Round 6 - Broncos vs Panthers

[BroncosFever]

Isaako kills the play at fullback and makes to many errors. I think he could be a good centre but that kick and other decisions he made were not good. He should just be a runner not a ball playing fullback. Centre would be a good fit

For me he's a winger but we don't have an NRL standard fullback at the moment, he could develop into a better player with his ballplaying out the back but he has to first learn when to try and make those plays, tackle 1 or 2 isn't it.

 

[Sproj]

Yes, he is still just a kid, however, when I watched Walker last week, there's something he has at 18 that Dearden at 20, with a lot more experience doesn't, and that's composure, and seeing opportunities before they form, and then taking them. However, the Rorters are a different proposition to us, so I will cut him some slack until our side learns to work together a lot better in attack. I don't think at this stage that Dearden deserves some of the hype he is getting.

I agree but Walker looks a class above and we can thank our management for totally screwing that one up. Walker is definitely another one that frustratingly got away through no one’s fault but our own.

Dearden looks a class below Walker but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and I’d still love to see him given more opportunity in an actual NRL standard side like last night. He looked clunky but if Croft continues to own the team as well as he did last night, this will allow Dearden to finally have a needed opportunity to grow into his role and either show why he is so highly rated or sink. It is up to him now.

 

[Bongo]

For me he's a winger but we don't have an NRL standard fullback at the moment, he could develop into a better player with his ballplaying out the back but he has to first learn when to try and make those plays, tackle 1 or 2 isn't it.

I think a centre. His broken play running is good. He seems to defend badly on the wing

 

[BroncosFever]

Xavier Coates for all his flair in attack needs to develop a bit more when carting it back for mine, he always tends to run sideways? He didn't have much of an impact last night, which isn't ideal given that's what the game plan was. To bomb To'o and have Coates leaping above him, don't think he caught one all night down that end.

Meanwhile Corey Oates was one of the best out there.

 

[theshed]

Isaako is a frustrating player because you want to drop him for being a bird brain but then he runs for over 200m and makes 4 tackle breaks while swallowing every difficult kick that comes his way.

Someone pointed it out recently but he’s a massively selfish player. He always goes for the play that will make him look the best if it works out. Low % plays instead of playing for the team, and it often burns us. Kev needs to talk to him about playing for the team and leaving the fancy stuff for NBA2k21. I think he’s the next guy who could really benefit by at least the threat of getting dropped because the skill is there but the execution is not.

 

[BroncosFever]

I think a centre. His broken play running is good. He seems to defend badly on the wing

He has some great footwork, I think centre you need to make good decisions in defense or they end up scoring untouched in the corner, that would be my concern

 

[007]

Throw Staggs and Farnsie into that team last night and we win the game. Brutal defence and lotsa of hard work from the pack last night. Oates kick returns were fantastic. Mega improvement all over the park.

I think its no coincidence that Milford dropped, the pack starts moving forward. Croft and Turpin worked hard and controlling the game in basic ways, keeping it simple proved how much can be said for good field position.

 

[BroncosFever]

Isaako is a frustrating player because you want to drop him for being a bird brain but then he runs for over 200m and makes 4 tackle breaks while swallowing every difficult kick that comes his way.

Someone pointed it out recently but he’s a massively selfish player. He always goes for the play that will make him look the best if it works out. Low % plays instead of playing for the team, and it often burns us. Kev needs to talk to him about playing for the team and leaving the fancy stuff for NBA2k21. I think he’s the next guy who could really benefit by at least the threat of getting dropped because the skill is there but the execution is not.

I agree, before the Bulldogs game I was convinced he was just keeping that fullback spot warm for someone else and then he comes out and scores a try and sets up another.

I was happy to see him putting his body on the line last night when Cleary went for the chip and chase in the first half. He has had the fullback spot before and then been dropped, I think one season there under Wayne he spent most of the season in the QLD Cup. He has some really good skills at times but then others it's barely NRL standard.

 

[Bongo]

Good idea, so then after a year he can phone it in and we have 1-2 years of a player that doesn't give a shit about the club and is on a massive salary, yeah.. nah.

I think Milford is different person to Reynolds Who has a much better work ethic

 

[Mustafur]

Isaako is a frustrating player because you want to drop him for being a bird brain but then he runs for over 200m and makes 4 tackle breaks while swallowing every difficult kick that comes his way.

Someone pointed it out recently but he’s a massively selfish player. He always goes for the play that will make him look the best if it works out. Low % plays instead of playing for the team, and it often burns us. Kev needs to talk to him about playing for the team and leaving the fancy stuff for NBA2k21. I think he’s the next guy who could really benefit by at least the threat of getting dropped because the skill is there but the execution is not.

I haven't seen much from him playing at fullback that he even is one, his support game is terrible, and is barely involved in Set plays like a fullback would. I think if anything he is a Centre.

Also runs sideways way too much, he has good footwork once he gets some space which leads me to believe he would work better at Centre rather then wing.

 

[Bongo]

He has some great footwork, I think centre you need to make good decisions in defense or they end up scoring untouched in the corner, that would be my concern

Yeah defence might be the issue but I think he played centre through the grades at the sharks. If he can't do that I would move him on as there is no other place for him

 

[theshed]

I haven't seen much from him playing at fullback that he even is one, his support game is terrible, and is barely involved in Set plays like a fullback would. I think if anything he is a Centre.

Also runs sideways way too much, he has good footwork once he gets some space which leads me to believe he would work better at Centre rather then wing.

Yeah, imo he was barely even holding onto the spot early in the season but he has been improving. He’s gotten much better under the high ball.

He lacks a lot of the nuance of playing fullback and though his positioning is still awful in attack and defence, it has improved since early on.

A big thing I noticed last night is that we were getting the numbers right in defence more often. I’m not sure if this was Isaako or not but Dearden would often be seemingly reading the play and changing which side of the ruck he was on.

Either Isaako is communicating it better or Kev has given up on that and told Dearden to take it upon himself to fix the numbers.

 

[heartly87]

Wish we had some audio on what was said pre game by Kevvy

Looked like he was pointing out that there was a crowd still turning up for them despite their form. I think he was saying they are turning up for you, so turn up for them, have some pride ect.

 

[Bongo]

Still utterly unconvinced Dearden is anything other than hype.

The jury is still out. His defence was bad early but he fixed it and learned during the game. I think he has the bones but isn't there yet. What he misses is a long kicking game and a long passing game. If he has these I haven't seen them

 

[BroncosFever]

Not sure what Kev was saying but I loved seeing it, we only see the nice/charismatic Kevvie in the media, he's taking this club to a good place I reckon.

Takes balls to drop a bloke on 1 million a season coming up against the top team in the comp after getting beaten comprehensively in the weeks prior, we get flogged last night and they are calling his head I reckon, it was already starting to happen in here. It's about driving standards and expectations, that's what will lead to continued success and for me he's doing that.

 

[heartly87]

Finally, after how many years it felt like, 80 minutes of effort. As a supporter, its the least you can ask of your team, and tonight we got it.

Execution; umm, not quite...

Why does Coates continue to insist on charging in off his wing when defending our line? Why...???.....stay outside your centre and slide across. Its been weeks now that he has been in the team and he still does this. Is this a failure of coaching? Is it him?

I know this, it has cost us numerous tries conceded. He needs ISC time to refine his game but considering the fact we are trying to get him signed up, thats probably not going to happen...

Our edge defence is still not great...

It cant all be Milfs fault can it....can it? Its like everyone walked on that field tonight and realised it was 13 v 13. They no longer had to carry someone in defence and attack. Dunno, but something changed last night. Is it a one off..?

We need to find/sign a proper 14 for our bench. Turps is gunna break otherwise and then what do we have...?

One man can do a hell of a lot of damage to a footy side and its not all about what happens on the field. Look over in the sheds and see a guy with a frown, have a guy dropping balls in a warm up, have a guy not getting involved in the shed talk gee up. There is a reason back in the day sailors use to chuck people overboard when they felt their bad luck was down to one guy being cursed. It takes some very small things to disrupt a unit, to hurt morale and sometimes just getting rid of that energy is all you need to get some wind in your sails.

 

[NSW stables]

Firstly I've gotta ask did one of the panthers boys lay shit in lodge's missus or something? Because he looked like he wanted blood tonight.

I had goosebumps watching kevvie screaming his head off at the boys pre game and it seemed to fire them up. Really annoyed me the commentators saying "the panthers weren't great tonight". They completed 13 from their first 13 and still completed at 81%.

We really lack strike out wide. Until herbie and or staggs is back we will struggle to score points because our centres don't offer anything.

A really good performance though, Croft seemed to own the team tonight which is what we've needed someone to do but i thought Deardon was a bit too quiet. Issako keeps doing enough to keep me interested and think if he keeps developing maybe he can be our long term fullback?

Realistically last night means nothing if we don't carry on that performance into next week and so forth. They should all be feeling good about themselves after that game and go into training with a spring in their step and hopefully come out firing again next week.

Welcome back Goates the meter eater.

Yeah our forwards, particularly lodge and TPJ, really took it to penrith and just bullied them. Cocky little penrith twats were not so cocky after copping some hits from them last night.

I think our team showed the comp how to beat penrith.

I also think bullemore was within his rights to go back and give crichton a cuddle after he (a middle forward) stepped around him easily without barely being touched to score.

 

[M.B.88]

I was at the game. His defence was awful what were you watching

Yeah I rewatched the game and Dearden on several occasions made cover tackles and multiple per set. Try again