Round 8 - Broncos vs. Rabbitohs - Post-Game discussion

[ningnangnong]

Like everyone else, I was completely fucked off with the refereeing in that final five minutes, but we really did **** up that field goal opportunity.

No one took responsbility for organising the situation, and we just faffed about with no real aim to our play. It's fucking simple dudes, just run straight and hard in the centre of the field, wrap that ball up tight and get as close as you can to the 10 metre line. I think we ended up losing a metre or two with the two final plays of that set. It was frustrating as hell to watch.

 

[broncos4life]

I know it is a courier mail article, but Todd Balym has a go at the refs in this article...

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...-suncorp-stadium/story-fniabm4i-1226896400880

At least todd balym has some fucking balls enough to say this stuff.

 

[Foordy]

At least todd balym has some ducking balls enough to say this stuff.

the NRL can't do a thing to him ... he can say it. for it to be libel the NRL (and/or Ref) would have to prove that it isn't true ... and good luck with that

 

[Tera]

3. Hodges (If only because he can pass the ball)
2. Glenn
1. Hannant

 

[Mister Wright]

Word.

He's been excellent for us this season, and I hope he's finally realising that potential we've all talked about since he came into first grade - but his passing game really irks me.

He always, always has to pick it up and take a step or two before passing, and it just completely ****s everything up - slows down our play, forces our forwards to check their run so they don't overrun the pass, etc. His service has improved a little bit, but there's still a way to go yet. At least we're not seeing the ball knocked out of his hands at dummy-half anymore, which seemed to occur once a week last year.

At least it's not a difficult thing to fix (well it shouldn't be), but the fact his service is still so slow after all this time in first grade says to me that no one at the Broncos thinks it's an issue.

Before @Mister Wright rips into me (or should that be Mrs McCullough :p), other than that one aspect of his game, I think he's had a sensational season so far.

You may be right, but it's clear that McCullough has modelled his game on Cameron Smith. Smith rarely passes from the ground. However I guess he has the experience and truly does run that team and what he's doing And an experienced half back to tell him when he wants it.

 

[JMG87]

I was extremely disappointed last night with the result of the game. Even more disappointed with those ref decisions at the end of the game. Having said that, we should have gone on and put a score on the Rabbits. We had the opportunity, but didn't execute.

I felt the game turned when Kennedy came back on around the 60 minute mark. Our middle defence went really soft and I often saw Kennedy just jogging around getting back into position.

Kennedy: 5 runs (39m) + 18 tackles - For a starting NRL prop, that's just not ****ing good enough.
Hannant: 16 runs (149m) + 28 tackles - Huge effort and our only shining light really.

I thought our forwards got dominated early and no one had an impact except Hannant. He has to start next week. I'd drop Kennedy. Wallace was strong with his runs, but let that really soft Burgess meat head try in. Granville again was dynamic, but got like 7 minutes.

Kahu should be back for our next game in 2 weeks barring any injuries to himself.

My team against the Cowboys in 2 weeks would probably look something like this...

1. Barba
2. Hoffman
3. Copley
4. Hodges
5. Vidot
6. Kahu
7. Hunt

8. Hannant
9. McCullough
10. McGuire
11. Thaiday
12. Gillett
13. Parker

14. Glenn
15. Wallace / Hala
16. Oates
17. Granville

I like the look if this team

 

[Art Vandelay]

Dont know if it has allready been mentioned, But when Renolds put the last kick in when we got trapped in goal. george burgess was in our deffensive line and he jumped over the ball. He was in front of the kicker he didnt touch it but he still interferd with the play. That was on our try line too.

100% agree there. After I calmed down and saw replays I actually agreed with the last two penalties of the game (technically a strip and Goodwin had only run 8 metres before Parker punched the ball out), but the above and the missed high tackle on Copley were the real killers.

 

[CaptainHook]

Problem is, when we lose, we aren't losing by much and we're putting points on. Would be a different story if we were getting spanked or if we were on a losing streak.

I think this is a huge problem. Take last week against Newcastle, the win was not as impressive as the scoreline suggests it was. It's a similar problem with our close losses. The scoreline suggests we might have been 'unlucky' against the Roosters, Rabbitohs etc but we were never going to win those games. Mentally we are not in the contest.

It's a disturbing characteristic that has popped up in the last few seasons. I think it's a confidence issue. We only play our best football against the top teams when the game is seemingly out of reach. If we narrow the margin, then we serve up **** again and let the game get away from us.

A lot of people on here are blaming the refs for the loss and good luck to you all. I'm not that delusional. I just think that there are several things that are unforgivable in football. Namely, not finding touch from a kick, penalised while in possession and failing to complete a set after points have been scored (yes Ben and Martin, I'm looking at you). **** me, how many times have we done that over the last two years?

I think if a player commits one of these errors, it's an automatic demotion to QC for the week. Elementary errors are not acceptable. Teams train how they play. This means they're doing **** like this at training and not getting pulled up on it. Cooper Cronk was in Big League this week talking about it. He talked about how there needs to be consequences for drop balls, missed tackles at training so that come game day the team is ready.

Goal kicking is another example. Parker, truth be known, is an awesome goal kicker but he never seems to land the crucial ones. It points to not replicating that 'pressure atmosphere' at training.

I am pretty disillusioned atm. I'm tired of seeing the same **** served up every week whether we win, lose or draw.

 

[CaptainHook]

quick question ... if he has had problems with kicking and defense in the ISC, how the hell will he be able to do it in the NRL?

He probably won't be able to. That means he'll fit in nicely in our team with the likes of Reed, Kennedy etc.

 

[CaptainHook]

Is everyone happy with that pillow Kennedy "earning" his starting spot? "Oh he will be better if he starts"

I was in favour of shifting Kennedy to the starting team but I admit that's been a mistake. The general idea was that if he starts it would force him to get more involved but it seems he contributes little no matter where he plays.

 

[broncos4life]

No offence captainhook but take a deep breath.

Things aren't all roses but they also aren't as dire as you portray... There is space in between the extremes.

We can have a to at the players, coach, system whatever, but how many of the 'top teams' would be performing like we are without a fucking 5/8?

 

[ivanhungryjak]

You may be right, but it's clear that McCullough has modelled his game on Cameron Smith. Smith rarely passes from the ground. However I guess he has the experience and truly does run that team and what he's doing And an experienced half back to tell him when he wants it.

This is interesting because Macca did a "Coaching Corner" segment on dummy half passing on Broncos Insider last week.
He basically said that if he's passing to the backs, he passes from the ground as quickly as possible but if passing to the forwards, he tries to stand up and engage the markers before passing.

 

[Cult]

No offence captainhook but take a deep breath.

Things aren't all roses but they also aren't as dire as you portray... There is space in between the extremes.

We can have a to at the players, coach, system whatever, but how many of the 'top teams' would be performing like we are without a fucking 5/8?

Also, are the "top teams" performing better than us?

 

[CaptainHook]

We can have a to at the players, coach, system whatever, but how many of the 'top teams' would be performing like we are without a ****ing 5/8?

I just want a team that is able to capitalise on a winning position. 5/8 or no ****ing 5/8. Mistakes are killing us atm. Even with a lack of 5/8 as others have said we're still piling on the points (with a few exceptions).

Making mistakes after points costs us dearly and it has happened far too often over the past few seasons for it to be unlucky. It points to lack of intensity and fine tuning at training, IMO. Did we even complete a set in the last 15? Pivotal errors and a seemingly lack of interest in fixing them was the jist of my post.

 

[CaptainHook]

Also, are the "top teams" performing better than us?

Yes... because they're beating us.

 

[Morkel]

Yes... because they're beating us.

They're also being beaten by each other & lesser teams than us. Except the Bulldogs it seems. They've paid some serious cash to the refs.

 

[rnabokov]

No offence captainhook but take a deep breath.

Things aren't all roses but they also aren't as dire as you portray... There is space in between the extremes.

We can have a to at the players, coach, system whatever, but how many of the 'top teams' would be performing like we are without a ****ing 5/8?

This. YOU CAN'T COMPETE AT THIS LEVEL WITH 1 HALF and a pillow for a prop.

It shows how good this side really is.

 

[Morkel]

As to my thoughts on the game... TBH I'm no where near as angry as I would have expected and haven't taken it as hard as some of my, um, companions, who were literally inconsolable.

I think it comes down to the fact that we were 14 down, looked like we'd be humiliated, yet came back to not only put in a respectable performance, but to actually be the better team overall. The 2 points hurts, but there wouldn't be a Souths fan that could honestly say that they won the game fair & square.

I'm kind of sick of the whole "we need a genuine 5/8 or we won't get anywhere" banter. To me it's just as irrelevant and uninformed as those that bitch about "the one-out stuff". If we were desperate for a 5/8 there is no way we'd score 5 tries against the Rabbits. There's no way we would have been in with a genuine chance at winning every one of our games, bar arguably the Eels one where we were simply bamboozled. To me, we're literally 5 minutes away from being one of the teams to beat. We have the first 75 minutes of every game about right. We won't get it right every game of course, but we know what to do and more often than not do it. It's that last 5 minutes that we can't close out. Not properly. We have done it - look at the Cowboys game, the Bulldogs game, etc. But we can't do it like the best teams. But hell, after the Warriors trial, if we were given the chance of a 50:50 win ratio, and 7 points being our highest losing margin, would you have taken it? Of course you would have.

I can see the point that a genuine 5/8 would solve this problem, but unless we score a proven top-class one, it's irrelevant. Our wins, despite some ordinary scores being put on us, are built on defence, and no sane coach would compromise on that simply because we can't close out a game yet. We put a rookie in and we undo all the work that we've done to get that 75 minutes right. For me, the solution is simply.... time. Sounds like a cop-out, but again, who would have thought that Hunt would improve as much as he has? Certainly not me. Our spine only contains one player from last year, it's makeshift, and it contains injured players, it's not going to click in 8 games. And that's all that we're missing. The experience and the teamwork to know what each other's role is in that last 5 minutes and how they're going to go about doing it. Every game we're getting closer. Seriously. Have a bit of faith.

For me, I'm just enjoying the fact that we're not busting our arses for one or two tries a game while the every other team seemingly scores them with ease. That just about fucking killed me last year.