS. Let him get himself right - we achieve nothing by playing him half-cocked, except hurting his confidence. He doesn't need the pressure, it's counter productive. Happy enough with Maranta at the back next week if need be.

Reed needs a rest too - something's not right with him either. Hoffy to wing outside Vidot at centre, with Gillette at 5/8? Would we be worse than we are now? Matty's strong running game would suit and he can pass, offload...it's not a long-term fix, but I wouldn't mind seeing how it goes.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Of the forwards, McGuire made the most metres with 113 and the next best was Macca (!) on 99.
Also, 42 missed tackles.
You just don't win games with those stats.

Brisbane v Parramatta, Full Time 18-25 - NRL Results - NRL Stats

42 missed tackles.....FMD !!

That's pathetic.

 

[teampjta]

Based on last nights performance id be paying Milf 1.5m a season

 

[Splinter]

Boy didn't the 20s miss Duncan @Splinter?

Did you catch the game mate? Hoping you can fill some gaps in the NYC thread.

I did BP
The game was a mirror of the 1st grade with the Eels forwards and wingers making too much ground. They missed both Paia'aua and Molo but I am glad they are getting Qcup experience. Byrnes had the worst game I have seen him play with many handling errors in attack which was really just like Barba.
Arrow and Barr were strong in the back row. We need to wait for Alick to fill out to see his potential. He just gets rag dolled at present
Paia,aua is not flashy but just controls the game so well, sorely missed.

 

[Morkel]

I don't know why everyone's so doom & gloom. Sure, we lost, against PARRA for ***** sake, but put it in perspective. The refs well & truly fucked us over. I'm not blaming the loss on them, but it sure didn't help. To the Broncos credit, they didn't pack it in like they would have last year, and despite them being clearly frustrated they continued to roll up their sleeves and for all intents & purposes had a genuine shot at winning until the 75th minute. They used the bullshit ref calls as motivation instead of going all brain-fart and conceding 4 tries in the last 15 minutes like they would have in the past.

Where they lost the game was a game plan that was perfect against our structure. And that was to have their toughnut back-rowers single out a defender every run and just push. It seems like they cottoned on to a tendency of ours to have one defender grab up high and once contact is made put extra defenders in from the side. Their plan was to run with elbows up and give no clear shot (that would injure our defenders), meaning the momentum was all the runners, and because you can't take their feet out now it's bloody hard to stop them. Then, once we'd adapted and had the extra defenders ready & in earlier, they'd pass the ball just before the line, or even more impressively, on impact, leaving our numbers short. It's a fantastic ploy with the new rules, and is their primary cause for the making excellent metres and putting defence on the back foot.

Barba was poor, I can't remember a player getting pushed back so badly so often since we had Gagai on the wing. Thank God for Vidot, his kick returns are just amazing. Reed unfortunately needs to go. On his own performances, he wasn't horrible, he did some excellent cover defence and never gave up. But the mistakes are compounding. And then there's the other factor. Copley is not half the player on the wing as he is in the centres. Add those two together and Copley has to be our #3 next week. I would LOVE Vidot outside Hodges, and the logical spot for Hoffman is on the left wing, but I can't trust a rookie, especially a speed-bump one, in the #6. We need Karmichael. Now.

Nothing to be too concerned about though unless we have a shocker against the Titans.

 

[austin71]

We need a 5/8 that can pass the ball FFS. Not sure if Hoffman passed the ball once all night. Strasser or someone else that's a real half please. Not someone that didn't have enough ball skills to play fullback. Stupidity Griffin!

 

[Bucking Beads]

Nobody to blame but ourselves. Too much dropped ball and too many missed tackles. We got lazy and paid the price.

 

[Brad Miers]

Will Oates play Q Cup this weekend and if so, who?

 

[1910]

Team vs Titans -

1. Maranta
2. Vidot
3. Hoffman
4. Hodges (c)
5. Copley
6. K.Nikorima
7. Hunt
8. McGuire
9. McCullough
10. Parker (c)
11. Glenn
12. Thaiday
13. Gillett

14. Hala
15. J.Wallace
16. Oates
17. Ofahengaue

We've been winning games with pure ass so far, Griffin needs to send a strong message. Reed, Barba, Hannant, Kennedy, Lowrie have all been virtually rubbish for the first 5 rounds. Hoffman is an outside back. Hunt needs to work on his game, a whole lot, one good play doesn't make up for a whole half of ****, another performance like that from him should buy him a first class ticket to Queensland Cup.

Out of interest what have you seen from Joe and Nikorima so far this season in 20's that means they're NRL ready?

 

[1910]

Oates to Capras tomorrow.

 

[1910]

They are too compressed in defense and aren't covering up on the edges, warnings signs have been there since the roosters game. They had plenty of opportunities to score points but just pushed passes and failed to build any pressure. They looked like they were well on top of the eels for a moment in the second half but failed to build pressure and then conceded momentum. The refs let some absolute black&white penalties go in the second half, particularly blatant second efforts in the ruck, it was almost impressive how stubborn they were. Hodges showed both extremes in his game tonight, class and absolute hot-headed stupidity, the latter is hopefully out of his system now. I doubt this performance came as much of a surprise.

How can you be compressed but not covering an edge?

 

[coreyh88]

that's pretty obvious. to compressed in the middle of the field. which is good as when teams have those damaging forwards making half breaks we always clean up. but it's leaving us short out wide and teams are getting through too easily out wide. we need our forwards to stop their forwards and our backs need to trust them and cover their opposites rather than worrying about the middle.

 

[austin71]

I think he's saying we are too compressed leaving too much room for sides to go around us? Why is it other teams score trys against us from inside their own half but we can never seem to score from our own 50. Weird. .. Not enough speed men maybe.

 

[austyphoon]

Bad night at the office.

The amount of drop ball in the first half was horrendous and it happened when we were putting pressure on their line. The loose pass from Parra on the 5th tackle summed up the night. Norman ran back and picked it up, ran out to the wing, passed to Radradra who chips it and Barba knocks it out and they get a repeat set. urgh!

Hodges made some terrible decisions. Running Hayne off the ball was THE dumbest penalty conceded all night. How did he think he would get away with that?

Agree with most that Hoffman has to be moved from 5/8. He is not, and never will be, a ball player.

Barba has not really fired at all this season. Hopefully he does have an injury because at least that's an excuse. If so, he needs to rest for a few weeks.

For Kennedy's size his impact is a joke! Jogs up to the line and falls to the ground. Most disappointing buy this season.

 

[coreyh88]

people have been overly harsh on our forwards. their forwards were running in pairs and passing before the line. this was a gameplan that exposed our defence and gave them good meters. but in attack our forwards were fine. we were almost always camped down their end. and it's hard to make meters when on the first or second tackle you are dropping the ball. it was our defence and dropped ball which cost us. we still could have won but the refs ruined any chance of that.

people are being harsh on hunt. we had one half a centre and a half who both refused to pass. and every second tackle we would drop the ball. what on earth is he supposed to do with that. i'd be frustrated too. in fact i was frustrated. reed has to go and hoffman can't play five eighth next week. we are so close to being a really good team this year we just need the last piece of the puzzle.

 

[coreyh88]

hodges penalty wasn't dumb? barba was dropping the ball like crazy. couldn't catch anything and had hayne steaming down on him. was a better option than hayne scoring a try from a barba fumble. it mightnt have been the right option but it definitely wasn't stupid it had some merit.