It was never going to be pretty.
The Broncos were backing up from a really rough road trip against the Warriors and had to contend this game without their two best attacking weapons in Hodges + Kahu. Anyone expecting champagne Rugby League was always going to be disappointed.
And the Titans aren't a terrible team either. They've pushed a few teams to the final few minutes and just haven't been able to put the pieces together. They did some good things tonight, and did some bad things too. Two of their tries were handed straight to them while the third was a weight of possession type problem where Roberts finally troubled the scorers.
I liked our defence early. Sure, the Titans screwed up on key plays but that's why they're at where they are. The positive was that we didn't give them any easy opportunities. To turn that around with a nice James Graham esque inside ball to Maranta was fantastic and if nothing else, the game may give Milford some confidence which he DESPERATELY needs and that second try is why we were so happy to bring him on board.
Second try was pure ass but good presence of mind from Dodds and if there was any player who deserved a double for all his hard work it's him. I'm sure [MENTION=8219]Splinter[/MENTION] was as proud as anyone, how good was it?
And there were some damn good plays out there. Finally got a chance to see Kodi break through and it's such a shame his line ball was pulled up. That's one of those plays where I pull on my hypocritical Gould hat and just say 'play on'. The game was basically dead, the break would have given it some excitement.
Instead we had to pull up with that shoddy James try. That was the only way he was ever going to cross, through some luck. Was it a try? Is Klein a genius? I don't know, his interpretations annoy me.
Actually the reffing annoyed me in general. Too many soft penalties that were completely crap. What happened to the video referee head high system? I didn't see McGuire put on report, you can't get penalised otherwise.
But yeah, the biggest problem right now is that we're getting to a lead, then we're doing this kick-chase thing instead of playing football and it's hurting us. We played way too bunched in the second half with nobody pushing up and people throwing pressure passes that weren't on. It would have been fine had our kick chase been good but it was so poor at times. Hunt put in two great kicks and Hoffy threatened to break through each time - it shouldn't happen and can't happen against the Roosters if we want to win.
Milford tries on the highlights reels. Hopefully it gives him confidence which is essential to any half in the game because that's where he's going to be playing for the rest of 2015.
Deal with it.
Oh and just remembered on Reed. Well, I hate to say I told you so but I predicted that Copley, Gagai & Kahu would be more viable alternatives way back in 2011. It's becoming clearer and clearer too and I still think the 2017 deal was a waste of money, no matter what the savings repotedly were. Still, if you sack Reed now, you're going to have to put up with Whitchurch. That's the next best centre we've got given our injury toll. I didn't think he was that bad either, Roberts got one against him but he had his measure more often than not. Considering some thought he was going to get absolutely destroyed, 1 TA is hardly doom and gloom.
