POST GAME [Round 7, 2022] Broncos vs Bulldogs

[Jedhead]

It's very easy to sit back and enjoy the win and marvel at every one of our tries Paix's included. There was an element of skill, daring and sheer determination in each of those pearlers.

Paix's try emphasises how despite the ref's dubious 6 again calls the sheer will to win in this side is steadily growing into a match winning performances.

Sure maybe half of those ref's calls were our own fault and once we manage to get our discipline sorted we should be just about able to defend the 'poor' calls against us to ensure they don't determine the result.

Te Maire Martin's desperation in defence to twice deny tries was a welcome addition to the team. If only we could put another couple of Kgs muscle on him he'd be well suited to slot into the 6 once we find a decent FB. I'm so pleased the game ended well for him and his interview with JT had me smiling from ear to ear. His comment about our coaching staff asking him to try and jump off the ground while he was attempting to defuse Burton's bombs was quite hilarious.

Oatsey's try has been so successful that it needs to be considered as a signature play of the big man's. I hope we're busy replicating that move from Cobbo's wing too as I'm sure the way Cobbs runs that it would work equally well. Someone mentioned that "dick fingers" Cobbo had had a hand transplant, you'd have to agree when you see him reel that pass in that went behind him for our second try and that gather and putdown from Reynolds kick was Slateresque. How fitting that his try brought up the 500,000th point in Australian Rugby League. The poor ref who was only metres away could not believe his eyes.

Sure it was only the Dogs, but all of those tries had me whooping and a hollering and just for a second I thought the Broncos as a team were back.

Wonder if we'll hear anymore of the Reynolds incident. When he gets tackled he cops a straight knee to the head. It opens him up and looks at the officials to see if they're going to take any action. He obviously refuses to lay down, but he was nonetheless filthy with no action being taken.

 

[Gaz]

Yeah definitely. I’ve heard Reynolds talk about how he’s trying to teach the guys those little details that make solid NRL teams and get them out of the mindset of trying to be the man every play.

If only Kevin had enough commonsense and ability to help him.

 

[007]

• Dogs were offside all night
• Paix was far better than Walters. Much more fluid out and around the ruck.
• TMM must stay at FB.
• Until the 50 min mark, we had no aggression.
• Capewell, Gamble and Reynolds stepped up the aggro at 50min mark - games swings.
• We won on raw skill, not on grinding out a game.
• Reynolds and Capewell are getting frustrated out there.

 

[Morepudding]

Well from where I was sitting, the first 50 mins looked like the Doggies were covered in baby oil. Anyone that stepped, broke the line.

Reyno was barely saying anything to the team. He is the captain! I know he bailed us out in the end but he needs to motivate and talk.

I'm glad we won but bloody hell we are farrrr from a real top 8 team. Our defence is an absolute mess. Broncos used to be one of the tightest defense lines in the game.

Is it Kevvies lack of experience?
Is it the youth?
Is it the captain?

Something is still broken. The team "on paper" should play the whole 80mins and look dangerous. Instead all I can hear in the stands is "don't drop" "hold the ball" "Nooooo!" "Whyyyyyy??" "Come ooooooon" "What the hell are you doing" "they are all bunched up" " this is high school footy".

The opposition are constantly talking to each other, motivating each other, revving each other up. Our players are just standing around hoping someone else will do something.

I'm glad we won, I am. If I was an opposing team I would look at that video and see a ton of opportunities to exploit our defence.

Long way to go yet. Just my opinion.

I think that’s why they brought in gamble. He’s the only one out there with a real voice it seems.

 

[Broncapz]

• Dogs were offside all night

This was blatant as ****. This was especially obvious on their own try line where they employed the 'flying V'.

 

[Galah]

And without Haas Reynolds isn't in a position to make those plays. Games are won by winning the forward battle first and always have. The only difference this year is we finally have a great half to capitalise on field position instead of kicking it over the dead ball line.

The criticisms of Haas are getting pretty ridiculous, he's on 850k and is worth every cent as the best prop in the game. once again, he's doing the workrate of 2 very good props, zero errors, zero penalties, coach's dream.

He will only get better with good coaching to add a smart offload, and learning some pass selection but he doesn't even need that. We have 4 other middles, I can't think of any props that have a good offload or pass much. That's usually reserved for 13s.

Not criticising just don’t think he should be on a million, 850 seems like a perfect number.

 

[007]

This was blatant as ****. This was especially obvious on their own try line where they employed the 'flying V'.

The refs let them get away with it, so they just kept doing it. Was crazy tbh - haven't seen a game like that for such a long time.

 

[BroncosFever]

For all of our flare in that last 20 the Paix try is the one that broke their back, really good to see our hooker come up with that sort of a play.

We don't get that from Turpin.

 

[Morepudding]

Not criticising just don’t think he should be on a million, 850 seems like a perfect number.

His current deal has a couple years left, if he added some things then maybe.. but currently, our forward pack gets beaten almost every week (even got beaten last night) so until the forward pack as a collective stands up and improves I wouldn’t be throwing huge money at any of them. Absolutely zero line speed. Usually stand still wait for them to come to us and then stupidly never wrap up the ball. It’s awful

 

[Socnorb]

So glad Reynolds pointed out the Bulldogs being offside at the scrum. Check out the Bulldogs at the Paix try . The Ref was right there. I’m not saying the dogs were offside all night, but they were. Ref had poor control.

 

[Browny]

I need to see Reynolds telling the ref they’re offside.

Missed what happened watching on the telly

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

I wouldn’t mind seeing him develop an offload as well or maybe he’s being told not to. He seems get the arms free a fair bit but then fights for the extra metres instead.

For me for haas to justify 1 million he needs to learn to ball play rather then offloads. Even tpjs offloads hardly ever get anything meaningful. He needs to add the odd pass at the line in the attacking 20m. Or run a good line with a play out the back in their 20m. Nothing major, just something to actually rake advantage of how many players he draws in otherwise they'll just number up on him for no risk to them.
He also needs to pull off some big hits in defence. A forward leader needs to be feared on both sides of the ball by the opposition.
We have a $700,000 prop (eg Welch in his prime, with some change) and we still win last night....

 

[thenry]

I rewound it straight away and confirmed.

Hetherington was outside 10 metres when he caught it though?

 

[BooKhaki]

For all of our flare in that last 20 the Paix try is the one that broke their back, really good to see our hooker come up with that sort of a play.

We don't get that from Turpin.

Thoughts on Billy at 9? Still want the Billy/Paix combo?

We badly missed Turpin in the opening 30mins.

 

[JoeyK]

I think that’s why they brought in gamble. He’s the only one out there with a real voice it seems.

He was the only one I saw doing any talking.

 

[pagey]

Not criticising just don’t think he should be on a million, 850 seems like a perfect number.

he isn't on a million and i think you'll find we won't be offering it either

 

[Morkel]

Maybe I'm reading the game wrong but it seems like our biggest issue is either lack of metres gained per set or lack of defensive line speed. The weird thing is when our metres gained is good, our defensive linespeed is also good. Is this just a simple case of the team not showing up on certain weeks?

Personally I think when are are gaining metres more easily on offense we have more energy to increase linespeed on defence.

Once Paix came on we seemed to be moving up the field more easily but still our average set distance was only 42 metres compared to Bulldogs' 48 metres.

The biggest issue we have is conceding penalties and making silly mistakes, which gifts the opposition possession and field position. Everyone knows my thoughts on how the penalties/6 agains are a fucking rort, but we still need to be smarter about it. This possession/position isn't as simple as it sounds, I'll explain below in my typical TLDR way...

We need possession and field position of our own because in the NRL you don't just score from a well constructed play alone. Even Oates' try was on the back of possession. It's like a boxing match where you need to fatigue your opponent, except in League only one guy gets to punch at once. The more you get to punch, the more jabs you can throw in prep for the big hit.

In isolation, you'd think that Staggs had a quiet night, and except for that one flick pass to Cobbo, was well contained. The defence knew that he is best handled in numbers, get up in his face and even if he tried to go around/through his opposite, there are other defenders around to corral him in and assist. And yet, Reynolds persisted down his side even though the results were the same. Why? Because they were the jabs. It fatigued the opposition both physically and mentally, so after a while they saw it coming and instinctively defended against Staggs the same way that was working. Once that pattern was set, Reynolds went for the Big Hit with the kicks in behind instead, knowing the defence would be up and committed, and it's why we racked up so many points in the end.

None of that works if you don't have the opportunity to throw the jabs first and get the opposition defence conditioned. Had we not enjoyed the field position at the end there, Reynolds would not have had the opportunities to get those kicks in, and all of us would have been lamenting how well contained Staggs was and wondered why we kept going that way when it wasn't getting anywhere. It's why I don't like the term "keep doing the same thing and expect the same result". This is only true if there isn't a method to what you're doing.

 

[BroncosFever]

Thoughts on Billy at 9? Still want the Billy/Paix combo?

We badly missed Turpin in the opening 30mins.

You must have me confused with someone else, I haven't ever suggested Turpin shouldn't be in the side.

I think the best combo we have is Turpin for about 45-50 minutes and then a bit of Paix later in the halves.